Naruto

Chapter 10: Why me?

Iruka-sensei called out the names of the people, and what teams they were supposed to be on, as well as who their senseis were. I just tuned him out and took a nap until I heard my name.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto!" I looked up. " You three will be on Team 7, and your Jounin Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi!" Well, that does it. Now I can't go back to sleep. I resigned myself to simply sitting there, analyzing my new teammates. Uchiha Sasuke - nothing special. He was the 'best of the class' - but in reality, he was a failure, and he knew it. After the Uchiha Massacre, Sasuke became more and more antisocial than normal and would respond to any attempt to talk to him with a glare. Of course, this was extremely annoying, but his fangirls were even more ridiculous - they just idolized the damn fool more.

Next was Haruno Sakura. She was bad. She was beyond bad. She was disgraceful, and absolutely ruined the title of kunoichi. She focused more on her looks, rather than on her studies and practical knowledge of the ninja world. Out of all of Sasuke's fangirls, she was by far the most devoted, as well as the weakest, and the only reason she got this far was with near-perfect chakra control and book smarts. As if book smarts would get you far in this world. And her perfect control? She had such tiny reserves, it was like finding a puddle about 1 inch across and 1 inch wide. I did have a crush on her, but that was a long time ago, and ended rather violently. Suffice to say, she keeps her mouth mostly shut when she is near my sister.

Of course, the thing that garnered the most attention was, "Why isn't Koto-chan on my team?" So, I decided to wait to hear what team the school faculty/Hokage/whoever does it decided to assign my sister.

"WHAT?! IRUKA-SENSEI, WHY IS NARUTO-BAKA ON OUR TEAM!"

After the class managed to bring some hearing to their damaged eardrums, Iruka-sensei answered the pink-haired banshee.

"The reason that you three are a team is because, Sakura, you have the best mental scores, Sasuke has the best physical scores, and Naruto is the worst at both, so it makes an evenly-based team." Iruka-sensei smirked at me, and I at him; I had asked him to say that, to better hide my abilities. He understood, and congratulated me on "holding onto secrets like a true shinobi of Konoha". Though, to be honest, it would make people underestimate me more.

"Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata! You will be on Team 8, and your Jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai! Team 9 is in another class, and is Team Gai... Team 10 will be led by Sarutobi Asuma, and will include Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino! That is all."

I was confused and outraged. Apparently, so was Koto, because we both stood up at the same time. "Iruka-sensei," I began calmly. I yelled, "WHY ISN'T KOTODAMA-CHAN ON MY TEAM?" While Kotodama yelled "WHY AREN'T I ON A TEAM AT ALL?!"

Iruka sensei looked pained for a second, then replied after a few minutes of us staring at him. "Umm... We should probably talk with Hokage-sama." He said. "Alright, class, there will be a 2-hour break before your sensei's come to pick you up." We walked out, and went to the Hokage Tower.

When we entered the office, I didn't waste any time. "Oji, why isn't Koto-chan on my team, or on a team at all." The old man rubbed his temples, as if he had expected this reaction.

"You see, Naruto-kun, Kotodama-chan, there are enough people here for the teams that have already been called. It seems that Kotodama is an extra student, literally. However, don't despair; I have this planned out. She will be rotated - in other words, she will switch from team to team over the course of four months. Since she is one of the Rookie Ten- one of the most distinguished Genin of this year's graduating class, not including Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten, who are one year you're senior - she'll spend time with each of the rookie teams."

"..." I sighed. There were no weak spots in the old man's logic; even if there were, he was the Hokage, and his word was law. "Fine, Hokage-oji. If you say so." I said. I didn't dare contradict him; I might not like it, but for now...

Kotodama-chan was the one person who I had to worry about. She looked like she wanted to cry, so I hugged her close to me. The smell of honey made itself known, and we stood like that for a couple of minutes, before softly asking the old man, "What team... what team will she start on?"

The Hokage looked at me with those piercing eyes, practically staring into my soul. Involuntarily, I shuddered. "Naruto-kun... Kotodama-chan will start her rotation with Team 10. In four months, she will be moved to Team 9. Four months after that, she will be moved to Team 8. Then, she will be moved to Team 7. You see, this is also a good way to gauge her skills; this will allow us to see what she is best suited for, as well as in what environment she thrives in."

"I... see." I replied, before looking once more at my sister. Her face was sad. "Hey, don't worry," I said, comforting her. "Everything will be fine, just you see. Besides, we'll still be able to see each other. I mean, we live together, so there's not that much to worry about."

She looked at me for a couple of minutes, before saying, "Okay."

The old man smiled at us, and said, "The two-hour break is nearly over; Iruka, make sure that Kotodama goes to the correct classroom, okay?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. It shall be done." Iruka-sensei said. "Alright, let's go. Kotodama, you'll be in classroom 324, okay? Follow me." And with that, we were gone.

S-98: Hello, it's me again... sorry about the wait. It is summertime, but I've been helping JG-san with his story, "Uchiha Heiress", and the whole idea for Genesis took a while to cook up... So, here we are, with Chapter 10 of What a World We Live In. Expect the next chapter of "Memoirs of a Surrogate Shinigami" soon as well; helping JG has drastically improved my story-telling abilities (I think), so it will be a marked improvement. I don't know if I want to edit/change the earlier chapters, since their rather... awkward. I have no idea. Anyway, R&R! Ja ne!

P.S.: In case you were wondering, I am purposely making the chapters like this, in order to better cover the two's perspectives of events.