Naruto: The First Step- Chapter 11
By: MidatoUchiha
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto was hated by the villagers in Konohagakure no Sato because of what was sealed inside him. He dreamed to become Hokage and finally earn the respect of all the villagers. With friends by his side, life had never gotten way easier, for Naruto, of course.
Naruto formed a hand seal never before seen by Iruka.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto proclaimed.
In a flash, thousands of shadow clones appeared in a cloud of smoke and surrounded them. Mizuki and Iruka were astonished.
"W-! How?! Impossible!" Mizuki stammered.
"Now you'll pay for this!" all the Naruto clones shouted.
All the clones including the real Naruto charged at Mizuki. The Chunnin was frozen in place. He was wondering on how Naruto managed to perform the jutsu with ease. He barely had time to react. Before he knew it, he was tackled to the ground, and attacked several times. When the clones took a step back, he was badly beaten up and was severely bleeding. All the clones disappeared the same way they had appeared. Naruto walked over to Iruka and held out his hand while smiling. Iruka took his hand while keeping his gaze on Naruto. The boy pulled him up to his feet and supported him as Iruka leaned against him. He put his sensei's arm around his shoulder and secured an arm around his middle.
"You okay, sensei?" Naruto asked.
Iruka nodded.
"How'd you do that?" Iruka asked, stunned.
"Do what? I just followed the instructions. It's no biggie," Naruto replied.
"No, I mean... no one was able to summon at least thousands of clones," Iruka said.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"A regular shinobi can only summon at least 10-20 clones only. Not thousands. It depends on the chakra capacity. It just shows you are not only the best in your batch, you are the most powerful, too. Just be careful in using it, though. It drains a lot of chakra."
"Really? Wow. I never knew."
Iruka smiled. He then remembered something. As soon as he found out, 5 ANBU came out of nowhere. They saw a beaten Mizuki and a wounded Iruka.
"What has happened here?" an ANBU with a cat mask asked.
"Naruto took down Mizuki on his own," Iruka said.
"Good job, boy. Men, take Mizuki away and get Iruka a kunoichi, he's injured," an ANBU with a dog mask said.
The ANBUs took Mizuki away. When a kunoichi took Iruka into his care, Naruto remembered something and excused himself. He went back to the tree where he hid the real scroll and took it out of his hiding place. He made the fake one disappear then he went back to Iruka and the ANBU. He held out the scroll.
"Here," he said.
The ANBU took the scroll from him.
"Thank you. You are a brave one, Naruto. I salute you," the ANBU praised.
Naruto smiled a toothy smile.
"Ossu!" he said.
The ANBU nodded then poofed away in a cloud of smoke. Naruto turned to Iruka and smiled while rubbing the back of his head.
"Thanks for protecting me from Mizuki, sensei," Naruto said.
Iruka smiled back. He pulled out Naruto's hitai-ate.
"You might forget this," Iruka said.
Naruto took it from him. "Arigato," he said.
"I hope you accomplish your dream of becoming Hokage," Iruka said.
Naruto's smile widened. He nodded his head once.
"Hai! It's a promise of a lifetime!" he said.
The next day, Naruto arrived early to find out about who will be his teammates. He hoped Sasuke and Sakura will be with him. They have grown comfortable with each other since they were small and they were an inseparable trio. Being with other kids besides them makes him uncomfortable. He's used to being with them most of the time. He knew a team composed of two boys and one girl and he hoped with all his heart he will be paired up with his best friends.
Once he arrived, he sat down in his usual chair and waited for Sasuke and Sakura to arrive. Sasuke did in five minutes. He sat beside the blond and began chatting with him. Ten minutes later, Sakura arrived and joined them. Sakura wore her hitai-ate as a headband which Naruto thought was cute on her. In a little while, all new Genins entered the room with Iruka the last to enter. He stood in front of them all.
"Kids, today is the day you will know your Genin teams. As you all know, a team must compose two boys and one girl," Iruka started.
Naruto looked at both Sasuke and Sakura and knew they were thinking the same thing he was thinking. They hoped they were paired up together.
"Let's start," Iruka said.
He began announcing the teams. The first team had Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji and their sensei is Sarutobi Asuma. The second had Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, a bug master, and Hyuuga Hinata and their sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai.
The third he called was composed of Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's cousin with a smart-ass attitude, Rock Lee, and a girl named Tenten and their sensei was Maito Gai.
"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke! Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi!" Iruka announced.
Naruto and Sakura high-fived while Sasuke just smiled. Happiness was clear in his expression. They ignored the girls who complained and whined by not having Sasuke-kun in their team.
"You will meet your Jounin senseis in a while," Iruka said.
A knock was heard. Iruka opened it and saw the senseis were already outside. Naruto was filled with excitement and hope in meeting their sensei. He hoped he would be able to get stronger in their sensei's care. In thirty minutes or so, all the other Genins left with their senseis, leaving Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura alone in the room, still waiting for their sensei.
Naruto groaned aloud. "Damn it! Where is he?!" Naruto complained.
"It's been two hours!" Sakura whined.
Meanwhile, Sasuke sat there, completely calm.
"Oi, teme! How can you be so calm and collected at this time?! Don't go brooding at this time!" Naruto said.
"You just need to be patient, dobe," Sasuke replied, though inside, he was practically crying from the waiting.
Naruto pouted. Then his face lit up as though he had thought of something, which he did. He began to get a pail and fill it with chalk dust which he got from the unclean chalk ledge. He opened the door slightly and placed the pail on top of the door.
"What the hell are you doing, dobe?!" Sasuke said.
"What do you think? Punishment. You do know it's rude to make people wait," Naruto said.
Naruto jumped back to his seat, chuckling like crazy. "Naruto, he's a Jounin. There's no way he'd fall-" Sakura was cut off as a silver haired man walked into the trap, his hair now covered with chalk dust.
Naruto laughed out loud at his success while Sakura giggled slightly. Sasuke tried to hide a smirk but failed miserably.
"He fell for it! He's a Jounin and he fell for it!" Naruto teased in between laughs.
The man looked lazy. He had spiky silver hair oriented to his left-side, dark grey eyes, and typically a relaxed, heavy-lidded expression. His left eye was hidden by a hitai-ate. This, combined with the mask he used to cover the lower half of his face, prevents most of his face from being visible. He wears Konoha's standard infantry clothing: a flak jacket, dark blue pants, and a long-sleeve shirt. He also wore finger-less gloves with metal plates on the backhand. He also had a small orange book in his hand. He dusted himself off, put the pocket book in his weapon holster, and looked lazily at the trio. He was the epitome of laziness. He even spoke in a lazy tone.
"My first impression on you three is... you're all idiots," the man said.
The three looked at him in disbelief.
"Meet me on the roof in two minutes," he said then poofed away in a cloud of smoke.
Sasuke glared at Naruto.
"Nice going, dobe," Sasuke said.
Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Sakura only giggled.