Chapter 12:
Matsuri paced back and forth, glancing at the clock on the table every few minutes. Even Sasuke was getting kinda antsy, though only people who knew the Uchiha well would be able to tell. His face was pinched, and instead of sitting relaxed, with a small smirk on his lips, Sasuke was sitting with his arms crossed. Every few minutes, the Uchiha would glance at the door, before staring holes onto the tabletop.
It was getting dark, and Naruto hadn't come back to his and Sasuke's apartment yet. There was definitely something wrong.
And with the Alarm going off a few hours before…
That was enough, Matsuri wasn't going to wait any longer headed straight for the door, not caring that the signal that all was clear hadn't sounded yet.
By the way that Sasuke got up from his seat, Matsuri knew that he was tired of waiting too and agreed with Matsuri's decision to ignore the rules of waiting for the all clear. Not when Naruto was still out there, possibly hurt and in danger.
Matsuri wrenched the door and plowed face first into Naruto orange clad chest.
"Woah, easy there, Matsuri-chan!" Naruto said, steadying Matsuri, and giving him a sheepish grin.
Matsuri's words of worry died on his lips as his eyes spotted the glint of metal on Naruto's forehead. Sasuke stopped next to him, and he too stared at the forehead protector that Naruto was proudly sporting. Matsuri could tell that his friend was holding back his excitement, waiting for them to say something about his hitai-ate.
Matsuri obliged. "Naruto! I thought you didn't..."
Naruto grinned weakly at that, hand going to his head a bit sheepishly. "Well, I sorta didn't. But I kind of passed a different test... Sorry, I'm not allowed to tell you about it... But, I'm a genin now!" Naruto stated happily, jumping from one foot to the other.
Sasuke and Matsuri shared a look, before a grin broke on Matsuri's face, not that the other two could see. "That's amazing, Naruto! Since we couldn't do it today, let's go out to celebrate tomorrow, after registration?"
"Yes! Ramen!"
"No, dobe. Not again."
"Shut up, Sasuke! Ramen is the food of the Gods!"
"We graduated too. We have a say so in what we eat too."
"Humph! Well, Matsuri-chan agrees with me, right Matsuri-chan?! Ramen, ramen, RAMEN!"
Matsuri shook his head fondly at them as the two other boys started wrestling each other.
Obviously, Naruto had a lot of energy left over from whatever he'd done.
He sort of felt bad for Sasuke.
But not bad enough to interfere.
Sasuke could take care of himself. He was Naruto's roommate after all. The Uchiha was used to Naruto's abundant amounts of energy.
Matsuri pretended not to notice Sasuke's pleading looks.
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Matsuri went back to his apartment, leaving Naruto passed out on the floor, and Sasuke on his way to getting there. For once, Naruto had been the first one out like a light, with Sasuke only awake enough to walk Matsuri to the door and lock it behind him.
Matsuri chuckled as he remembered the look on Naruto's face when he'd agreed with Sasuke instead of him about getting something other than ramen.
The betrayal on his blond friend's face had been priceless.
Still chuckling, Matsuri unlocked his door and went into his apartment. He'd left the light's off, so the space looked really dark. Since Matsuri wasn't sleepy yet, he turned on the light and walked over to favorite spot. It was a table, and on the table there were pictures.
Shisui was the one on most of them, along with the one of his sister that Matsuri had managed to keep.
At first, Matsuri hadn't had any of Shisui. Then, on Matsuri's birthday, he'd opened the storage scroll that Shisui had told him to open on that day. There had been a total of four items. One of them had been in a photo album, with most of the pictures being of Matsuri. Usually, the one that had taken the pictures had been Shisui. The few of Shisui, Matsuri had taken out and made a shrine of, along with the one picture of his sister.
The other three things had been a set of swords: a katana, a wakizashi, and a tanto. All had black sheaths and looked wicked when he'd looked at the blades. Since he didn't know who could teach him kenjutsu, Matsuri kept the swords above the shrine. Hopefully, now that he was a genin, Matsuri would be able to find a teacher.
"Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't come to tell you earlier. Was having a bit of a crisis... but everything's fine now." Matsuri pulled down his mask, and gazed sadly at the pictures. "I passed, and so did Sasuke and Naruto. You wouldn't believe how worried I was about Naruto, he didn't pass the test but he came home and said he took a different test that he did pass. Apparently, he can't tell us about it, so I'm guessing it had something to do with the alarm that went on today. But, now we're all genin."
For a few minutes, Matsuri stayed quiet, thinking, remembering, before focusing on the present again. "I... I hope you're both proud of me." Matsuri bowed his head, before pushing himself up and going to his room.
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The next few days passed incredibly fast. The trio went to celebrate, though a traumatised Naruto refused to eat the barbecue until Matsuri had promised to buy him three bowls of ramen on the way home.
After they had registered and taken their genin pictures for their folders, they'd gone off to train. That was the most the group had done during those days.
"Matsuri-channnnnn, no!" Naruto whined as he begrudgingly followed Matsuri down the street. An amused Sasuke trailing a few steps behind. "I don't want to! Seriously, why?!"
"I need a new outfit. You wanted to come." Matsuri glanced over his shoulder, amused at the pout that Naruto had on his face.
"Yeah, but that was before you said that we were going to look for clothes! I thought you were going to train or something!" Naruto groaned, and kicked at a rock, making it shoot down the road a bit.
Matsuri shrugged again, and couldn't keep the chuckle at bay. "You weren't listening to me then, because I told you exactly where I was going."
Naruto sputtered, his face turning red.
"Besides, you can get something new. Sasuke too." Matsuri stated, and walked into the store that Shisui had taken him too all those years ago. He didn't know what he was going to get yet, but he'd keep the theme of big sleeves. He liked being able to hide what hand seals he was using.
The store owner greeted them cheerfully, not even batting an eyelash at the blond troublemaker that had accompanied Matsuri. He was one of the few of the citizens that actually enjoyed talking to Naruto, that was why Matsuri came to this store more often than any other. Plus, he didn't jack up the prices on them like the others did.
"Why would I want anything? My jumpsuit is fine!" Naruto complained, though he scanned the racks of clothing.
"Hn, that thing is is old." Sasuke put in, also looking through a few pants.
Naruto shot the quietest member of their group a glare. "Not true! I got it just last year!"
Matsuri had to roll his eyes at that, but didn't reply as he searched for something different. He didn't want light colors, or even bright colors. He would stay with black pants, but he wanted something that wouldn't attract too much attention during missions. He doubted that they would be allowed out the gates anytime soon, but still. Now was a good time as any to get something that would work better than the white shirt he had now. Maybe a blue or dark grey color...
Just then, his eyes caught sight of something. It was dark blue with grey trimming. He pulled it out and studied it closely. It was sort of a simple, half kimono. It was tight, but also loose in the sleeves. It wasn't overly girly either, so Matsuri liked it.
When Matsuri tried it on, it hit a couple of inches above his thigh. The sleeves were longer than that and covered his hands. The obi was grey like the trimming. Overall, Matsuri liked it.
He took it off and grabbed a few more of that style, before going over to the tight shirts that kinda looked like turtle neck shirts. The neck part was longer and acted more as a mask. There was no way that it could fall or be pulled off. Not like the mask he had on right now. The teen grabbed a couple of those in different colors, before heading over to the counter.
"Found everything?" The owner asked with a grin as he tallied the purchases.
"Yes, thank you." Matsuri smiled up at the man, who nodded and told him the total. Happily, Matsuri handed over the money, and grabbed the bag that held his clothes with the other hand.
"Please, come again." The man waved and went back to sorting something behind the counter.
"Finally! Time to go eat!"
"Hn."
The cry from Naruto and grunt from Sasuke made Matsuri notice that he'd taken longer than he'd thought.
Opps... They weren't going to like his next stop. "Hair cut."
"What?!"
Sasuke just had a pained expression on his face.
"I told you what I was going to do..." Though, it shouldn't take too long... All he needed was to shorten his hair a tiny bit. Maybe by three or seven inches. It had grown really long and having hair that long would be troublesome. He did like having his hair up and in a ponytail, but he didn't want it to reach all the way down to his thigh. That was Ino's thing, not his. To his shoulder or a little below that was perfect for Matsuri.
"But-but I'm hungry! Matsuri-channnnn!"
Matsuri held back a sigh, though his eyebrow twitched slightly as Naruto continued to whine as he lead the way down the street.
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Matsuri sat at his desk, Naruto to his left, and Sasuke on his right. They had made it to the Academy early and they'd instantly regretted that decision.
Being the first ones there, they had to wait about twenty minutes before the next person trudged through the door.
"This is so boringggggg." Naruto moaning, tugging at his hair, not that it made any difference to its looks. It looked a spiky mess, and it stayed a spiky mess. Matsuri knew, he'd tried to comb it one time. Never again.
Matsuri inwardly groaned, and rolled his eyes from behind the scroll that he'd taken out of his front pouch, the one Shisui had given him.
It had begun.
"Matsuri-channnnn, whatcha reading? Why are you reading? Isn't that boring? What's it about?" Naruto tried to peer over Matsuri's shoulder, asking a new question as soon as he finished the one before.
"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke finally had enough, and threw a scrunched up piece of paper at Naruto, hitting him in the face.
Naruto, for the most part looked surprised. Then the disgruntlement began. "Sasuke! Why'd you do that for?! All I was doing was asking a question!"
"Hn, stop annoying her." Sasuke stated.
"I'm not annoying her, right Matsuri-chan?!"
Matsuri didn't get the chance to answer, because just then the classroom door opened. A stream of Academy graduates made their way to desks, staying close to people that they were familiar with.
Some of the ones that entered, Matsuri hadn't been in class with, or didn't interact with at all.
"Yo, why are you guys already here?" Kiba walked over to the trio, a wide grin on his face. Then his eyes landed on Naruto, and he did a double take. "Naruto? I thought you didn't pass?"
Naruto grinned at the Inuzuka and fiddled with his headband. "I did this other test and passed!"
Kiba grinned, smacking Naruto on the arm hard. "That's awesome, dude! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"
Naruto chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Opps...?"
Kiba rolled his eyes, and turned to Matsuri. His eyes widened and his face turned slightly pink. "M-morning, Matsuri-chan! Hope that idiot didn't get on your nerves this whole week."
Matsuri dismissed the blush, and chuckled. "Not more than the usual."
"Heyyyy!" Naruto whined, and pouted.
Kiba laughed and went to sit down on the other side of Sasuke. The two loudmouths talked over Sasuke and Matsuri's head, and shouting out insults jokingly. Kiba shot looks at Matsuri every now and then, but no one noticed. Akamaru barked intermittently in between, getting laughs or blushes from Kiba and more whines from Naruto.
Just then, Sakura and Ino fought their way into the room, pushing each other and pulling hair.
"Sasuke-kun is mine!"
"No he's not, Billboard brow! Sasuke-kun is mine!"
Sasuke groaned quietly, and Matsuri sent him a sympathetic look.
Over the years, especially since turning eleven, all of the girls, except for a couple, had grown even worse with their obsessions. Sakura and Ino being two of them.
"Move!" Both shouted at Kiba. They didn't say anything to Matsuri, they'd learned long ago that Sasuke wouldn't stand for it.
Everyone could see how close the three had become. Though Matsuri would get ambushed if he went somewhere by himself. It was always either to get information on Sasuke or to threaten Matsuri not to fall for Sasuke. It never got past threats though. Matsuri was incredibly good at getting away from people. Almost as good as Naruto was. Though, Matsuri still couldn't manage to loose all ANBU that tailed them. Naruto, on the other hand, could slip away with incredible ease.
It was frustrating to say the least.
"Alright, everyone quiet down!" The voice of Iruka did nothing to tame the shouting match between the girls and Kiba.
"I said shut up!" Iruka yelled, and this time everyone quieted down, the girls grumbling and going to sit at the closest free seats they could get to.
"Alright, I'll be calling your names in groups of three. You will go on lunch, make sure to get to know your new teammates. Once lunch is over, you'll come back here and wait for your new sensei's to pick you up."
With that, Iruka began to call out names. Matsuri zoned out for the most part, until he heard familiar names.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Matsuri Mori, and Sasuke Uchiha. You are team seven." Iruka didn't say who their sensei would be, like he had for the other teams.
"Yesssss!" Naruto waved his hands up in the air happily.
Sasuke didn't say anything but he looked very pleased, if the smirk on his face was anything to go by.
Matsuri grinned, though Naruto could get annoying sometimes, and Sasuke could get pretty arrogant if not knocked down a peg, those two were still his best friends and it was good that they would continue to be so in their shinobi career.
Iruka made Naruto shut up, before continuing with the list.
When lunchtime came around, the three friends stayed in their seats. Matsuri reached into his pouch and took out a sealing scroll. He pumped a bit of chakra into it and three bento boxes appeared. He passed one to Sasuke and the other to Naruto.
"These look delicious, Matsuri-chan! Did you make them yourself?" Naruto broke apart his chopsticks and dug in.
Matsuri nodded as he broke his own chopsticks apart. "Yeah, I've been trying out some cooking book that I found. Some of the stuffs weird but it's all pretty good."
"Hn." Sasuke said as he stuffed a slice of tomato into his mouth.
Matsuri dug into his own food, the day had started out a bit hectic. But being in a team with Sasuke and Naruto... Well, he couldn't have asked for anything better.
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"Why the hell is he so late?!" Naruto groaned in frustration. It had already been a couple of hours since Iruka had bailed on them. He hadn't even had the decency to tell them who their new sensei would be.
Matsuri sighed, feeling a bit irritated, though he didn't show it. Naruto was restless enough for all of them.
"That's it!" Naruto shouted, pushing himself out of his seat and stalking over to the chalk board.
Matsuri perked up a bit as he watched his friend gather chalk dust onto the eraser and very carefully, placed it above the door.
"This'll show him!" Naruto called, making sure that it wouldn't fall ahead of time, before heading back to them.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, but didn't comment on the prank. More often than not, Naruto's pranks worked even when it was logical that there would be no way in hell that they should.
If ANBU fell for them, than a jounin would be easy enough to catch off guard.
Lo and behold, as soon as Naruto sat down, the door was pushed open and a head popped in.
A silver head with a mask a lot like Matsuri's own.
As soon as it registered to Matsuri that it was Kakashi that was their sensei, the eraser fell on top of Kakashi's head, coating his silver hair in white dust.
Naruto burst into laughter while Sasuke gave the blond a smirk, and Matsuri stared in surprise.
"My first impression of you three: Childish." While Naruto sputtered and Sasuke looked affronted, Kakashi turned. "Meet me on the roof."
The three boys shared a look before making their way up the stairs and onto the roof. They saw Kakashi waiting for them, an orange book in his hand, so they sat in front of him and waited for their sensei to speak first.
Kakashi studied them for a moment as he put his book away, looking from Naruto, to Matsuri, and finally to Sasuke. To Matsuri, the man looked more amused than anything, though he wasn't completely sure about that. His eye might have stayed longer on Matsuri, but he could have just been imagining that.
"Alright, since we don't really know each other, introduce yourselves. Likes, dislikes, dreams, that sort of thing."
Matsuri looked over at Naruto, then at Sasuke, before turning back to Kakashi. "Um, can you go first so we know what to do?"
For a moment, Matsuri thought he saw amusement flash through his uncovered eye. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are none or your business, my dislikes are also none of your buisness and my dreams... well, you're too young to know my dreams." Kakashi giggled.
Matsuri's eyes widened slightly as he watched the man that had brought him to Konoha giggle like that. It was kinda creepy.
"So we basically know nothing about you! That's not fair!" Naruto grumbled, watching Kakashi through narrowed eyes.
"Yup, your turn, blondie." Kakashi turned to Naruto.
Naruto grumbled a bit more before opening his mouth. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, plants, jiji, my friends, Matsuri-chan, and Sasuke, even though he 'hn's' too much! I dislike people that make fun of my friends or try to hurt them! My dream is to become the Hokage!"
"Mr. Broody, you next."
Sasuke shot Kakashi a dark look. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like tomatoes, Matsuri-chan, the dobe, and training. My dislikes are people that don't know how to leave me alone, and sweet things. My dream is to know why my family was murdered." That response seemed to surprise Kakashi, and Matsuri filed that away for later.
"Alright, blue haired girl, you next." Kakashi said like he didn't know Matsuri's name already.
Matsuri gave him the stink eye, before straightening up. Since Kakashi was his team leader, he had to say it. If he didn't believe it... One day, they all would. "My name is Matsuri Mori. I like dango, archery, training, reading, nee-chan, Shisui-nii, Naruto, Sasuke, and my friends that I met at the Academy. I dislike people that hurt someone for no reason. My dream is to protect my precious people and to get everyone to listen to me when I say that I'm not a girl. Cuz, you know, I'm not a girl. I'm a boy."
At that last bit, all three of the others blinked at Matsuri in surprise.
Matsuri didn't hold his breath, instead he glanced around him. He hadn't really been to the roof before, it was a good place to get some sunlight.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto snorted back a giggle.
"Maa, we have a comedian on the team." Kakashi chuckled before turning serious. "Alright, tomorrow we're meeting up at training ground seven at six in the morning for your Survival Test. Don't eat breakfast, I will know if you do."
"Test?! But we already did the test!" Naruto cut in, looking agitated.
"This is a different test. It'll show me if you really are ready to become genin."
"But-but that's not fair!"
Kakashi didn't respond, just gave them a look before disappearing from sight.
"Well... that could have gone better..." Matsuri muttered, before taking Naruto and Sasuke's arms. Naruto needed ramen to calm down, and Sasuke needed to start moving before he fell into a depressive mood for the rest of the night. Eating a tomato or two should do it.
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"I'm serious, Shino! She looked so cute in her new outfit! Ugh! Sasuke and Naruto are so lucky! Why couldn't they have put me on her team?!" Kiba groaned as he, Akamaru and Shino walked back to their compounds after dropping Hinata off at the Hyuuga compound.
Shino just tilted his head to the side and listened to Kiba whine some more, his own face a light pink.
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"That's no fair! Why does she get to be in the same team as Sasuke-kun?! I'm better than her!" Ino stalked in front of Shikamaru and Chouji as they walked back to their homes.
"Well, Sasuke was put with Naruto and Matsuri because he had the best score. Naruto had the lowest, and Matsuri-chan had the best score out of the girls." Shikamaru sighed, knowing that Ino wouldn't like his explanation. Girls were so troublesome.
He was right.
A/N: There it is! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
I'm freaking out, but I hope I managed to keep it from showing in my writing, lol. Was having a 'Gah, I'm one year older!' crisis/freak out/panic attack sort of thing. Probably gonna be standard every time my birthday comes around... ugh. Though it is kinda funny that the time change happens on my birthday, don't think that's ever happened before. It has landed on Friday the 13th a bunch of times, but this one is sort of new.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and special thanks to all of my previous chapter's reviewers! Glad you liked the chapter: CynthiaDaPanda, Silvermane1, Neonarrow, lizy2000, MissJackson, Nekohana, and Radiant Celestial Aura! Loved all your reviews!