(A/N) Kakashi arrives on the scene!
Iruka sighed, glancing at the clock. "You should get home, Naruto, it's getting kind of late. And we have team assignments tomorrow, you don't want to be late for that, do you?"
Naruto chuckled. "Kinda hard to be late when Taroko will drag me out of the door by my clothing, uncaring if I'm fully dressed or not."
Iruka chuckled. "Right, well, still. You need to sleep."
Naruto nodded. "Of course, Iruka-sensei. Come on, Danromi, Taroko, let's go home."
Danromi chirped, leaping onto him and sitting down on his head.
"I can introduce you to Teuchi and Ayame tomorrow," he told the small dragon. "They'll be a bit startled at first, but they'll manage!"
Danromi chirped, tiny claws digging into his hair.
Taroko chirped at Danromi, and the dragon chirped back, the two beginning what was probably a conversation.
"Are you going to teach her morse code?" Iruka asked, glancing at Danromi.
Naruto nodded, careful not to dislodge Danromi. "Might as well, not sure if she'll be able to write though."
"Well, unless you want her to complete paperwork with you, she won't need to. You aren't at the academy anymore."
Naruto hummed in agreement. "Right, well, it could be useful, you never know."
Iruka nodded in agreement. "See you tomorrow, Naruto."
"See you tomorrow, Iruka-sensei."
Danromi woke Naruto up that next morning by breathing fire two inches away from his face. It was certainly an… interesting awakening, and one that made Naruto decide that if Sasuke was on his team, Sasuke might just commandeer Danromi on the principle that she could already breathe fire, and she wasn't using a jutsu.
"Danromi, we can't breathe fire in the apartment," Naruto said exasperatedly. "You might burn the plants! Taroko, you can speak to her, can you translate that?"
Taroko nodded, chirping to Danromi for a couple of seconds. Danromi nodded, ducking her head. She flapped up to bump Naruto's cheek with her nose in apology.
Naruto caught her as she was falling down, and settled her on his shoulder. "It's alright, just don't do it next time, okay?"
Taroko translated that, and Danromi bumped his head with her own again.
Naruto padded into the kitchen, pulling out the leftovers from the last time the Nara let them go hunting. The Nara let them hunt the deer in their forest as long as they brought back some for the clan as well. Saved them the trouble of hunting down the deer themselves. And saved them buturing the meat, Taroko was quite good at it, when she put her mind to it. After she'd learned how.
He tossed full strips to Taroko, feeding smaller pieces to Danromi, and when they were fed, he moved onto his own breakfast, which was cereal, as usual.
Danromi got a lot of attention from his classmates, as she was a new creature. She, like Taroko, liked Sasuke and Shino, hated the fangirls, and didn't mind most other people. She really liked Hinata, however, and immediately settled into the girl's dark purple hair. Hinata turned very red and looked like she was going to faint when that resulted in Naruto sitting next to her.
"Alright," Iruka said as he came in. "Taroko?"
Taroko, who'd been just waiting for the signal, bit Shikamaru's shoulder gently, waking him up.
Iruka tossed a mouse her way, and she snapped it up. "Now, team assignments!"
Naruto waited patiently for his name to be called, absentmindedly fingering the headband on his forehead.
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno. Taroko, Danromi, you're on the team with Naruto."
Naruto and Sasuke groaned while Sakura cheered that she had Sasuke on her team.
"Team 8: Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka."
Hinata blushed again, Shino adjusted his glasses, and Kiba didn't seem to care but was deep in quiet conversation with Akamaru.
"And finally, Team 10: Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka."
Ino groaned, and the two boys called just shrugged.
Three hours later, and Naruto, Taroko, and Danromi had relocated to the floor and were taking a nap in a neat little pile. Sasuke had just put his head down, and Sakura was chattering her head off to Sasuke.
Their teacher, a silver-haired jounin, came in and stared at the pile of two reptiles and a genin, then his other two genin, one looking to be asleep at the desk, and the other talking. "My first impression of you three, you're lazy."
Taroko raised her head and looked at him, then bared her teeth at him, and nudged Naruto, who woke up with a yawn, waking up Danromi in the process. "Oh, is our teacher finally here? Took him long enough."
Taroko tapped out a pattern. 'Hunt?'
"Tomorrow," Naruto agreed. "If he isn't here on time."
Kakashi gave no indication that he understood what Taroko had asked, and just continued. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes," before disappearing.
Taroko stood up, and Naruto went over to poke Sasuke awake. The three genin and two reptiles made their way up to the roof where their teacher was waiting.
"So, introduce yourselves," Kakashi suggested, eye smiling at them.
Taroko decided she'd go first. 'I am Taroko, I enjoy hunting. I like the mice Iruka-sensei kept in his desk, and raw meat in general. I hate vegetables and fangirls.'
"Naruto, I like hunting with Taroko, and taking care of my plants! I like ramen, and Taroko, and my new friend Danromi! I agree with Taroko and don't like vegetables or fangirls."
Sakura blushed when she realized it was her turn. Taroko rolled her eyes as Sakura stammered out something that was incoherent and probably about Sasuke. And that she disliked Naruto and Taroko. She got a nice view of Taroko's teeth for that one.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like fire, dislike fangirls, and enjoy training."
"Nice to meet you," Kakashi said, eye smiling at them.
"And you, sensei?" Naruto asked. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"
Kakashi thought about that. "Sure. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like a lot of things-" Taroko interrupted him with tapping.
'He smells like eight different dogs, and eggplant and miso.'
Kakashi gave her a flat look and continued. "My dislikes are some things, and what I enjoy is none of your business," again he was interrupted by Taroko.
'I remember his smell, he's always at the memorial stone.'
Kakashi leveled Taroko with a long stare. The raptor smirked at him.
"Whatever the case, meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow at 5 for our first mission, a survival exercise. There is a 66% fail rate, and don't eat breakfast or you'll throw up!" With that, he disappeared in a shunshin.
Taroko snorted, shaking herself. 'Well, I'm eating breakfast. It's not like he can make me throw up anyway.'
Naruto hummed in agreement. "Yeah, maybe just a small snack for me, small enough I won't throw up, big enough I'm not going to die of starvation."
They wandered off, leaving Sakura and Sasuke there.
Sasuke debated between Sakura and Naruto, and chose walking off towards his compound.
They met up in the morning at the training ground. Sasuke had arrived first, plopping down with a bag in his lap. Naruto plopped down next to him, Taroko standing next to him. Danromi was draped around his neck and looked to be sleeping.
'Good morning,' Taroko tapped.
Sasuke nodded his head. "Good morning Taroko."
Naruto yawned, shifting so he was leaning against one of the bridge posts. "Morning Sasuke. Whatcha got there?"
Sasuke held the bag protectively. "Tomatoes, and you can't have any."
Naruto snorted, sliding to the ground. "I don't want 'em." In another second, he was asleep.
Sasuke snorted, settling down to meditate, Taroko settling down with her head in Naruto's lap. Sasuke was soon asleep though, not having gotten much sleep. Taroko also slept, but lightly, paying attention to her surroundings.
Sakura arrived quietly, also holding a bag. She noted the sleeping positions of her new team, and settled off to the side, snacking on the crackers in her bag, and reading a book.
(A/N) Two fall asleep, one reads. Normal stuff! Taroko holds the snacks, she is all mighty. So, if they had goldfish, Sakura would've had goldfish. But there probably aren't any goldfish, so normal crackers will have to do. I have a poll up on my profile, go check that out and vote!