Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 21

Teams

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto eventually gave up on sleep, and settled for simply laying in bed with his eyes closed, it was worrying him how the fox had yet to answer his calls. Never before had the demon been quiet for this long, and he couldn't tell if something was wrong, or if the creature was enacting some kind of plan, to annoy him. As light began to shine through his bedroom window, Naruto reluctantly slid out of his bed, feeling just as exhausted as when he had layed down the previous night, noticing with some amount of digust the pure amount of dirt covering his body, Naruto began to wish that he had taken a shower the night before.

He had stripped the bloodsoaked clothes from his body before crawling under his blankets, even so he realized that he would have to wash his bedding later. Looking at the clock on his bedside table, Naruto took note of the time. "I should have enough time for a quick shower." He mumbled aloud, something he did a lot. Going through and finding some wearable clothes, Naruto picked up a black shirt with the Konoha symbol on the front, and a pair of tan cargo shorts. "Do these still fit?" Shrugging his shoulders he decided to give it a shot, it was all he could find anyway.

The water ran red as he washed out his blonde hair, amazing the boy to see just how much of the red substance he had gotten on him. He took more time than he originally planned on just to ensure that he was actually clean before going to class. The last thing he wanted was to walk around all day covered in sweat and filth, besides the blood and such would have raised far to many questions from his fellow graduates, questions he wasn't sure he was even allowed to answer in the first place. Fitting the shirt on over his chest, it was a bit tight, but not so much that it was unwearable.

The shorts fit better at least, and after grabbing his equipment he left his apartment, slamming the door on the way, to make sure it stayed shut. He wasn't surprised to see a certain blonde haired girl waiting outside the gates for him, nor the other dark haired girl that was half hidden behind her. "You ran away yesterday." It wasn't a question it was a fact, and Naruto could tell by the look on her face she was worried. "N-naruto.. what happened?" Hinata noticed some of the small cuts and bruises that covered the boy.

"That's weird.." Naruto whispered looking confused at the wounds, normally things such as this would have healed long ago, but it was almost like he wasn't healing any faster than a normal human now. Mikomi's eyes narrowed as Naruto didn't answer Hinata's question, making the girl believe that something was indeed wrong. "It's nothing really, let's get inside." Naruto waved off the girls concern, before walking past them towards the door. Neither of them seemed thrilled with this response, but didn't push the subject further.

Once Naruto had taken his seat, both girls sat beside him, with Hinata to his right, and Mikomi to his left. He could feel the worry emanating off of Hinata, and it bothered him, the last thing he wanted was for other people to worry about him. As usual he couldn't feel anything from Mikomi, he had never discovered the reason she was immune to his mind reading skills, having more or less just let it go. He could feel people looking at him throughout class, and began to wonder how bad he actually looked, this morning he hadn't thought to take in how messed up he really was in the mirror.

Sighing Naruto put his head down on the desk, choosing to ignore them rather than to confront them. He stayed that way until Iruka arrived, only to remember that Iruka was still in the hospital, and as such they would probably have a substitute. "Hey Naruto, where's your headband?" Naruto picked his head up off the desk to aknowledge the familiar voice of Shikamaru. With a bit of confusion Naruto looked around the room, and saw that indeed everyone else in the room was wearing their shinobi headband, a symbol of their graduation.

"I'm getting it later." Was the only answer he could give, it was what the Hokage had told him after all, that he would get his headband today in class. Everyone's heads turned to the door as they slide open, and almost instantaneously the majority of the student's began to gossip about the sight in front of them. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes at first, and had to pinch himself to assure that what he was seeing was indeed real. "Iruka-sensei what happened!?" Sakura asked standing to her feet, an obvious look of concern on her face.

"It's nothing calm down class." Iruka said using his arms to move the wheelchair that he was currently seated in to the front of his desk. Both of the man's legs were in casts, as well as one of his arms, luckily it seemed that medic ninja were able to heal his jaw up just fine though. So that he could at least speak to his students on the day of their graduation. "Before I assign you to your teams I want to say a few things." Iruka said taking the headband off of his forehead and placing it on the desk in front of him.

"I want you all to know, that no matter what happens in life that you are all great ninja, with the talent to take you to the top." He sighed rubbing at the area underneath his eye, close to the scar that ran across his nose. "And that any time you need someone to confide in I'll be there to help, no matter the cost." Iruka was getting emotional, something that Naruto couldn't help but find odd, and he began to wonder what exactly was going on. "I realized something important last night." Iruka took a deep breath.

"That teaching is probably the most important thing I have ever done in my life... and that there is nothing more I would love to do the rest of it." Placing a hand over top of the headband that he set on the table he continued. "However it became rather painfully obvious just how much I have let my skills degrade over the last few years... so it is with much though and consideration that I've decided to take a break from teaching." The whole class was silent at this revelation, but none were more shocked than Naruto.

Slamming his hands down on the desk, Naruto rose to his feet. An intense kind of anger had overtaken his visage. "That's bullshit, why the hell are you quitting!?" Iruka sighed, and the look on his face was all it took to know that he had expected this. "Naruto please sit down, I promise I'll talk to you in a moment." Naruto ignored this request, instead steadily marching down the steps towards him. "Shove it Iruka, I know you don't want to quit, so why are you, is the old man making you, cause if he is, Hokage or not I'll kick his ass."

Iruka let out a long drawn out sigh, he was hoping to wait and talk to Naruto after class, when the rest of the students would already be gone. However it seemed that the blonde child was not giving him an option at this point. "Naruto come with me." Iruka motioned to the door before slowly making his way towards it, he was still getting use to the wheelchair. Once he and Naruto were alone in the hallway he turned towards the young boy, his brow furrowed. "Naruto the Hokage has nothing to do with my decision, and besides that if anyone were to hear you utter a threat like that the Anbu would scoop you up in a second."

Naruto blew off his sensei's warning he wasn't scared of the mighty Anbu, sure he wouldn't deny how strong they were, but that didn't mean he should be scared of them. "If the old man's not making you then why the hell are you quitting!?" Naruto found it particularly hard to keep his temper under control at this moment, and as such hard to keep his voice down as well. "I'm not quitting." Iruka said this quite adamantly, with a kind of fire in his eyes that Naruto didn't think he had ever seen in his sensei's eyes before.

"Than what are you doing?" The look in Iruka's eyes made Naruto feel a bit calmer, though he was still a bit upset. "After what happened last night, I realized something." Iruka started, taking a deep breath in an attempt to settle his nerves. "I'm weak Naruto." Naruto looked at his sensei strangely, of all the words that Naruto could think of to describe the man 'weak' was not one of them. "What are you talking about? You're one of the strongest ninja I've ever met!" Hearing that made Iruka feel happy, but it didn't change anything.

"We both almost died last night." Iruka stated definitively, of course Naruto knew this he had been there, and while he didn't remember everything the end result spoke for itself. "If I can't protect my students.. Than I can't be a teacher." Naruto just stared at his sensei unsure what to say at this point, in the end not saying anything, just continuing to listen. "Working at the academy is one of the greatest things in my life, but until I'm sure that I am strong enough to protect my students from anything that might happen."

Iruka didn't need to finish Naruto understood now, the man wasn't going to quit teaching, not even close, he was just taking a vacation until he was an even better teacher than he was before. "That shouldn't take you too long, you're already super strong, so all you need is a couple months right, by the time the academy starts again you'll be ready." Naruto spoke with so much faith that even Iruka started to believe it to be possible, though deep down he knew better than that, and that it would be a couple years before he truly got to the point he wanted to be at now.

"We should get back inside, I haven't even announced teams yet, and I think that the squad leaders will be here soon." Naruto followed Iruka back into the classroom, ignoring the stares that both of them were now getting, and slowly making his way back up the steps to where he was sitting before. "Alright class, as I was saying I am proud of each and everyone of you, and have absolute faith that you will all achieve your dreams." Iruka summarized his speech before pulling out a piece of paper that he had shoved in his pocket.

"Okay class listen carefully, I will now begin reading off team assignments." Naruto was only really listening for the names of people he cared about, ignoring everyone else's teams. "Team seven, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto raised his head at this, looking towards his sensei. "Sakura Haruno." He immediately slammed his head back on the table. "Fuck." He muttered, as if Iruka didn't already know how awkward that was going to be. "And Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto raised his head back up, before slamming it even harder into the cheap wood desk. "Double fuck."

"Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Naruto looked over to his two teammates, Sakura sent a quick look towards him before averting her gaze, and finally settling on staring longingly at Sasuke, whilst the moody boy, didn't even look like he was paying attention instead staring out the window with one hand on his cheek. Iruka didn't stop there of course, and the next team contained one of Naruto's friends. "Team eight will contain.. Kiba Inuzuka.. Shino Aburame.. and Hinata Hyuga." The shy girl looked upset at this little discovery, but didn't let it show too much.

"Just because we're not on the same team doesn't mean we won't still hang." Naruto assured her with a wide grin. It made the girl feel better, but it didn't change the fact that she was now going to be on a team with two people she had never spoken with. "Trust me I would trade either of my teammates for you." He added with a wink, causing the girl's face to turn bright red. "Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi." Hinata felt a weight lifted from her shoulders at this announcement, with her at least she would have someone to speak with.

"You already know her?" Mikomi asked seeing the look on the other girls face. Hinata nodded ever so slightly. "Yes, she's been... w-well.. I guess.. you could say.." Hinata struggled with how to explain exactly how she knew Kurenai, it didn't seem right to say, 'My father thinks I'm weak and pathetic so he got an outside ninja to train me.' Even if it was technically the truth. "She's.. a friend." Was what she eventually settled with, Mikomi stared for a moment longer than necessary before turning back towards the front of the class.

"Next is team nine.. Let's see Kisho Yubari." A boy with brown hair just a little past his shoulders, and powerfully bright green eyes perked up. His face was oddly angular for his age, and he wore a sleeveless brown shirt, and black pants that were loose around his legs. He looked around the room as though trying to remember exactly what was going on, before shrugging his shoulders and going back to doodling on his notebook. "Teruo Ike." Iruka called out the second name, before looking at the boy in question to make sure he was paying attention.

He had quite a different look compared to his teammate, his head was shaved, and his eyes were a dull grey, he wore black rimmed glasses that did nothing to intensify his gaze. Unlike most of the other students in class, the boy seemed to have almost no muscle whatsoever, his face bland and uninteresting. The only thing that made him really stand out as opposed to the others was that he was easily the tallest student in class. At only twelve years old the boy already stood almost six foot tall dwarfing even Iruka.

The boy looked at Iruka pushing his glasses back up on his face, before going back to reading his book. Iruka cleared his throat before reading the next name on the list. "Mikomi Utsunomiya." Looking over her two new teammates Mikomi could barely hide her disgust, to say she was disappointed would be an understatement. "Your sensei is Ryouta Takai." Naruto's head snapped up at that, he hadn't heard that name in years, not since miss Takai's funeral anyway. He looked around almost like he expected the man to show up out of nowhere.

Calming down after a second, he couldn't help but wonder what made the man decide to become a Jonin sensei. Especially after the last time Naruto had spoken to him. Naruto thought back to that time, it was right after Mitsuko's funeral, Naruto had been trying to cheer the man up, even though he himself was in no mood to be cheerful. "I'm done." The way he had said those words was so final that Naruto didn't know how to take it, and his mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. "You can't!" Naruto hadn't meant to shout, but the thought of the last piece of his first friend disappearing just like the boy's mother twisted Naruto's stomach into a knot.

Ryouta just looked at the boy with sad eyes. "I think I'm done being a shinobi." Naruto was stunned into silence, Ryouta was probably the most powerful man he had ever met, why would he want to quit being a ninja, to Naruto it just didn't make sense. "What?.. but you can't quit, Miru said that you were the best ninja in the world." Ryouta let out a dry laugh, it was an odd sound coming from the tall stoic man. "I couldn't protect my own family, how could I possibly protect the rest of the village." Those were the last words Naruto ever heard out of the man.

Since that day Naruto had never seen Ryouta again, he had returned to the house, only to discover that the man had moved, he didn't know where to. "I thought he quit." Naruto muttered catching Mikomi's attention. "You know my knew sensei?" She looked Naruto over with her intense gaze, as though she were trying to figure something out. "Yeah, he's an old friend." Naruto said avoiding her gaze on instinct alone. "I see." That was all Mikomi had to say about it apparently as she stopped talking afterwords.

Iruka finished up by calling out the last team on his list. "Team ten.. Ino Yamanaka.. Shikamaru Nara.. and Chouji Akimichi." Shikamaru was asleep, not that Naruto expected any thing other than that, and Chouji just seemed happy to be on the same team as his best friend. It was the sole female of the group that looked upset, Naruto wasn't sure why, sure they each had their own little quirks but Shikamaru and Chouji were in the top part of the class, as far as Naruto was concerned anyway. While they never scored very high, Naruto being friends with the two of them knew that it was from a lack of trying other than a lack of ability.

"Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi." Iruka looked up from his list, to gauge the reactions of his former students. He had expected that everyone wouldn't be happy with the placements, so it came to no surprise to see the disappointed looks on a majority of their faces. He looked at Naruto with a bit of sympathy, he originally had him placed on team nine, along with Mikomi, but the Hokage had insisted that he be placed with Kakashi, and as much as he might have wanted to Iruka could not ignore the Hokage's commands.

"Alright, this afternoon your sensei will be here to pick you up, before that though, I think you should all take the time to get to know you're new teammates, you'll be with them for quite a while." After he was done with his explanations Iruka left the room, where he was going Naruto had no clue. "Hey Hinata, how about some lunch, we can get to know each other better." Kiba said appearing in front of their desk, and winking at the dark haired girl. Naruto blinked, he couldn't believe how fast the boy had moved.

Hinata looked distinctly uncomfortable with the idea, and Naruto would admit he wasn't too happy about the idea either. "I-i..." Hinata stopped and took a deep breath, taking the time to gather her thoughts. "Y-yes.. I'll go." Naruto stared at the girl dumbfounded for a moment. "S-shino... are you.. c-coming?" Hinata said turning her attention to her other teammate, who looked like he was taken by surprise at the invitation, though only for a second, and possibly the only ones who could have noticed it was Naruto and Mikomi.

"I will." The boy spoke, with a barely perceptible nod, before rising from his seat. Kiba looked a little upset by this change, but didn't voice his displeasure. "Well fine, let's go." Kiba said with a shrug, the two following him out, leaving Naruto alone with Mikomi for the moment. "Are you going to greet your new teammates?" Naruto decided to bring up, to which Mikomi sent a glance at the two boy's who were currently sitting with each other, though neither looked overly happy about it. "I suppose I should." Her voice was thick with reluctance, even so she slowly got up from her seat, and walked over to her teammates.

"Hello, I am Mikomi, I will be your teammate from today on." She said with a light bow to the two of them. The brown haired boy, who if Naruto remembered correctly was named Kisho, got a rather large cocky looking grin on his face, as he stared the girl over for a minute. "You can be more than that." He said suggestively, causing the glasses wearing boy named Ike to let out a sound of annoyance. "Please don't believe all men are the same as this one, some of us are actually quite intelligent." After he spoke Kisho sent him a heated glare.

"What the hell does that mean, you sayin' I'm stupid or sometin" Kisho stood rather abruptly grabbing Ike by his shirt and pulling his fist back. "Of course not, I said no such thing, I only implied it." Swinging hard he struck his teammate in the jaw, only to recoil in shock in pain as he felt like he had just struck an iron wall. "What the hell are you made of?" He asked cradling his hand, Ike didn't respond, simply brushing some of the imaginary dust off that he was sure Kisho had left on his collar before turning back to Mikomi."

"As I stated, I do hope that you don't view us as one, we are quite different, even if we share the same gender." Mikomi nodded curtly before sitting down across from them with her back facing the front, and her eyes, facing Naruto. Naruto could only give her a thumbs up and mouth for her to do her best, though she didn't look like she appreciated it much. "So then Miko.. What are some of your hobbies?" Kisho spoke again, having apparently gotten over the pain in his hand. Mikomi looked at him with her intense stare as though she were debating if she should talk to him at all.

"I like to read." Was all she said in the end, and it was clear that this was not one of the responses he was wanting. Ike on the other hand looked interested now, turning to face the girl and putting his book down on the desk, making sure to fold an edge so as not to lose his place. "Really, what kind of books do you read?" Mikomi stared at him as well, before shrugging internally, it couldn't hurt to speak with them. "I like books about the birth of the world." Kisho looked at her strangely for a moment, before looking to Ike, who seemed to understand what she meant.

"You mean fantasies about the Otsutsuki clan, that is indeed an interesting story." Mikomi nodded silently before unbuckling her book from her side and pulling it out. Naruto watched from a distance and tried to remember if he had ever seen her read the book in the last year. Oddly he couldn't think of a single time, he had seen her read before but never from that particular book. Opening it she began to read aloud, but Naruto couldn't hear what she was saying, being too far away. After a few seconds of this, she closed the book and replaced it.

Both boy's just stared at her for a moment, before getting up from their seat and leaving, Mikomi rising and going back over to Naruto, before sitting down next to him. "What did you say to them?" Mikomi shrugged her shoulders. "I showed them my book." She patted the leather bound behemoth at her side. "And where'd they go?" Mikomi looked deep into Naruto's eyes and for the first time in a while, Naruto felt scared of the girl in front of him, a relative uneasiness that he hadn't felt around her since they had first met.

After a moment of her not answering he asked again. "Where'd your teammates go?"He said apprehensively, shifting uncomfortably as he did so. Mikomi looked at him, before clearing her throat. "They went for lunch, I informed them I had already eaten." Naruto nodded, deciding to accept that, even though he felt that something else was up, just from the blank looks on the boy's faces as they got up and left. "Shouldn't you greet your teammates?" She pointed at the desk, where Sasuke and Sakura were sitting side by side, Naruto let out a groan, placing his head in his hands.

"Don't remind me." He couldn't comprehend why anyone would've thought it a good idea to place him with those two in particular. "Whatever... here goes nothing." He swallowed heavily, standing up from his seat, and walking over to the two of them. "Uh.. hey guys.. what's up." Sasuke looked at him from the corner of his eye, making a 'hn' noise as he did so. While Sakura shifted her body away from him as though she were scared that he would attack her at any moment. "So this was a good talk, can't wait to work together."

Naruto turned to walk away, but stopped when he heard a low voice speak. "Hey loser." Naruto turned back towards them. "What's up Ace?" Sasuke glared at the boy just a bit before speaking again. "Just don't get in the way." Naruto returned the glare, with just as much heat. "I should be saying that to you, after all everyone here knows you can't even touch me." Sasuke began to emit a dangerous aura, that Naruto easily matched. Meanwhile Sakura just looked like she wished she was anywhere but between the two of them.

"Should we settle things now." Naruto suggested, suddenly wanting nothing more than to beat the dark haired boy into the ground. "I was thinking the same." Sasuke said standing up from his seat, it was probably the most words that Sasuke had spoken to Naruto in a single conversation. "Let's go." Naruto lowered himself into a stance, with Sasuke doing the same. "Wait a minute, you can't fight in class." Sakura spoke up, though neither boy payed her any attention, and like bullets shot towards each other.

End.

A/N: After a long debate I decided to keep the teams like the original for now anyway. Please read and review.