I know what you've all been thinking. Twenty chapters... And they're still not in the Academy? What the hell, author? Well, I must confess that I've been thinking the same thing, just, I have this issue where I get an idea and throw it in and it makes things take even longer than before. Like, they were supposed to be in the Academy two chapters after the reunion, and it just... A'sploded or something. Eh.

Also: 300+ Reviews! Yay. So, I shall ask again: is anyone interested in an omake of some sort?

Anyways, no big issues from last chapter's reviews, so onward we go... Oh, wait, no. Remember that unknown eighth clan heir? Try and spy her out.

And I would just like to remind all readers of something that you should not have possibly been able to miss: this is AU, dude. Really freaking AU.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama... No. I decline. I reject. I refuse. I repudiate. And once more for good measure, no."

The man sitting behind the desk sighed, and took a moment to puff on his pipe, letting the soothing taste of tobacco relax him a tiny bit. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I had truly hoped it would be less difficult than my imaginings. His tone was hard when he next spoke. "Take a seat, soldier." I do not enjoy using force, but the future of the village is more important than the wishes of one young man.

Across the desk from the Hokage, Kakashi grimaced inwardly, but did a good job of keeping his face blank as he listened to the order and took a seat. "Hai, Hokage-sama." This is bad. This is very bad. I knew I shouldn't have said the day couldn't get any worse...

After a moment during which Hiruzen's dark brown gaze rested heavily on Kakashi's single visible eye, the Sandaime removed the pipe from his mouth and set it down on the table, unknowingly setting off alarms in his subordinate's head at the action. "Jounin Hatake, I fully understand your feelings on this matter, but I'm afraid that when I presented it, I was only giving you an illusion of having a choice. As the second in command of Konoha's military forces, you must know that you've been groomed for the position in case of a scenario exactly like this one."

"As the current Captain of ANBU, it was my belief that this position would first be handed to the current Jounin Commander, who has also been groomed for this position. In fact, Nara-san has been the Jounin Commander since before I was even an ANBU grunt, and has far more experience in diplomatic relations, which are obviously a necessary skill for this," Kakashi was quick to shoot back.

"And as I have reassured the Uchiha and various others time and time again, people in positions of power within both their clans and their villages are often prone to conflicts of interest which remove them from the running entirely."

"Then how can I, as the Head of the Hatake Clan and the leader of ANBU possibly be a candidate?"

"Oh? The Hatake Clan? Am I to believe that you've finally accepted the suggestions of my Honorable Advisors and taken a wife so that you may produce an heir?"

Fuck. Caught out again. "...No." And he couldn't think of any other arguments that wouldn't be shot down within thirty seconds. "Hokage-sama, I really don't believe this is a good idea," Kakashi finally pleaded, shoulders slumping.

Sarutobi smiled, knowing that he'd won, not that there had been any other possible outcome. "As I have said before, Kakashi-kun, your arguments were taken into consideration even before this decision was fully made. But you'll be fine. I've known you since you were a toddler, and I can say with confidence that your ability to deal with adversity is unparalleled by most. When the time comes for you to step up fully, you will make a grand Godaime."

The white haired jounin remained silent, his eyes fixed on the top of the desk. I don't want to be the Godaime, but I have no choice, apparently. Does it matter how well I do if I'm forced into it anyways?

Somehow, the Sandaime remained oblivious to the dark aura that sprang up around his soldier. "It is a necessary precaution, Kakashi-kun. The times are growing harder as everyone can tell, and I have been in this position for far too long anyways. Rest assured, though, that you won't have to worry about taking this hat for quite some time. This is merely a precaution, if you will. For now, you must begin training the next Captain of ANBU and your future Second In Command. Choose wisely, hm? Dismissed." He paused, eying the pale jounin, and added a few extra words. "Do try and get some rest."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the ANBU replied tiredly as he put his mask on once again, before exiting through the window. Get some rest, huh? Fat chance of that happening. I need a drink... Fuck, I need several drinks...

Even if I don't become the Hokage for another ten years, I'll never compare to you, Minato-sensei.

The Academy's Welcoming Ceremony this year was the largest that it'd been in over a decade, and it quite literally the first time that a beginning class was larger than thirty-five students on the very first day. This year's entering class was made of the twenty five children that had been registered over a year ago, the thirty orphans and deprogrammed 'unknown's that had decided to become shinobi, and the clan heirs that had all been born around the same time. That was sixty-three children who were all beginning their shinobi training during what was feared to be the onset of a new war.

The shinobi in the crowd of parents and guests looked at them, and at one point or another, all of them had the same thought: these are Konoha's next legends in the making.

At the very front of the milling crowd that he'd just given his most rousing speech to, the Sandaime found himself torn between pride and sadness. It warmed him to see so many children, knowing that they were the future of the village he'd spent his entire life serving and protecting. At the same time, even as they began being sorted into groups for the entrance examinations, he knew that barely half of them would make it out of their teenaged years. Fewer still if Konoha went to war.

This group would be pushed hard and trained more thoroughly and more harshly than those of the years past. This group would get the teachers that knew what did and didn't work when training children for war. This group would become the new front-line leaders, the assassins and spies who infiltrated enemy bases, the seductresses and scouts, heavy-hitters and tacticians... And, in the end, this group would probably have the most caskets in the upcoming years out of all the students attending at the moment.

"To protect the will of fire," he muttered softly to himself, turning and walking from the stage. "The things we humans do in search of peace..."

From across the large room, many eyes followed their leader as he made his exit. Standing in the midst of proud and worried parents and experienced shinobi who were already scouting out potential teams, Daisuke found that he didn't have it within himself to remain focused on his commander. His eyes kept drawing back to the crowd; they caught dark red first, and the sight of his wife left him longing to move out of the corner he was in, as always.

Gray orbs moved away, this time watching the small form of his daughter as she huddled together with the same set of boys she always seemed to be running around with. I really had hoped you would be a civilian, Sakura... My sweet little daughter... At least he had the assurance that she would be skilled in her chosen profession. His child had so far proven to be surprisingly adept with picking up shinobi techniques. I can only wish for her to become more level-headed, I suppose... I'll have to trust Jinya and Nadeshiko-hime to take care of that.

Finally, his attention was drawn back to the nearby area, as the familiar forms of Inoichi and Shikaku appeared, along with their friend, Chouza. It seemed that it was time for him to go.

Good luck, musume.

Sakura was distracted. The auditorium was loud, her peers were all nervous and excited, and the air around everyone seemed to be literally vibrating with energy. She wanted to focus on Naruto, who was hopping in place like some kind of demented rabbit, and try to calm him down. She wanted to comfort Sai, who was clutching tightly at both her hand and their whiskered friend's, and scared because he wasn't sure he really wanted to be a shinobi but he had no desire to be left behind. She wanted to create a nice, distracting conversation; Sasuke was trying to look confident and unafraid, but his eyes kept wandering back to Itachi, who watched from the sidelines.

Her mother was in the crowd somewhere, but when Sakura tried to look at her, she always ended up catching the eye of Yakumo, the sickly looking Kurama clan heir. She wanted to go over and comfort the nervous looking girl, and maybe run a discrete medical diagnosis, because nobody should be paler than Sai was. Her eyes couldn't find Hinata, but she knew the other girl was hiding with Shino in the corner behind Chouji and Shikamaru. She tried not to look in that direction anyways, because there was a girl she'd never seen before standing nearby with an absolutely foul expression; she was the only other person Sakura had 'met' with pink hair, although it was far too dark to be called magenta.

Of course, she found herself looking at the stranger a lot more often than she wanted to, because she was actively keeping her eyes away from the only blonde there besides Naruto. Ino was small and unfamiliar looking against the image that she held in her mind, and looking at the girl made her chest hurt in a way that she couldn't really describe. It was funny to hear the other girl nagging at Shikamaru in a high-pitched, childish voice, but echoes of the smooth alto that Sakura knew played behind every word and made it impossible to focus on any sort of meaning.

She'd been avoiding any possible meetings with the other girl before, but if this kept up, she would probably make Ino an enemy by accident. Sakura still couldn't decide if that wouldn't be less painful than making friends with her all over again. Coward...

A nudge in the side had her jumping; her green eyes locked onto Naruto's, and the smile she gave was weak. "Hai?"

"We're all gonna be the last ones to go," Naruto replied, rocking back and forth on his toes and ignoring the way Sai stumbled with each movement. "And you and me and Sai and that other girl are the only ones who don't come from big fancy clans in Konoha. And all their parents are looking at us because of it. And the creepy dude with the white eyes is staring at me the way Bear stares at me, and your mom looks like she's going to cry, and you look like you're gonna throw up, and this is taking forever and when are we going to go get tested finally? And why do we even have to take a test on the first day? We haven't learned anything yet!" He ended in a frustrated not-yell.

"I guess we just got lucky and ended up in a special class, and they're surprised about it," Sakura spoke back quietly, secretly glad for the interruption from her thoughts. Naruto's words let her focus on other things, like the fact that he was supposed to start in a different class from her, and that she had been in another class as well before her scores got her shifted to the class with the clan heirs. Her suspicion was that someone, probably Sasuke's mother, had vouched for them. But she didn't really want to contemplate that. "And they're testing our chakra and our stamina. It's just for class placement, and for our future teachers to know."

"How are you so sure about that?" It was the other pink-haired girl that spoke up. "Shouldn't it be one of these other retards with all the inside info?" Her brown eyes were narrowed on Sakura as she came to a stop close to them, moving away from Shikamaru and Chouji for the first time since the orientation had begun. "I don't suppose you can tell me why all the fuckers in charge put me, you, pale-boy and sunshine in with all these big-shot kids either?"

Wide-eyed with surprise, Sakura couldn't help but back away slightly. How did she even hear me talking from all the way over there? To her dismay, she noticed that everyone else was looking at her little group of friends as well. "Um..."

The timely appearance of a chuunin saved her from having to speak. She recognized Iruka's broad shoulders and his peculiar way of walking, as if he was moving through a field of land mines, before he even stopped near them. It was strange to see him so young looking. Stranger still was the fact that Iruka hadn't started teaching at the Academy until she was ten the first time around.

"Konnichiwa. Will everybody please line up in size order so that we can begin? The faster all of you get organized, the faster we can move onto the tests. By the way, I'm Umino Iruka. I'll be your primary sensei when the sessions really start, and I look forward to working with you."

This time, it was Naruto being nudged out of inattention. Even as the blonde moved into line, taking a cursory interest in Sakura's strange expression when she was put in front of Yamanaka Ino, his eyes were stuck on their new teacher.

Wolf?

There was something about being roundhouse kicked in the head that just seemed to put the entire world into perspective, Jinya mused as he lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. It's all so blue, he thought dazedly. And... White. Blue and white. Like that tablecloth that okaasan hates to use. Okaasan... I wonder if Hokage-sama put a protection detail around her? I hope he did. I don't think I'm strong enough to murder the Hokage if he didn't. And hime wouldn't like that. Hm... Maybe I just won't try...? Doesn't seem like a good idea, really...

Eventually, his new perspective on the world faded back into normality. "...ya! Jinya! Shit, Suzu, how hard did you kick him? Have you been training with that crazy dude in the green suit again?" With every other word, he could feel Tatsuki shaking him by his shoulders.

"Tatsuki. Ow." Jinya didn't really have much to say besides that. Luckily, that was all he needed to speak to make his teammate release him. Sitting up, he blinked rapidly in Suzumushi's direction. The dark-haired Aburame wasn't usually so harsh in dealing with him, at least during practice spars. Huh. I probably did something wrong. At least, that was what his current understanding of females seemed to imply. "Suzu?"

Aburame Suzumushi continued looking at him for a moment, and then nudged her dark sunglasses higher on her nose before settling noiselessly onto the grass beside him. "You are distracted. I felt it wise to end the spar before Tatsuki decided to employ more explosive measures in our tactics training." Her quiet, whispery voice starkly contrasted the dark undertones of irritation he got from the words.

"Yeah!" Tatsuki piped up, plopping down beside them to complete the circle. "What's up with you lately? You're always hitting too hard or reacting too slow when we spar. In case you haven't noticed based on all these C-Ranks, this is kinda the worst time ever to be spacing out."

Oh, it's nothing. Just, my baby sister is turning into an unstable variable before my very eyes, my civilian mother is being threatened into becoming a go-between for random people out of the blue, and Itachi's either avoiding me or acting weird for some reason I can't figure out. Oh, and on top of that, I think I saw my dead father at the Academy opening ceremony this morning. Yup, nothing big. As he obviously couldn't reply with his actual thoughts for fear of being called insane, Jinya went with his default response to things he couldn't answer: smile and make something up.

With an embarrassed grin stretching his face, the white haired boy made a show of rubbing at the back of his head and replied, "I think that's exactly why I've been so distracted lately. That, and my imouto is starting the Academy right now. I almost skipped training to go; I probably would've if we didn't have that C-Rank scheduled in two days. But please, let's start over. I'll get my head into it again, definitely."

Snorting, Tatsuki eyed him for a moment, before shrugging and standing up. "Whatever you say, Jin." A smile quickly overtook her features again, and a slightly manic glint entered her eyes. "I'll go reset all the traps!" And then, she bounded off before either of them could get a word in.

"I keep hoping that she'll run out of exploding tags... Where does she keep pulling them from, anyways? I still see only two holsters," Jinya mumbled, standing slowly and trying not to wince at the pounding in his head. This is gonna hurt. Still, he turned and offered a hand to Suzumushi. "We should catch up before she gets too over excited."

Suzumushi accepted his help up, but when she was standing, she tightened her grip before he could pull his hand back. "Jinya."

Blinking, Jinya faced his teammate fully, and almost recoiled when he found her large brown eyes glaring directly into his over the tops of her dark shades. Oh shit, she's being serious with me. "Suzu...?"

"You are twelve," Suzu spoke, her hushed voice infused with something hard and compelling. "I understand that you are dealing with many things. I felt much the same after the death of my mother. However, you cannot afford to let this take over you completely. The world is becoming more dangerous with each passing hour. When you 'get your head into it' today... Make sure it stays there." She paused. "Everything will resolve itself in time. That is simply the way the world works. Your job is to keep up."

The green eyed boy stared back at her for a long moment, before nodding sharply. "Hai... I will. I promise." This time, he meant it more sincerely; Suzumushi showed her concern in odd ways, but it was almost always fully warranted. "Arigatou, Suzu," he added.

With a nod, Suzumushi released his hand, and pushed her sunglasses back into place once again. Without any further words, she turned and walked further into the clearing, where a veritable obstacle course of traps was waiting for them.

He followed behind her, a small smile on his face even as he forced his thoughts to settle down for the wasn't as if he could do anything at the moment, after all. Better to take care of himself until there was a time when he could.

If he was lucky, that time would be soon. But his luck had always been rather iffy.

A/N: Huh. I feel weird about this chapter. Like I'm not really satisfied with it. Eh... Whatever. Also, what are your thoughts on Yakumo? And Suzumushi/Tatsuki? Or really, anyone? Please, do tell me.