Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto

3.

"You are all qualified ninja now," Iruka announced from the podium. "But remember, you're still only genin. From now on, your jonin leader will guide you and the rest of your squad."

I barely registered what Iruka was saying. While I didn't have the speech memorized word-for-word, I remembered the gist of it. And because of that, I let myself get lost in my thoughts.

With one hundred clones training for ten hours every day, I can get seven thousand hours of training done in a week. That's about two-hundred-ninety-one days' worth of training. If I keep up that pace, by the end of the month I will have trained for a little over a year and a half.

While I did the math in my head, Iruka started to announce the three-member squads who would work together during the next stage of our training.

"Team Seven. Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki..."

"NO!" Sakura wailed.

I glanced at her. She was sitting two rows over, looking like she'd just lost her best friend. I frowned and tried not to think about the memories I had of Naruto gawking at her like a fool when he thought she wasn't looking. Despite all his staring, there was one thing about Sakura that Naruto had never noticed.

She hated him.

"And the third member of Team Seven is Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka finished.

"YES!" Sakura shouted, pumping her arms with excitement.

I, on the other hand, was flabbergasted. God, how could Naruto ever like her? I wondered. She was loud, annoying, and not even that pretty. Well, it didn't matter now. Naruto was gone, and so was his crush on Sakura. I glanced at Sasuke and found him peering back through his long black bangs. He was another problem child, but in a different way from how Naruto had been. His ninjutsu skills were top-notch, but his people skills were way below par. He ignored our classmates, barely listened to our sensei's, and he could be a real asshole when he wanted to.

"I'm warning you, Nauto! Keep away from Sasuke or else!" a voice snarled behind me.

I swung around. Sakura stood with her hands on her cardboard flat hips, glaring at me like a bitch.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I hadn't even said anything.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura sneered, not answering my question. "Go sit somewhere else, okay?"

I rolled my eyes and shuffled to the other side of the room, while Sakura sat down near Sasuke. The further away from her I could get, the better. She was already annoying in the show, and now I'd have to deal with her even more. I planned on limiting that time as much as I could.

"Um-hi, Naruto..." a girl stammered from nearby.

I looked up. Hinata Hyuga was sitting right next to me, nervously twirling a lock of her blue hair. "Hey, too bad we couldn't be on a team together," I whispered. Hinata was the strongest kunoichi in class. She'd smack the hell out of both Sakura and Ino. At the same time!

Hinata blushed and looked away, but she replied in her soft, shy voice. "M-maybe the jonin will change the squads later," she suggested hopefully. "Then we can be on the same team."

"I wish," I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. I already knew that wasn't going to happen.

Hinata stared at me for a long moment. "I-I like your clothes," she finally said.

"You're the first person to say anything," I told her, smiling. Glad that someone noticed. "Thank you."

I didn't want to sound vain, but in my opinion, I looked awesome. Mizuki's bounty had been half-a-million Ryo and I put it to good use.

My smile grew as I thought about the day after the "Mizuki Incident".

(FLASHBACK START)

After discovering that my interference had earned me a fat check, I woke up downright giddy the next day, and as soon as it was open, I was at the Konoha Bank. Or at least, that's what the sign said, outside the thick-walled, warehouse-like stone building. The letters were written in gold relief, grand yet at the same time a bit garish.

The main entranceway led into a hallway and above a series of stone steps was a counter. I stepped into the end of the short line, ignoring the looks I was getting from those around me. Before long, my turn was called.

"Next!"

Across the counter sat an elderly man, who did not look happy to see me. In fact, he was downright glaring at me. I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept him from kicking me out was the Hitai-ate tied around my head.

"What are you doing here?"

"Depositing a bounty," I replied, easily ignoring the rude tone. Who the fuck cared if this old man didn't like me? I was here to get my money, not make friends. "Have this transferred to my account."

The man looked like he had swallowed a lemon as I slid the check from the Hokage across the counter. He leaned forward, opened an account book that had been lying on the counter, and began to scribble with a feather pen.

(FLASHBACK END)

After that fun encounter, I sent a Shadow Clone to go do my shopping—I had to focus on physical training—and he came back with what I wearing now. My clothes weren't anything special, just a long-sleeve shirt, pants, and shinobi sandals that were all dark-colored. What made me stand out was my armor. It was similar to Anbu armor but slightly different. I also had armored gloves like Kakashi, which were awesome.

Not that I was planning on stopping any giant swords like a badass. At least, not yet, anyway.

At the front of the classroom, Iruka was wrapping up his speech. "You may no longer be my students, but my door is always open if you need help," he said.

I locked eyes with him and nodded at that answer from our conversation from earlier in the week.

(FLASHBACK START)

The sun was setting over Konoha, and I had a great view.

I was eating dinner on top of the Hokage Monument when Iruka found me. "Naruto! I wanted to talk to you before the team assignments tomorrow," he called out.

I set my ramen dinner aside. "Hey, Iruka-sensei. Why were you looking for me?" I asked, curiously. He and I didn't connect in the forest like he had with Naruto.

Before Iruka could make his big speech, I had given the "Scroll" to Mizuki and sent him on his way. 'So why is he looking for me,' I wondered as Iruka sat down.

"Lord Hokage told me about what you did with your clones," Iruka chuckled, shaking his head. "Quite the prank you pulled on Mizuki. Giving him a fake scroll like that."

I nodded and replied. "Yeah, I got him good."

Iruka frowned and lowered his voice. "I was also told you didn't tell anyone about the real scroll because you didn't know who to trust. Is that true?"

"Mizuki was my sensei, Iruka," I said, staring out at the sunset. "And he used me to betray the village."

"Naruto, Mizuki isn't—" Iruka cut himself off with a rough sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

I kept silent as he tried to work out what he wanted to say. Iruka wasn't a traitor, I knew that. He loved Konoha, but I couldn't tell him that I trusted him. Not only would that put my lie about the Scroll of Seals in question, but it would also ruin the second part of my plan.

Iruka was a rock solid Chunin. And he was already a teacher.

"Mizuki was a liar and a traitor." Iruka finally said. "If you need something, you can always come to me."

"So, if I asked you to help me train, you would do it?" I asked.

Iruka blinked, his honest surprise at the question clear for me to see. "Naruto, you're about to be assigned to a jonin-sensei. They'll be able to teach you far more than I could."

'Heh, you would think that,' I thought, sarcastically. Kakashi was a cool dude, and an absolute badass, but he wasn't a very good teacher. At least not for a genin team. He did pretty good with Sasuke, but splitting his time between three students wasn't something he did well.

Of course, I couldn't let Iruka know that I would need other teachers.

So, I lied.

"Mizuki could have killed me. I know he was a Chunin, but still," I said, turning to look at Iruka. "I goofed around at the academy and now I'm entering the ninja world behind everyone else."

Iruka glared at at me. "If you actually paid attention at the academy, you wouldn't be in this position," he lectured.

"I could have done better," I agreed, even though it wasn't actually me. "That's why I'm going to work a hundred times as hard from now on."

And that wasn't an exaggeration. With Shadow Clones, I could literally work a thousand times harder than anyone else.

Iruka sighed. "At least you're taking things seriously now," he smiled and nodded. "When you're not working with your jonin-sensei, you can come to me for remedial training."

(FLASHBACK END)

"G-goodbye, Naruto," Hinata stuttered, catching my attention.

She was leaving with her team, and I would be staying behind. For hours, I thought slightly peeved. If I didn't have Shadow Clones who could train for me, I'd be downright pissed at wasting so much time waiting for Kakashi.

"See ya, Hinata," I said, giving her a small wave. That little gesture turned her face scarlet.

I frowned as she turned around and hurried to catch up to her team as they all left the class. Was I going to take advantage of that? It was something to think about while I waited for Kakashi. I folded my arms over my desk and laid my head down.

—XX—

4.

I hadn't meant to actually fall asleep, but I slept for what had to be hours until Sakura's angry voice woke me up.

"Well!" she huffed. "I guess they forgot about us."

I looked up groggily. Sure enough, there were only the three of us still in class. Everyone else was gone.

Sakura noticed that I had woken and glared at me. "The other squads left a long time ago," she said. "Our Jonin-sensei hasn't even shown up."

Then why are you glaring at me? I wondered. Was she mad that I had fallen asleep? I glanced at Sasuke, who was sitting by himself and quietly fuming. Ah, he probably blew her off and now she's all embarrassed and frustrated and taking it out on me.

Bitch.

I stood up and stretched, groaning as my back popped. At the front of the class, I spotted the dusty chalkboard erasers Iruka used to make Naruto clean when he goofed around too much in glass. Well, when in Rome and all that.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Sakura demanded.

"Just punishing a tardy teacher," I replied lightly. I wedged the eraser at the top of the sliding door and went back to my seat.

"Well, I'm not bailing you out when you get busted," Sakura sniveled, but she didn't move the eraser.

From his seat in the corner, Sasuke sniffed. "Our sensei is an elite jonin, he won't fall for a trick like that."

The door suddenly clacked open. The eraser bounced off Kakashi's head.

"Sorry, sensei!" Sakura said in a rush. I tried to stop him, honest!"

I rolled my eyes. It was a good thing we were ninja because Sakura was a lying bitch.

Kakashi didn't answer. He just stared at us for a while. Then he spoke in a dull voice, as though he'd rather be anywhere but with us.

"Well, my first impression of this group: you're a bunch of idiots."

"What?" Sakura gasped, and even stone-faced Sasuke was frowning.

Like me, Kakashi ignored both of them. "Let's talk on the roof," he said, and walked right back out the door.

I got out of my seat and followed the jonin up to the roof. Once all of us were on the roof and sitting, Kakashi leaned against the railing. His one visible eye stared at us lazily.

"All right, why don't you introduce yourselves?" he suggested.

Sakura tapped a finger against her lip. "Introduce ourselves? What are we supposed to say?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. Her eyes kept darting to Sasuke.

Wow, she's trying to act cute, I realized shaking my head. Why did she think that was a good idea? What, was she going to act the rest of her life just to be with Sasuke?

Kakashi sighed. "Things you like. Things you dislike. Dream for the future. Hobbies. Things like that."

"I'll go first," I offered, hoping to move this meeting along faster. I had training to do. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like training, ramen, and pretty girls. I dislike people who betray the Leaf Village. My hobby is training, and my dream for the future is to become Hokage."

"All right. Next." Kakashi looked at Sakura.

"Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like—um, I mean the person I like is—" she broke down into high-pitched annoying giggles. "My hobby is—more giggles—my dream for the future—"

She squealed and shook her head. Her face bright red. She's so fucking annoying, I thought, wondering again why Naruto ever liked her.

"And? What do you hate?" Kakashi asked. I mean, he had to be annoyed too, right?

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Ditto." I snorted and ignored the glare she sent my way.

Kakashi lifted his hands, patting the air in a 'calm down' gesture. "Last one," he said, looking at Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

While Sakura practically had an orgasm at how "edgy" Sasuke was, I focused on his eyes. The Sharingan plus Shadow Clones, I imagined how dominant I could be with that combo. Add my ludicrous chakra pool to the mix...

I was going to be the best shinobi in the world. Not only because I could, but because I absolutely had to. The other hidden villages? Orochimaru? The Akatsuki? Madara? Kaguya?

A premature death was going to be my future if I didn't get strong enough to beat all of them.

"That's it, your dismissed."

I blinked, startled out of my thoughts by Kakashi's voice. Before the jonin left, he stopped at the edge of the roof.

"Oh, tomorrow you better skip breakfast...you'll just throw it up anyway."

Yeah, not listening to that "advice", I stood up as Kakashi vanished. Tomorrow would be my first real test in this ninja world. And I was going to pass.

Sorry for the long wait!