So I'm considering putting this thing on a schedule...
What say ya'll?
I'll use ya'll cause it's my native tongue. Southern.
So, every Saturday there will be an update?
Sound good?
Fantastic. I'm glad you guys agree, you're so sweet.
Now, other than the Chapter Art, I'm getting rid of the top Authors note at the top.
Sad, I know.
Now, onto the chapter art!
Naruto's right side profile with an ANBU animal mask with a Fox design on his face, and sprouting out the back of his head is a dark haired man whose face is covered by an ANBU animal mask with a hawk design.
Sitting in the Soba shop, Obito found himself being drawn into a debate with his female teammate about the best ways to communicate without saying a word.
"How did you not notice? Did you think you were in a class full of ADHD people?" Mitsuki asked.
"Yes. I actually did."
"Even Haru was a part of it, surely you thought that was weird, Haru's the exact opposite of ADHD," Mistuki said, gesturing to the genin beside her. Haru looked up from his notebook at the mention of his name, blinking rapidly.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing Haru, trying to make a point to Obito."
"Okay," Haru said. He hunched back down to his notes, writing things down.
"So you mean to say that the entire time we were in the academy, everyone who should have failed set up their own cheating code?" Obito asked. Mitsuki nodded, a coy smile on her face.
"We were so sneaky, we should have already been ninja at that point," she said. Obito stared blankly at her.
"Right… Naruto-sensei, when are the people we're meeting getting here?" Obito asked, turning to face his blonde sensei next to him. Naruto had his blue eyes surreptitiously trained on the door, even though it looked like he was listening to his genins' conversation. He grinned when he saw the door open, and a familiar head of black hair entered the restaurant. A Suna headband was across his forehead.
"They're here. OI! TEME!" Naruto yelled, waving towards the newcomers.
Sasuke Uchiha stared emotionlessly at the Orange Maelstrom waving frantically at his direction.
"Sasuke-sensei… is that him?" a young girl by his side asked. She had flaming red hair and bright blue eyes, couldn't have been older than eight. She had her headband wrapped around her neck.
"He looks like an idiot," commented a dark haired boy dryly. Another boy with white blonde hair and goggles over his eyes nodded his agreement. Each of them wore their headbands across their foreheads.
"Unfortunately, that's him," the Uchiha said. "Come on." He led his team towards the table, where the blonde Jounin was grinning widely.
"Been a while, eh Sasuke-teme?" the blonde asked.
"Dobe, stop yelling across restaurants. Some of us live here," he said, sitting down across from the blonde.
"Yeah, yeah. So, these must be your brats. Nice. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, these are my Genin," Naruto said, waving a hand over the three Konoha children.
"Nice introduction Sensei," mocked Mitsuki. She turned her gaze towards the other genin, and finally to Sasuke, her face remaining blank. "My name is Uzuki Mitsuki."
"Hello, my name is Yamashiro Haru, nice to meet you," Haru said politely, stowing his notebook and pens back into his pockets.
"Hatake Obito," Obito said, his eyes trained on Sasuke. He looked familiar, but he couldn't place where. Sasuke arched an eyebrow at Obito, turning to Naruto.
"Hatake? You have Kakashi's son?" he asked. Naruto nodded.
"It's weird, like I have a tiny Kakashi-Sensei to teach," Naruto said. Naruto used one hand to mess up the silver haired genins spikes, earning a look of displeasure from the boy.
"Hn. These are my genin, Ioka, Hotan, and Toshi," Sasuke said, nodding to each of his genin. The dark haired boy sat next to his sensei, with Ioka and the goggle-eyed boy sliding down beside them. The seating chart was Sasuke and Naruto across from each other, Obito and Hotan across from each other, Mitsuki and Ioka across from each other, and Haru and Toshi across from each other.
"Hi," the girl giggled. She was staring up at Naruto mischievously. The boys said nothing, just nodded their heads in a silent greeting.
"How talkative you guys are. So Sasuke-san, how do you know our sensei and the Hokage-sama?" Mitsuki asked, looking over to the dark haired Jounin.
"I used to live in Konoha, I was on the same team as this Dobe under the training of Kakashi," Sasuke explained. Obito's eyes widened with the realization.
"That's where I recognize you from, my dad has a team photo of you guys on his desk. You're that Sasuke-san," Obito said.
"You trained under the Hokage? Wow, and you're an Uchiha too…" Mitsuki said, slightly star struck. She'd heard rumors around the village from older kids about the old abandoned Uchiha Compound, that they were one of the most powerful families in Konoha until they were wiped out.
"You didn't get that amazed when I told you that I trained under him and one of the Sannin," Naruto grumbled.
"But you're an idiot, Baka-Sensei," Mitsuki said bluntly. Sasuke smirked, apparently his friend's genin didn't think of him very highly.
"Some genin you got there, Dobe," he said, smirking at his best friend.
"Watch it, Teme, I bet mine could whoop yours any day," Naruto challenged.
"Not likely, Dobe."
"How about we settled it right here and now!"
"You're fighting for a lost cause."
"You're just chicken!"
"What was that?"
"Bawk Bawk Bawk!"
"May I take your order?" chirped a waitress who was suddenly standing at their table. Both Jounin and the six genin looked at her, and the genin looked back at the Jounin, who had grabbed each other by their collars and were about to start a restaurant brawl.
"Can I get some Tororo Soba?" Ioka asked, smiling sweetly at the waitress.
"Tsukimi Soba," Toshi said as he adjusted his goggles.
"Currynanban Soba," ordered Hotan, not looking up at the waitress. He didn't seem like he wanted to be there, was just putting up with it.
"Soki Soba," Naruto and Sasuke said together. They both stopped, and glared at each other. "An extra large serving." They glared at each other harder. They probably would have kept making their servings larger had they not been interrupted.
"Kake Soba," Mitsuki said loudly. She glared at the two Jounin before her, either everyone Naruto-Sensei knew was an idiot, or he had the ability to make them an idiot. Either way, they were both behaving like idiots.
"Kake Soba as well please," Haru said, smiling politely towards the waitress.
"I'd like Sansai Soba please," Obito said politely. The waitress scribbled all the orders down and smiled at them.
"All right, I'll have your orders out as soon as I can," she told them happily before walking back to the kitchens. Silence fell on the table once she left before being broken by Naruto's laughter. Haru looked between them, their fight was forgotten it seemed, because even Sasuke was smiling slightly.
"It's been a while, eh Sasuke?" Naruto asked, grinning at his friend.
"Hn, it has," the Suna Jounin agreed. Ioka looked between the two Jounin with her nose wrinkled, she didn't like them domineering the entire conversation. She focused her attention towards the three Konoha Genin on the other side of the table.
"Hi! I'm Ioka, you can call me Ioka-chan, so what's Konoha like? I've never been," she asked, looking at all three of the genin. She batted her baby blues at them, feeling perfectly adorable with all these cute guys… and Mitsuki…
"It's nice, it doesn't have the same heat as Suna, but it has a lot of trees," Haru said, smiling.
"Sounds nice, Haru-kun, right?" Ioka asked sweetly. Mitsuki rolled her eyes, please, who did that tiny little girl think she was kidding.
"Look, Ioka, how old are you anyway? Eight? Nine?" Mitsuki asked blankly. Her face rested in her left hand, her pinky just underneath her eye. Ioka looked at her annoyed as Toshi snorted.
"Shut up Shi-kun, first, it's Ioka-chan, and second, I'm twelve. Just because you have an old looking face and wrinkles," Ioka said, pouting towards the purple haired genin.
All four of the Konoha Nin raised their eyebrows at this, but then Mitsuki got the full extent of what the other girl said to her.
"Excuse me? Old looking? Just because some of us, namely, not you, have experienced puberty doesn't mean I'm old looking," Mitsuki said, glaring heavily at the girl.
"Puberty? Please, you're like 4 feet tall," Ioka mocked.
"Four foot five! I'm only twelve do you expect me to be a giant? You're even shorter than I am! You little pygmy," Mitsuki hissed, glaring.
"Oi Teme, should we break this up? I don't want to, because their both so tiny…" Naruto whispered to his friend. Sasuke glared at the blonde knucklehead.
"Mitsuki-chan," Haru started, resting a hand on the kunoichi's shoulder.
"No, let her continue to talk, about time someone talked Ioka down a peg," Hotan said. This was the first time he had spoken freely since sitting at the table.
"Ho-kun, you need to shut up too!" Ioka said. Ioka glared heavily at her dark haired teammate, trying to look menacing even though she looked like an angry little cherry.
"Both of you knock it off. Mitsuki-san, my apologies, Ioka-chan can be a bit aggravating at times. She likes to believe that she's completely adorable," Toshi said.
Mitsuki opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by her silver haired teammate.
"Mitsuki-san, let it go. You don't have to start an argument with everyone you meet," Obito said, an edge of aggression in his otherwise flat voice. Under the table, he surreptitiously grabbed her wrist to make her focus her attention on him. Mitsuki exhaled sharply through her nose, black eyes focused on the red haired genin in front of her.
"Fine, just this once though. She calls me old again and she'll go down," Mitsuki grumbled. Ioka glared back, sticking her tongue out childishly. Mitsuki made a move as if she wanted to throw herself across the table, but was held back by Naruto's hand clasping onto her shoulder.
"Hey now, no killing little people for calling you old, she's jealous that you can see over the counter," Naruto said. He pulled her back against the seat, staring her down so that she wouldn't try again.
Mitsuki bit her tongue, and stared ruefully at her sensei. "Hai…" she said reluctantly.
"Suna seems like a nice place to live, but the sand would drive me crazy," Haru laughed, changing the topic.
"It's no so bad, especially if you live here long enough," Toshi said. The tense mood slowly melted away with the trivial conversations.
"So why do you wear the goggles? Is it to keep sand out of your eyes?" Mitsuki asked curiously. Toshi shook his head.
"No, it's for a jutsu I'm working on, it makes my eyes sensitive," he said, adjusting them slightly. Behind them, Toshi's eyes were a pale green color, almost like a spring green. They were a bit unusual…
"Couldn't a medical jutsu fix that though?" Mitsuki asked. Obito shook his head in response.
"No, side effects from a jutsu you make are different, things like that can't be fixed with a medical jutsu or even surgery," Obito explained. He was knowledgeable in this, having learned a few things from his mom who was one of the head nurses in the Konoha Hospital. He liked learning about Medical jutsu, he liked it better than just regular combat jutsu.
"Huh, that's something useful to know," Mitsuki mused, sipping at her tea.
"Obito-kun, your dad's the Hokage right? Who's your mom? She must be as equally amazing," Ioka gushed. Her arms were folded on top of the table, and judging by the thumps coming from under the table, she was swinging her legs back and forth like a child.
"My mom is the head nurse in the village hospital," Obito said, a slight smile pulling on his lips. Mitsuki snorted.
"Obito, your mom is amazing, she fixed my leg last year after that shuriken practice went awry and didn't tell my mother," Mitsuki said. "Your mom is my second favorite out of our entire class."
"Second? Who's the first?" Haru asked, confused. He had met Obito's mother, and she was probably the nicest person he's ever met.
"Michi's mom. She likes to pretend that I'm the daughter she never had," Mitsuki said, smiling to herself. She loved her own mother despite her insane need to keep Mitsuki from the world, but there was something that felt really nice about being spoiled by your best friend's mom.
"Why am I more disturbed that you play favorites with people's moms than the fact that Michiru-san's mom treats you better than she treats him…" Haru said slowly.
"Because Michi deserves it." A peaceful smile rested on the young girl's face. She enjoyed spending time with her team, she didn't mind spending time with another team with her team, though she could do without the tiny little munchkin trying to pretend like she was adorable. They were ninja, they weren't supposed to be adorable.
The waitress brought out their food, setting down each soba dish in front of the person that ordered it.
Obito watched the two girls at the table, taking in their differences. Ioka was being all ladylike and dainty, but Mitsuki just ate like a normal person. Not careful, but not sloppy. She was just eating at a calm pace even though there was a small onion clinging onto her cheek.
Obito turned back to his food, and started to eat before it got too cold.
After the meal was over, all eight shinobi walked out of the restaurant.
"Sensei, are we going back to training now?" Haru asked curiously, looking towards Naruto. The blonde shook his head.
"No, that's it, rest of the day is yours. Tomorrow we escort Condor and his daughter back to their home and go back to Konoha," Naruto said.
"What about us Sasuke-sensei? We're still training right?" Hotan asked, staring at the Uchiha. Sasuke shook his head as well.
"No, the rest of the day is yours, and tomorrow you'll work twice as hard," Sasuke said, resolute with his order. The three Suna genin nodded.
"Hai, Sensei," they said together. The three genin stood proud and firm until both Jounin shifted away in a speed blur. Not intimidated by their instructor, team seven stood there watching at a usual relaxed and stoic stature.
Silence fell on the six twelve year olds, who stood there staring at each other. It was Mitsuki who broke the silence.
"Okay, I'm going back to training. Obito, Haru, I'll see you two later. You others… Bye," she said. Mitsuki began to walk back towards the training grounds they were at, not really caring to socialize.
"I as well am going back to train, Toshi, Ioka, it would do you well to train too," Hotan said monotonously.
"Ho-kun stop acting like Sasuke-Sensei. Obito-kun, Haru-kun, you should come hang out with us, or at least me and Shi-kun since Ho-kun wants to go and train like a meathead," Ioka said, smiling sweet as could be. Hotan glared slightly at the tiny girl.
"Tch, be weak then," he said. And with that being said Hotan behaved like his sensei and his sensei's best friend, he shifted away with chakra induced jumping. The genin left stood awkwardly, or at least three of them did. Toshi wanted his female teammate to stop behaving like an idiot, and the two Konoha genin felt like their teammate had just been insulted.
Haru looked at Obito, using his eyes to convey what he thought they should do. Obito nodded slightly, and turned to address the red haired Suna Genin.
"Ioka-san-"
"Chan."
"Right, I think Haru and I are going to go join Mitsuki-chan in training. We want to finish what our Sensei assigned us to do before lunch," Obito said. For the first time, Haru noticed that Obito had tacked on 'Chan' to Mitsuki's name instead of the usual 'San'. Showing Ioka how much Mitsuki meant to them as a teammate, or just letting her know that she meant more than Ioka.
Ioka's smiling face fell as her teammate's cheeks pulled into a sardonic smirk. Haru felt a little bad, he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings by not going. But, she had insulted his teammate and that wasn't going to fly well with either him or Obito.
"We'll see you tomorrow, before we leave," Haru promised slightly. Ioka, pursed her lips, it was better than nothing. With Sensei's double training tomorrow, she didn't even know if she could say bye, but nonetheless she smiled brightly.
"I'll look forward to it Ha-kun, Obi-kun," Ioka said cheerfully. Obito pulled back a bit, startled. He had not been expecting a nickname, especially not one that was a somewhat embarrassing…
"Er, right. See you around…" Haru said, also not expecting the nickname. Ioka and Toshi stood there, Ioka waving fervently, as the two Konoha genin walked off after their female comrade.
"You're really desperate. You know that?" Toshi said once they were out of sight. Ioka dropped her smile.
"Will you shut up for once Shi-kun. Come on, since we have the rest of the day free, you're going to take me shopping," Ioka said. Quick as a sand viper, the small girl reached out towards her taller and more muscular teammate with an iron grip as she wrapped her hand around his wrist.
Poor boy didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
Unbeknownst to the duo, a pair of Jounin stood atop one of the highest buildings in Suna.
"Ya know Teme, that girl on your team scares me a bit," laughed Naruto. The wind was blowing back his hair from his face, highlighting the whisker marks on his tanned face.
The pale, darkly clad Suna Jounin beside him stood stoic still, the only way he acknowledged the wind was his hair and clothes being moved by it. "Ioka needs to mature with her personality, but she is a good ninja, all of my genin are."
"If they're trained by you, they gotta be, Teme. But you know, Chunnin exams are in a couple months, we could really see how our teams compare in them," Naruto said, staring deviously down at the specks he knew to be his own genin.
"Are yours ready?"
"They will be, better question, will yours be able to handle it?"
"Just make sure that yours won't cry when they get beaten. Dobe."
"Wanna place a bet then since you're so sure?"
"Why would you want to make such a useless bet?"
"Because I know I'll win."
"…"
"Chicken."
"What are the damn stakes, Dobe."
"Ramen-"
"No."
"Fine then, For every win one of our own Genin get, the other has to do something like… Steal Kakashi-Sensei's mask or something like that."
"Fine then. Come the Chunnin exams in Konoha, our bet will start once the first exam starts."
"Great. Now, Sakura-chan wants to know how you're doing. Should I tell her you haven't gotten sand blindness… yet…" Naruto asked, grinning mischievously. His blue eyes were shining from the sunlight, nullifying his mischievous look.
Sasuke stared at the blonde Maelstrom with a blank expression. Why was he friends with such an idiot? Sasuke exhaled slowly through his nose, and turn to walk away.
"What? Sasuke! What'd I say? ! Oi, stop walking away from me! !"
Who liked me bringing Sasuke in?
Come on, it was an awesome add on.
Admit it, you know you want to admit it.
Okay, for those who would be confused by Sasuke coming back AND being part of the Suna village... I have this theory.
I see Naruto and Sasuke's battle, Naruto does his talking/fighting thing he always does, you know the one, where he gives them an Ass-Kicking while giving an inspirational speech.
So he does that and makes Sasuke see sense. But, he wouldn't be able to go back, he's an enemy of the Village because by the time Naruto gets around to actually finding Sasuke he'll already be trying to destroy the Village. So Gaara being the awesome person he is, offers an invitation to join Sunagakure's ranks.
That's how I see it. It's my story, so you guys have to go along with it. Sorry. :)
Now onto Reviews:
Bookworm73: I've noticed that your reviews keep getting longer and longer. I like that. Lol, anyway, now to actually respond. You my friend, are really good! ;) Gaara doesn't seem like the type who would willingly teach such rambunctious genin. It's my little humor to myself. :)
Doiti Etok: You came back! I'm so happy! You might not have minded, but I am somewhat paranoid and imagining otakus all over the world hating me for writing and quitting. And they all have posh British accents too so that doesn't help much... I'm kind of crazy... ANYWAY. I don't really get what you mean by your question? How far into the story will it apply? I'm taking a wild guess, and do correct me if I'm wrong dearest, but I intend to keep the story kind of relevant to the most recent chapters and episodes of Naruto. As long as it keeps making sense in my story... if it doesn't then instead of changing my story, I'll just keep it relevant to what happened in my story. Wow this is a long review response, okay. If that's not what you meant... then please correct me, I'm an easily confused person. I will continue it, I've even set it up on a schedule! I'll continue to look forward to your reviews and respond to them as long as I'm writing this fanfic.
So, that's it for today. I'll see you guys with a new chapter next Saturday... Or late Friday, Cause I just remembered I'm having an overnight trip. Shit. Late Friday or Early Saturday my fondest readers, I love you all.
Oh, and who can guess who the other person in the chapter art is? I'll give a bowl of Ramen to those that guess correctly. :)