Chapter 11: First Impressions

Naruto was pissed. His sensei was late. Sakura was a wallflower. Sasuke was… being Sasuke. Naruto wanted something to do. Anything. Everybody else had already been picked up by their senseis! Not only that, but one of his pranks had just been foiled. And by Ino no less. That blondie was smarter than she let on. Shikamaru too. Naruto had succeeded in pranking most of the other teams when Iruka had given them lunch break.

There was the water balloons, the spicy food, the paint, of course, the itching powder, the rope trap, and finally, there was supposed to be the makeup prank. That was reserved for team, err, whatever team Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were on. Naruto was disappointed that it had failed. Hmmm. I should be careful when I'm pranking those three next time. They're sharp.

That annoyance only compounded when his sensei was late. Naruto decided that he had to do something. Grabbing an eraser from the chalkboard, Naruto crept unnecessarily stealthily toward the door. Naruto positioned the eraser just right that it would fall right on whomever walked through that door. Hopefully, it be this Kakashi guy. Chuckling evilly, Naruto crept back to his seat.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, incensed at Naruto's prank. "He's our sensei! You shouldn't prank him!" On the inside, Sakura was actually giggling herself. She really should've been worried that she could hear voices in her head. After all, that is just not normal. Sasuke just sat there, cool, calm, and collected. Totally unruffled, but totally interested. Not that he was going to let either Sakura or Naruto know that.

Naruto glanced at the pink-haired girl skeptically. "Really? You would love to prank our sensei, as long as you weren't the one getting in trouble."

Sakura blushed. "What are you suggesting, Naruto?! That I want to see our sensei get pranked?!"

Naruto only raised his eyebrow. But just as he opened his mouth to reply, the door opened and a silver-haired head poked itself in. "Yo."

Then plunk.

"…"

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hn." Sasuke raised his hands to shield his face, a shadow covering his face, both eyebrows raised. Translation: "AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sakura blushed. "Sensei! I'm so sorry! It was all Naruto's fault! He insisted on pranking you!"

Kakashi sensei, for who else could it be, stepped in through the doorway, revealing the rest of his body. He wore the standard shinobi outfit, with the exception of his headband, which covered his left eye, and a mask covering the lower half of his face. Altogether, an unimpressive figure, thought both Sasuke and Naruto, although a flicker of recognition sparked somewhere in the back of Naruto's brain.

"Is that so?" Kakashi asked, his eyebrow raised as he stared at Sakura. "I could've sworn you were the one who was yelling something about a prank when I was in the hallway.

Naruto grinned. His sense of timing was great. Lucky in fact.

Sakura blushed heavily. "B-but… I-I was… Y-You s-see… I was actually… er…"

"All this stammering," Kakashi interrupted, "Really isn't helping your case, pinky."

At the utterance of that hated nickname, Sakura's righteous fury exploded. "Pinky?! Now listen here sensei! That blonde blockhead over there is responsible for the prank, not me! Got it?! I'm innocent! Innocent, you hear!"

"Whoa there!" Kakashi said placatingly, unwittingly taking a half pace back. "Just pulling your leg. You're obviously one of the loud ones in the group."

Loud ones! Sakura groaned as the first impression she hoped to make on her sensei slipped further and further away. She was becoming like Naruto! Except, worse!

Before Sakura had a chance to respond, Kakashi continued. "Why don't we meet on the roof to introduce ourselves. And put this prank behind us, right pinkie?" Exploding in a shower of leaves, Sakura had no choice but to stew quietly in her seat, before getting up and stomping her way to the roof. Naruto chuckled quietly to himself, not wanting to direct any of Sakura's anger toward him. He rubbed at his head, where several bruises had healed, no thanks to Sakura and her temper. At least, until he learned to dodge out of the way.

Glancing at Sasuke, who stayed cool as a cucumber through all of this, Naruto glared. That guy thought he was so cool. Who was he kidding? Naruto screamed mentally, conveniently ignoring the fact that he thought he himself was all that too.

Sasuke glared back, daring Naruto to say something. Naruto thought he was so cool, pranking people all the time, getting all the attention. Who was he kidding? Sasuke conveniently ignored the fact that he thought he himself was all that too.

Neither boy realized what the other was thinking.

When all of Team 7 had gathered on the roof, Kakashi spoke up. "Alright, so why don't we introduce ourselves. You first, pinky." Kakashi smiled, or at least, his eyebrow raised, indicating that he had smiled. It was so hard to tell with his mask.

The grinding of Sakura's teeth was audible. Kakashi's inner grin only grew wider. Maybe in the future, he would have to worry about pissing this girl off, but for now, he could easily handle a fresh genin.

"First of all, my name is Haruno Sakura, not pinky!" Kakashi only eye-smiled again, indicating for Sakura to continue, which she did with some vitriol.

"And I hate being accused unjustly!" Sakura yelled out hotly, striking her fist out as her eyes burned with a righteous anger.

"So I've noticed," Kakashi said easily, "But why don't you share with us some other stuff. Like likes, hobbies, dreams, stuff like that."

"Oh… Ok," Sakura said hesitantly, the wind effectively taken out of her sails. "Um… I like, er…" Sakura glanced once at Sasuke, before blushing. "… Schoolwork!" The pink-haired girl blurted out, realizing her momentary gaffe. "My hobbies are, well…" Sakura glanced another time at Sasuke, who made an apparent effort at ignoring it. "Schoolwork!" Sakura blurted out again, needing to fill in the gap. "And I dream about-"

"Let me guess," Naruto asked with a snicker, "Schoolwork? Aka Sasuke?"

At the same time Sakura blushed beet red to her ear tips, her eyes burned red hot with fire. "Naruto, you baka! Shut up!" She tried with a quick swing to the face, but Naruto easily swayed back out of reach, scooting over to put as much distance between himself and Sakura, but keeping well away from Sasuke as well.

Sakura was mortified, though, when her sensei, Kakashi, coughed twice, obviously to hide the chuckles hiding behind his mask. Blushing tomato red, Sakura continued. "Anyways, my dream is to become a great kunoichi one day, like Tsunade-sama!"

With her eyes glazed over, Sakura completely missed Naruto's whispered muttering, "And to jump Sasuke." But Kakashi and Sasuke did, the former who coughed again to hide his chuckle and the latter who shuddered at the thought, vowing to get revenge on whatever deity had placed a fangirl on his team.

When Kakashi had controlled his suspicious coughing fit, he waved at Sakura to sit back down. "Alright, you next, blondie."

Naruto only raised an eyebrow. After years of dealing with Sasuke's too cool attitude, Naruto knew the only response was to act cool in return. He wouldn't admit that he was secretly impressed that his being the son of the Fourth Hokage didn't cow this man. "Hey, sensei, easy with the insults, alright? I'm no blonde idiot, like some people I know."

"Oh? A girlfriend, you mean?" Kakashi asked innocently, hoping to get a rise out of Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura looked on interested as well, wondering if Naruto had indeed landed a girl already.

"Tch! As if!" Pausing briefly, Naruto wondered what to say next.

He's completely oblivious to matters regarding women. Just like you, sensei. "Well, why don't you introduce yourself then, blondie"

Naruto just smirked. "Name's Namikaze Naruto, believe it!" Only Kakashi noticed Sasuke's slight tension at the name. "I like ramen a lot, but I really love Ichiraku's ramen! Their's is the best! I like training too! Especially when…" Suddenly, Naruto paused, as a crack in his happy-go-lucky demeanor suddenly appeared. It disappeared just as quickly. "I learn a new technique." But it was an empty proclamation. Naruto loved training when he trained with his friends and family. That didn't happen a lot anymore. Sasuke was quietly subdued as well. Kakashi even looked on with sympathy. Only Sakura was confused as to the possible meaning behind Naruto's words.

"I hate the three minute wait period for instant ramen! Because then, the ramen isn't instant anymore!" Naruto hesitated. There was more he could've said, but it was too personal. "My hobby is pranking people, as you may have noticed this morning." Kakashi raised his eyebrow again. He had noticed. In fact, he had been one of the people the Hokage had ranted to in the morning. Kakashi was especially surprised when he heard of how Naruto had subdued both Izumo and Kotetsu, both competent chunin.

Naruto continued. "And my dream is to one day be the greatest Hokage ever! Even better than my father, believe it!" Jumping up, Naruto struck a pose, pointing towards the horizon, his eyes burning with a conviction so strong, that Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura all couldn't help but believe in Naruto's dream just a little bit, no matter how implausible it seemed.

Shaking off the moment, Kakashi sat Naruto down and pointed to Sasuke. "Alright. Short, pale, and brooding, you're next."

Sasuke scowled. Naruto guffawed. Sakura vacillated between laughing and defending Sasuke. She settled for squirming uncomfortably.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Kakashi noted that at the mention of the name, Naruto too tensed up. Interesting. Their rift is still as bad as ever. Hmm…

Sasuke went on, his hands nestled under his chin, looking very cool, if Sakura did say so herself. Then she caught herself staring and turned away, blushing. "I like a few things, and I dislike many things, but I tolerate them. There is one thing - or man, rather - that I hate with a burning passion. My dream - no, my ambition - is to kill… him." Sasuke's eyes darkened with a momentary flare of hatred. "To avenge my clan, and restore honor, that is my ambition."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. So it was true, this boy was walking the path of an Avenger. A dangerous path. Sakura only gaped at Sasuke's coolness, but deep down, there was a part of her that was terrified with the level of hatred coming of Sasuke at the moment. Naruto though, frowned. They were my family too, he thought. It may be your clan name, but they were our family.

Kakashi frowned, though nobody could tell beneath his mask, as he thought about this dilemma. Sakura was alright, but Naruto and Sasuke… there was friction there, and if left unresolved, it could prove potentially fatal. Not only that, but both boys were emotionally scarred, and hadn't opened up properly to let those scars heal. He suspected that it had something to do with Naruto's lineage and the Uchiha's new pariah status. But it was all speculation. It would take time to work this out.

"Alright team. Nice introductions all around. Now that we're somewhat familiar with one another, it's time for our first survival exercise. We'll have it tomorrow morning at 5:00. In the morning."

"What!" Naruto cried out. "You're crazy! There's no way I'm getting up 5:00 in the morning!"

Kakashi turned a frosty glare on the loud boy. "You can, and you will, or I'll have you stripped of your precious genin rank and have you shelving books for the rest of your life, understand?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he stared his sensei down. "You can't do that."

"I can, and I will, if you push me far enough, Naruto." Looking in that one eye, Naruto suddenly realized that Kakashi was deathly serious. Gulping and taking a step back, Naruto nodded.

Suddenly, the icy climate disappeared as Kakashi's brow furled up yet again, indicating a smile. Naruto was caught off guard by the sudden change in mood. What the heck! Is this guy bipolar, or what?!

"We'll meet at training ground three. Be there, or face the consequences." Pausing to make sure that each genin got the point, Kakashi suddenly eye-smiled at the trio. "Good. Oh, and don't bother eating breakfast. You'll just throw it up."

Turning away with a final eyebrow-crinkle, Kakashi was ready to flicker out of there, when Naruto suddenly spoke up. "Wait a sec, sensei! You haven't introduced yourself yet!"

Kakashi turned back to his hopeful team. "Hmm… Oh, ok. Well, my name's Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are too numerous to recount, and my hobbies and dreams are none of your business."

Eye crinkling yet again in that annoying fashion, Kakashi burst into leaves again, leaving the three genin alone on the rooftop.

The silence was broken by Sakura. "WHAT! He only told us his name!"