Sorry I'm a bit late, but I got lost on the road of life, heh. My skepticism is at an all time high with regards to this chapter's quality, and I rewrote it multiple times before it became what you'll read below, and I still don't feel like it's quite up to par. But I think I've made you guys wait long enough, and the sooner I start writing again the better, so hopefully you can all forgive me?

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

I'm Defying Gravity by ShadowedNara

XxX

Chapter 12

Amateur hour

I stared down at the small blade held within the box, my expression one of awe and disbelief as the blade glinted beautifully in the late afternoon sunlight. I swallowed softly before reaching in, brushing my fingertips over the cold steel from the top of the blade all the way down to the bottom.

My fingers curled around the handle, and the strangest sensation overcame me as I gently pulled the sabre from the box, goosebumps rippling across my body. As quickly as it came though, it was gone, and I admired the blade in all of its three-hundred-and-sixty degree glory. It truly was a sight to behold.

My eyes widened again as I gingerly waved the blade back and forth, a soft white streak encompassing the movements. I released a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, a childlike grin forming beneath my mask. "No freaking way!"

It had to be—hands down—one of the coolest things I'd ever seen! I remembered the legends and what it said about the blade, and I'd always thought the white streak behind the blade had been more of a myth, something created to inspire more fear or respect unto its wielder.

I took a few steps into the lounge where the area was a bit wider and gave the blade a few more swings, these ones a bit harder. There was a barely audible whistle as the blade sliced through the air, and I couldn't contain my excitement at the soft white streaks left in the sabre's wake.

The blade was surprisingly light and felt perfectly balanced. Swinging it around like I was currently doing was admittedly easy. I knew for sure that I was swinging it without any sort of form or grace, but I trusted that Kakashi would have some sort of training planned for me if he'd given it to me in the first place—

"Getting comfortable I see."

My eyes widened in absolute surprise as I jumped a solid metre off the ground and into the air, my knuckles turning white from the grip I had on the sabre. My tensed muscles relaxed as I eyed Kakashi's lazy form leaning against the front door's frame, a small bag in his hand that was wafting off delectable aromas I was only now smelling. I can't believe I hadn't noticed his approach sooner. Although in all fairness, if Kakashi didn't want to be noticed, you wouldn't notice him. It was as simple as that.

I scratched at my mask sheepishly as I looked down at the blade in my hands, a nervous chuckle escaping my lips. "I guess you could call it that. After all those stories you always told of grandpa Sakumo, I just wanted to see it for myself."

Kakashi's expression softened at that, and he held up the bag in his hands with an eye smile. "How's about we eat first and leave the serious stuff for a little later, hm?"

I nodded my head excitedly as my eyes drifted to the food, and I quickly dashed back to my room to place the blade back in the box before sliding into my seat at the table. Kakashi was already seated and handing out the packages of food he'd brought, and it was only a few more seconds before we both removed our masks and started eating. Neither one of us were in any kind of rush or necessity to keep our faces hidden, so we ate as slow as we dared considering how tasty it was.

I stole a glance at Kakashi as I swallowed a mouthful of food, sitting up a little straighter as I cleared my throat. "So uh, notice anything… different?"

Kakashi looked up from his food and gave me a rather lengthy once over, his gaze lingering over the hitai-ate on my forehead. His eye curved into a smile. "Nope. Not a thing."

My expression dropped into a deadpan, and I went back to eating my food. "Uh huh. Well, now that I passed my graduation exam, I'm officially a ninja."

Kakashi's eye sparkled with amusement as he swallowed another mouthful of noodles. "Oh? How'd you figure that?"

I dropped my chopsticks and flicked a finger at my hitai-ate, a quick 'ping' echoing around the kitchen. "This little piece of metal attached to this headband attached to my forehead," I muttered matter-of-factly, my expression almost smug.

Kakashi stared at me for a few seconds before the silence was broken by his giggles, his finger wagging at me chidingly. "A hitai-ate does not a ninja make. It does however make you slightly less susceptible to injuries around the forehead region."

My expression fell flat again, and I rolled my eyes as Kakashi's giggles abated, his eye still curved into that smile. "You're insane," I muttered around the noodles in my mouth, fighting the grin that was trying to show up on my face.

"Clinically," he agreed, his eye curving again as a few chuckles escaped his lips. "Though I prefer mentally creative."

I nearly choked on my food as he spoke, and by the time I finally managed to get the noodles down I was crying tears of laughter. "And I'm your son… what does that make me?"

Kakashi looked at me faux-seriously, his chopsticks hovering a little over his noodles. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Insanity, brilliance… it's remarkable how often those two traits coincide."

I stared at my father as he spoke those words, and I couldn't help but agree. Just look at all the greats. The First Hokage had been a bit of a nutter, and he was considered one of the strongest shinobi to ever live. Jiraiya of the Sannin had his own personal brand of madness in the form of perversion, Orochimaru in his unrelenting quest for immortality and his fetish with snakes, and Tsunade in her obsessive-compulsive need to gamble and drink. They all had their quirks, and one thing they all had in common… they were all S-ranked shinobi.

I smiled in agreement, placing my chopsticks on my plate and leaning back in my chair with a content sigh. "'No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.' Or so the saying goes."

Kakashi stood from his seat and grabbed both our bowls and the empty packaging lying around, dropping them in the basin and bin respectively. I jumped up from my own seat and began clearing away the rest of the mess on the table, the sound of porcelain clinking together filling the air as Kakashi started on the dishes.

"So," I started slowly, leaning back against the table and staring at the back of Kakashi's head. "The White Light Chakra Sabre, huh?"

"The White Light Chakra Sabre," he echoed with a nod.

"It's pretty cool," I murmured thoughtfully, thinking back to the way it left those streaks of white as I swung it.

"The coolest," he agreed easily. The sound of running water suddenly stopped, and he turned around with a dish towel clutched in his hands. "But only when used by someone who knows how. And you don't know how. Not yet."

My eyes widened slightly, and a sort of giddiness suddenly rippled throughout my body. "Not yet, huh? So you are gonna teach me?"

Kakashi's eyes sparkled with amusement, and he wagged another finger at me chidingly. "All in due time, son. Haste makes waste. All in due time."

My feet crunched along the dirt road as I ambled towards the Academy in no rush whatsoever. It was team placements today, and we'd been told to be at the Academy by noon. Taking that into account, I'd decided to sleep in a little this morning. After my sleep-in, a somewhat large breakfast and any post-dawdling from this morning, I was on track to be more or less right on time for a change.

I had a feeling this was something I didn't want to be late for considering it's importance. Kakashi also hadn't been at home this morning when I'd woken up, so there was no unnecessary stalling from his end either. I had an inkling his absence had to do with the fact that he was getting a team this year though.

He assured me that he wouldn't be my sensei however. While I know he wanted nothing more, he'd expressed that it would constitute a conflict of interest and it would be more than a little irresponsible. He'd admitted that in such a situation, playing favourites would be an easy task, and Kakashi would without a doubt look out for my own well being above the rest of the team's every time.

Besides, I knew he was probably going to be Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's team sensei, and I'd hate to be the one to break up something so fundamental. Hopefully things would change a bit though, because Sasuke going off on his own to avenge his clan wouldn't do. Thinking back, Sasuke meeting up again prematurely with Itachi was something of a catalyst that broke the final straw with Sasuke. If I could prevent that from happening, I think I'd be able to keep him in the village.

My thoughts were brought to a halt as I found myself stepping into the Academy building, my sandal-clad feet slapping softly at the hardwood floor. The little leaflet Iruka gave me told me to meet at his own classroom, the one located right at the very end of the hall. Finding it proved to be no problem, and I hesitated all of one second before sliding the door to his class open and stepping through.

The sound of voices chattering away immediately filled my ears, though it died down rather quickly as my presence became known. My eyes panned from the right of the class to the left, and believe it or not, almost everyone was here. Pretty much all of the Rookie Nine in the flesh, with the exception of a few still missing. There were also a few other graduates I'd never seen before, the ones I'm assuming ended up failing their jōnin test and either got sent to the Genin Corps, or gave up on the ninja life altogether.

Everybody was quiet and still as I stood in the doorway, and it was only once I slid the door shut behind me did the noise start up again.

"Hey kid, this class is for graduates only," Shikamaru Nara drawled lazily, his eyes scrutinising as he stood at the top of the class. "I'd mosey on out of here before our sensei shows up if I were you."

I rolled my eyes. For an intelligent person, he could be really unobservant it seemed. I flicked a thumb up at my hitai-ate, shrugging my shoulders languidly as I did so. "I was under the distinct impression that receiving one of these after passing the ninjutsu exam made me a graduate. Was I wrong?"

Shikamaru opened and closed his mouth a few times before releasing a massive sigh, two fingers coming up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Troublesome. No need to be such an ass about it."

I blew out a breath of air, snorting at his comment. "Says the guy who tried to kick me out of here the first chance he got."

Shikamaru simply shrugged his shoulders in return, his expression mellowing as he looked me up from bottom to top. "So how old are you anyways? I've never seen you around before, so you've gotta be at least a few years younger than the rest of us. That's not even mentioning your distinct lack of height."

I frowned, though was cut off from retorting as another voice spoke up. "H-He's as old as my younger sister," Hinata suddenly cut in, a small smile on her face as she watched me from her seat. I nodded my head at her with an eye smile, waving softly. At least there was someone here that I actually knew.

"Wait a minute, you know this brat Hinata?" That voice belonged to the one and only Naruto Uzumaki. Surprisingly enough he'd been perfectly quiet in his seat next to Sasuke up until now, lying silently on his arms. I could already tell things were going to start escalating soon.

Hinata nodded along to Naruto's words, though turned beet red and seemed to be seizing up in her seat. I doubted she'd be capable of speaking another word for the rest of the morning.

I turned my eyes to Naruto, the boy in question having stood to his feet after he started speaking. All things considered, he didn't look all that impressive, not even a little bit. Granted Naruto was never one to look impressive, but he achieved some pretty impressive feats a little later down the line. Right now he looked nothing short of ordinary, in every sense of the word. Although that orange jumpsuit was a complete eyesore. My skin was actually crawling a little just looking at it.

I cleared my throat, getting the blonde's attention. "Me and her younger sister are best friends, so yes, we do know each other."

"That still hasn't answered my question," Shikamaru cut in, arms folded across his chest and looking for all the world like being annoyed was a monumental task. "Could you please fill in the rest of us who don't know how young her sister is?"

There was suddenly a rather loud yipping coming from the back of the class, and Kiba was next on his feet, descending to the front of the class with a swagger to his step like he owned the place. Akamaru was perched snugly inside Kiba's wooly jacket, his small little head sticking out from within. I watched as Kiba smirked, exposing his canines in a cocksure grin. "I don't care how old he is, so long as he remembers who's the alpha around here."

Naruto barked a short laugh at the Inuzuka, looking at him with a condescending expression. "Yeah, you're not the alpha, dog-breath."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, his arms crossed and his expression unimpressed as the Inuzuka in question growled angrily at Naruto. "If anyone's alpha around here it's Sasuke. He wasn't Rookie of the year for nothing."

The aforementioned Uchiha allowed the minutest of smirks to grace his features before he once again hid his expression behind steepled fingers. The Nara turned his lazy eyes back to me, and his whole body seemed to sigh as the lack of answer to his question continued.

"I'm nine," I answered quickly, finally having a chance to get a word in conversation-wise. These people were barely giving me any chance to talk at all. It was honestly a little tiring. I was suddenly second guessing my decision to come here on time today. Being on the receiving end of an interrogation had not been on my list of things to do for the day.

Shikamaru fell into his seat as his question was finally answered, dropping his face into his folded arms with a long sigh. "Troublesome."

"Don't mind them," someone suddenly mumbled beside me, the voice accompanied by the sound of chewing food. I glanced to my left to find Chōji Akimichi watching me with a soft smile, his hand outstretched with a bag of chips on offer. "It's just a little surprising having someone as young as you graduating with us."

I politely declined the chips, Chōji shrugging his shoulders and finishing the bag off before promptly pulling out another and continuing as before. As much as I'd like a few chips, I was the centre of attention of this entire class at the moment, and I didn't need to go cause trouble now in the form of trying to keep my mask up.

I appreciated Chōji's easy acceptance of the situation though, and I couldn't help smiling a little. In the few seconds I'd known him, he was easily one of the nicest guys I'd had the pleasure of meeting so far.

"Indeed, you must be incredibly skilled to be a part of our graduating class." The voice was unmistakably flat and neutral, and everyone's eyes fell on Shino Aburame as he adjusted his glasses. "Why? Because as you mentioned before, you are only nine, a full three to four years our younger."

The Aburame's words were blunt, concise and logical, nothing less than expected from a member of his clan. His words unfortunately had the added benefit of drawing everyone's attention back to me again, and they seemed to have reminded everyone of just how young I really was, the weight of that finally seeming to sink in.

Shikamaru was sitting up straight again, his eyes slightly narrowed and calculating, while Kiba's expression was nothing short of feral. Sasuke had a strange gleam in his eyes, and Naruto's clenching fists were starting to make me a little nervous. I was pretty sure I knew exactly what was running through all their minds at the moment. I gulped surreptitiously, my eyes scanning around the room as the tension kept building and building and building—

Only to be suddenly broken as a pink-haired Sakura Haruno and a blonde-headed Ino Yamanaka came barrelling into the classroom, spilling onto the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. Their loud voices instantly filled the entire room, and all eyes were drawn to them. I took that moment to hurriedly slip into the seat beside Hinata. I figured I'd stick close to one of the only people here I actually knew.

"I win again Sakura!"

"Nuh uh, I was at least a tenth of a centimetre ahead of you!"

"No ways! Have you always been this delusional Forehead?"

"Have you always been this dimwitted Ino-pig?"

I cringed as the volume of their voices reached my ears. It didn't help that in my current seat, I was pretty close to the door, and therefore pretty close to the duo of screaming banshees. I leaned closer to Hinata, glancing at Sakura and Ino out of the corner of my eyes. "Are they always this loud?"

Hinata still seemed unable to speak, but she did manage a small shaky nod, her expression as cringed as my own. I turned back to look at the two raging pre-teens at the front of the class, though winced as Ino's blue-green eyes stared straight back into my own.

"Hey! Who's the pint-sized tiddlywink?" Her finger was outstretched and pointed right in my face, and her unfortunately loud voice was rattling my poor eardrums without a shred of remorse. Leave it to Ino to actually have a few skills of observation and immediately notice when there was someone who didn't belong.

"For the love of—do you have to be so loud Ino? We're all sitting right next to you." Shikamaru's expression was a combination of pained and exhausted, and he honestly looked it as he spoke in a pleading voice, practically begging the blonde to ease up on the volume. I silently had to agree with him. It would be much appreciated if she could just tone it down a few notches.

Her hand that had been pointed at me flew to her hip, and she levelled a withering glare at the poor Nara, his expression turning slightly frightful as the blonde Yamanaka focused all her ire onto him. Shikamaru simply closed his eyes and fell back onto his crossed arms, hoping to stay out of sight and out of mind. She kept up her glare for a few more seconds before turning back to me, her expression seeming to ask, 'Well? What do you have to say for yourself?'

I opened my mouth to speak, but was once again cut off as Chōji spoke up, his voice muffled around the chips in his mouth. "He's another graduate from a few years below us—"

"Yes, I can see that food-boy, he is wearing a hitai-ate like the rest of us," she interrupted, rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I had to give her points again for her observation though. Chōji just shrugged his shoulders, completely nonplussed by the blonde's attitude. She tilted her head to the side as she stared at me, her voice softer and her expression genuinely curious. "So what's your name kid?"

"It's Shiro. And I'm nine by the way," I added as an afterthought, hoping to answer any further questions from her before she could ask them. Right now, I honestly just wanted to follow Shikamaru's lead and lay my head on my arms.

Sakura suddenly poked her head out from around Ino's shoulder, her expression disinterested as she looked me up and down with her hands similarly on her hips. She suddenly shifted her attention to another part of the class, and I had to roll my eyes as she stared love-struck at the Uchiha beside Naruto. "I bet my Sasuke is still the best of the best. Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

Ino's head suddenly snapped to the side, and both girls wrestled with each other as they fought their way towards the other side of the class. I actually felt a little sorry for the guy as they invaded the area around his desk. But the attention was now off me, so following suit with Shikamaru a few seats away, I put my head down on my arms and closed my eyes. I really hoped Iruka would get here soon.

There was a sudden commotion on the other side of the class, and I peeked an eye out from my laid down position just in time to see Sasuke and Naruto lock lips, both wearing equally horrified expressions. I suppressed the urge to snort and just put my head back down. It was a little strange to be reminded that all these people around me were still very much kids. Not nearly as young as my age group, but still kids nonetheless.

The stuff that they'd be forced to see, the things they'd be forced to do in the coming months... it was a sobering thought, and a little sad to realise the reality of it all.

I heard the door to the class slide open as feet quickly began shuffling around the class, and Iruka's calm voice filtered across the room, prompting me to sit back up and take my head off my arms. "All right guys, settle down, settle down. As of today, you are all ninjas of the Hidden Leaf. You've faced many hardships along the way, but that's nothing compared to what comes next. You'll be faced with trials and obstacles of an entirely different calibre from here on, so I'd like to wish you all good luck in your futures as ninja."

Iruka's eyes briefly met mine, and he gave me a small nod, my lips quirking into a small smile beneath my mask. He pulled out a piece of paper then, clearing his throat once more to get everyone's attention. "I will now announce the teams for this year's graduating class, so please listen up."

I watched as teams were called out one by one, not really taking note of all the faces I'd never seen before. I was glad to hear though that all the teams I knew from the Rookie Nine were the same as before. There was just one problem though. Everyone's name had been called out… besides mine. All the teams had been filled, and the students were all slowly departing for lunch.

A small bubble of panic formed in the back of my mind, but I squashed it as quickly as it came. Iruka didn't seem outwardly alarmed by the fact that I was still sitting snugly in my seat, so I took a deep breath and waited as students slowly began leaving the classroom.

"Shiro, please stay behind for a minute. I need to discuss something with you."

I shook off the daze I'd been in for a few seconds and glanced up at Iruka, the young chūnin sitting behind his desk and watching me calmly. I guess I was right in assuming there was a plan for me after all. I made my way to the bottom of the class and waited at his desk, his hands fiddling around in his pocket before he pulled out another small piece of paper.

"Seeing as your graduation led to an odd number of graduates this year, you will not be placed into a team as is the norm. Instead, you will be apprenticed under a single jōnin. Unfortunately no name was given, but I was told to give you this."

I took the piece of paper he handed me, folding it open and eyeing the only writing located on the page: Hokage Monument. Five minutes.

I shoved the piece of paper into my back pocket before giving Iruka a two-fingered salute and sprinting out the class. "Thanks Iruka-sensei, I'll see you around!"

"Good luck!"

Damn it was difficult to write all the rookies together like that, I think I may have missed the mark in a few places. Oh well. What I wouldn't give for another two months of beautiful, sweet holiday!

Happy belated New Year's everyone, hope you guys had fun! Also, please don't hate me when I say not to expect another chapter anytime soon. My Uni starts again in a few weeks, and the prep and actual work I'll be doing is pretty enormous. My time won't be my own anymore, but I'll try my best to keep writing. Just please bare with me guys. Thanks, you're the best!

Aero-mousse dusted with honeycomb and a dollop of hazelnut ice-cream for your thoughts?