Chapter 11: Team Revelation
Iruka stood at the front of this class for the last time. "We have an announcement to make! This year's Rookie of the Year is… Uzumaki Naruto! Everyone congratulate Naruto please."
Sakura raised her hand. "Iruka-sensei, what happened to delay the announcement?"
Iruka scratched his head. "Well, I can't go into complete details. But if you've noticed Mizuki's absence, he was caught trying to frame Naruto for cheating, among other things I cannot talk about. Naruto is of course completely innocent, we investigated everything involved. Unfortunately for Mizuki, the investigation turned up some unsavory things about him instead. He will not be returning."
The class whispered amongst themselves.
Eager to move on, Iruka jumped to business. "Now we begin the team assignments! Everyone has been assigned in teams of three to a Jonin sensei, you will meet up with them in one of the smaller, numbered classrooms corresponding to your team number. So remember your number, and maybe use the time to get to know your team better. All Jonins appreciate teams that WORK TOGETHER."
Iruka began to list team assignments, it was a couple of teams before he named a result Naruto cared about.
"Team 7, under Kakashi-sensei. Uchiha Sasuke," All of the kunoichi except for Hinata leaned forward. "Inuzuka Kiba," they pulled back a little, mixed looks on their faces. "and Hyuga Hinata!"
Poor Hinata. Kiba was a pain, but instead of Shino, it was Sasuke. She had her work cut out for her. Interesting development. Were they a tracking team? Or did they decide a general assault squad worked for Kiba? Hinata could keep Kiba in line without swooning over Sasuke, maybe that was it.
"Why do I have to be in a team with this bastard!" Kiba argued. Akamaru barked in agreement.
"The teams are meant to be somewhat balanced, you had some of the lowest scores, Hinata and Sasuke are some of the highest scorers," Iruka said in a way that brooked no argument. Kiba just quietly crossed his arms and scowled.
"Team 8, under Kurenai-sensei. Haruno Sakura, Akimichi Choji, and Aburame Shino," Iruka announced.
Choji and Shikamaru looked at each other sadly, Sakura put on a fake smile, Shino looked as inscrutable as ever. Which left…
"Team 10, under Asuma-sensei. Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, and Nara Shikamaru," Iruka finally announced his team.
Shikamaru was still crushed about not being with Choji.
"I'm bummed about not being on a team with Sasuke-kun, but two blondes together? We'll kick ass!" Ino cheered. "Hey pineapple head! Get in the game! Come on!"
"Troublesome blondes…" Shikamaru remarked.
Naruto walked up to both of them as they continued to bicker amongst themselves. He honestly didn't think much of both of them as ninjas. Shikamaru was one of the first people to be nice to him, so they could get along. But his frustration with Shikamaru was intense. Shikamaru was so intelligent, and he let it go to waste. When they had the survival exercise, Shikamaru had leadership thrust upon him, and he outright refused it. Naruto thought he understood the reasoning of having himself in the squad instead of Choji. If Shikamaru wanted to get nowhere and lead no one, why would they make Ino-Shika-Cho? Where Shikamaru would have to have a slight lead role. Having the potential of a leader was only that, potential. Maybe when he matured, he would grow into it.
Ino was slightly less of an annoyance than Sakura had once been. But Sakura had grown a little since the survival test. When Naruto and Shikamaru had trusted her with leadership, maybe it lessened some insecurity. Ino had floated along with Hinata taking complete control. She was in terrible shape for a clan raised brat, and she didn't try as hard as Sakura in academics. Maybe it was cruel to compare the two kunoichi, but they had started at around the same level. Naruto imagined them knocking each other out with a punch and laughed.
"Come on Shikamaru. Let's do some team stuff like Iruka said. I bet Naruto would be up for it, right Naruto?" Ino whined.
"Sure Ino-chan. But what team stuff do you have in mind?"
Shikamaru stretched. "I'm going to find the classroom where we're supposed to go, and I'm going to take a nap. You guys do whatever."
Naruto might have been irked, but he realized this was just Shikamaru's way. He was his teammate, not his Jonin sensei. He would encourage Shikamaru to try when it came to the mission and training, but the Nara was not going to change anytime soon.
"You lazy! Grrr! Fine Shika, we know you well enough anyway. Come on Naruto." Ino grabbed Naruto's hand and marched him out.
# # #
Ino walked Naruto all the way through the village until they came across a flower shop. Naruto remembered it was owned by Ino's clan.
"Ino," Naruto remarked, "I'm not going to buy you flowers you know."
"As if! I wanted to tell my parents about the team assignment. Might as well introduce you."
A bell chimed as they walked into the store. A very classy light brunette woman with hazel eyes walked up to them. "Ino! You received your team assignments? Who is this?"
"This is my team member, Uzumaki Naruto. He and Shika are my teammates," Ino responded lightly.
"Pleased to meet you Yamanaka-san," Naruto quickly added a polite greeting before, a dark look passed her face. He recognized that face… but where?
"Uzumaki Naruto, don't cause any trouble. Got it?" said Ino's mom.
"What? Mom, he's top of the class. Where's dad?" Ino looked slightly disturbed by her mother's reaction.
"In the back." Ino's mom said coldly and walked off.
"O-kaaay. Weird. I swear she's normally much nicer," said Ino. "Come on, my dad should be in a good mood."
They walked into the back, so many floral scents filled Naruto's nose. It was nice, if not a bit overpowering. He imagined Kiba would probably keel over in the front of the store alone.
"Daaaaad, where are you, it's your precious daughter!"
A tall blonde man with platinum hair like Ino appeared from behind a corner. "Ino dear, what are you doing here?"
"We have to meet our sensei at noon, so we have time to talk with our team. I brought Uzumaki-san here to meet you since he's on my team with Shikamaru," Ino complained.
"Pleasure to meet you Yamanaka-sama, I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto adjusted his greeting as appropriate for the clan head.
"No repeat of the last generation eh? Bummer. I bet Shikamaru was too lazy to come. How are you Naruto?"
"Dad, were you mean to mom? She wasn't very happy when I introduced Naruto," Ino put her hands on her hips as if to scold her father.
"No I-" A look of recognition came over him. "No. You know what, I'm going to check on her, just in case. Good to meet you Naruto." Inoichi went to go find his wife.
"Dango?" Ino suggested, wincing in embarrassment.
# # #
"I'm telling you! It was so weird Shika! It's like Naruto is cursed or something. My mom was even cold to Naruto. The dango shop told us to leave and wouldn't say why! My mom and the lady at the dango shop are the nicest people I know," Ino ranted.
All three of them waited in classroom 10 for their sensei to show up. It was ten minutes until noon. Ino and Naruto had gone back a little early because of Naruto.
"Naruto, you're not saying anything! People were so mean to you, don't you care?"
"Ino, please drop it," Naruto requested.
"No, it was crazy. My mom is never like that, did you prank them or something? It was like you were perfectly polite and they just either ignored us or told you to go away."
"Ino, drop it."
"We'll go back another time and they'll be nice. Or if you pranked them I'll help you to apolo-"
"I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO THEM AND THEY KNOW IT! THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT! ALWAYS! SO SHUT UP INO! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT DON'T HANG AROUND ME!"
Ino and Shikamaru both looked at him with their mouths hanging open as Naruto sat down on his desk and put his head on his arms.
Damn. What had he done? He was fine with the shop owners being assholes to him. He knew that and was used to it. Shinobi had been generally nicer to him, so he was blindsided by Ino's mother. She likely married in, and he should have realized it would be like that.
"Naruto," Shikamaru said hesitantly, "I don't understand what is happening here. Yakiniku Q has never-"
"Them and Ichiraku's. That's the list of places I am allowed to eat," Naruto said just loud enough for them to hear.
"But, why?" Ino finally cut in. "My mom?"
Naruto flashed to a face in the crowd where he had been hit with a rock, it was that face. Ino's mom had thrown the rock.
"Her and Haruno Mebuki are the worst ones, ask your mom about a rock, if she even remembers," Naruto stated flatly.
"Sakura's mother?" the two teammates questioned.
The door to the class opened. A man smelling of cigarettes with a jet-black beard and short hair walked in. He wore a sash with the Kanji for fire on it, Naruto noticed.
'The Twelve Guardians, must be Asuma-sensei,' Naruto thought.
"Well, I've come into an interesting mood. Why don't you meet me on the roof and we can introduce each other?" suggested Asuma-sensei.
# # #
The wind blew slightly as Asuma lit a cigarette.
"Let's introduce ourselves. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like cigarettes and trench knives. I dislike pipes and spandex. My hobbies are none of your business. I dream of settling down with a beautiful wife who is okay with my smoking. Please answer with that template if you would. Let's start with you, the long-haired blondie."
"My name is Yamanaka Ino. I like flowers and Sasuke. I dislike tacky clothes and big foreheads! I enjoy pressing and arranging flowers. And fashion of course. I dream of being Sasuke's wife and making my own ninja clothing design place!" Ino gave a peace sign.
"My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like watching clouds and sleeping. I dislike troublesome women and busybodies. I enjoy watching clouds. My dream is to be a regular shinobi who doesn't accomplish much, but, you know, doesn't mess up either." Shikamaru rested his head on his hand as he slouched.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like Ramen and training. I dislike bullies and laziness. I enjoy training to get stronger and learning new things. I dream of being the strongest Hokage who has ever lived, protecting my loved ones, and being the hero of the village so everyone will have to acknowledge me!" Naruto clenched his fists until they cracked and clenched his teeth.
Asuma looked bemused at the various responses. "Cool. I'll get right to business then. You aren't exactly Genin yet. You still have to pass a test with the Jonin instructor, aka me. Some instructors like to say you go back to the academy, not exactly true. Some do, but otherwise you go in the Genin reserve corp. Around a two-thirds failure rate, though it depends on the year. That's… all? Yeah. Let's head to training ground 9 and get this over with."