"He's late!"
Naruto's voice brought Akira out of whatever daydream she was having. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and herself were waiting in an empty classroom for their new sensei. He was late, as Naruto kept remarking, but Akira didn't let it bother her. People were late all the time. Though she did hope that he wasn't late to actual missions—that would be an issue. Meanwhile, Akira sat cross-legged on a desk, humming an old tune and swaying to the beat. This alone could have probably entertained her for hours.
"Naruto, just sit down!" Sakura demanded, looking over to the yellow-haired boy.
"I don't want to!" Naruto complained. "How come our teacher is the only one that's late!? The other groups have already met their new teachers and are gone on some kind of adventure! I mean—even Iruka-sensei left! I'm ready to roll!"
"That reminds me, I need to ask the others about their sensei—hope he's a good one," Akira muttered. "Of course, not better than ours."
"Definitely," Sakura agreed. "I'm sure ours will be the be—Naruto!"
Akira stopped her humming and looked up at Naruto. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as he put a chalk-filled blackboard eraser on the partially open door, hoping that it'd fall on their sensei's head.
"What're you doing, Naruto!?"
"That's what he gets for being late," Naruto said with a laugh.
"You're asking for trouble. You know you shouldn't do that."
"Our teacher is a Jōnin," Sasuke commented. "An Elite ninja."
"Yeah, there's no way he'd fall for that!" Sakura added. "You're so clueless Naruto."
"He's also a human being, who naturally lets his guard down around useless children like us," Akira said. "So, maybe it'll work."
"I'll bet you five ryō," Sasuke said.
"You're on."
"Akira you can't bet against, Sasu—"
The squeaking of the classroom's door made everyone fall silent. Two seconds later, the door opened, and the eraser fell on the man's head. He paused, blinking the eye that wasn't covered by his bandana. Akira couldn't tell what his expression was because of the mask covering the other half of his face, but she knew that disappointment wasn't far away when he saw Sasuke pass her five ryō. What was most odd about this man, considering that only a quarter of his face was visible, was that Akira had never seen him before. How had she not noticed a tall silver-haired man with barely any face showing?
"Ha! Got you!"
"I'm so sorry, Sensei," Sakura apologised. "I told him not to do it, but he just wouldn't listen! And Akira—she's gambling! She bet that it would fall on your head! I'd never do anything like that!"
"Shut up, Sakura," Sasuke said with a great sigh.
"Worth the wait," Akira muttered to herself.
The man picked up the eraser, looked at it, and then looked up at the students sitting in the classroom.
"How can I put this?" he said in a calm voice. "My first impression of this group..."
"Idiots, I'd say," Akira mumbled.
"Hey!" Sakura cried.
"I didn't say you, Sakura. I'm sorry you felt that it concerned you."
"Yup, you're a bunch of idiots," the man said.
"The eraser thing was still funny though," Naruto said softly.
"Follow me."
Akira uncrossed her legs and hopped off the desk. She followed the teacher out the door, closely followed by Sasuke and Sakura, and Naruto who was walking without touching the cracks in the floor. The five ninjas went up to the roof of the Academy which overlooked most of the city, and Akira took a moment to observe it.
The cityscape was a jumble of shapes like a child had cast blocks down randomly and then swept them so close together they touched. There were rectangles, domes and mini-castles. There were spires, weather vanes and satellite dishes. The roads were so narrow that they frequently became blocked by carts bringing in wares between the dwellings and businesses.
The silver-haired man went up to the edge and leaned back against the railing, facing the students. They sat down on a small step and looked up at him.
"All right, why don't you introduce yourselves... one at a time."
"Introduce ourselves? Well, what're we supposed to say?" Sakura asked.
"Things you like, things you don't, dreams for the future, hobbies," the man said almost apathetically. "Things like that."
"Why don't you tell us stuff first? I mean, first, tell us about you so that we can see how it's supposed to work," Naruto said.
"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that." Akira narrowed his eyes at him. "Dreams for the future... Never really thought about it. As for hobbies, I have many."
"You realise that you literally just told us your name, right?" Akira said, sounding a little sceptic.
"Yes. Yes, I do."
Akira frowned. That was useless. They'd learned nothing about him. How were they supposed to work together if they knew nothing about each other?
"Okay, your turn. You on the right," he said.
"Believe it—I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen, but I like the ramen from Ichiraku's best. I hate the three minutes you have to wait after pouring water into the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them... And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody important."
Akira quirked an eyebrow at Naruto. She knew he was a little... weird, but who loved ramen that much? Even Kakashi-sensei looked perplexed.
"All right, then," he said. "Next."
"I'm Sakura Haruno! What I like, uh... I mean, the person I like is..." Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, a blush covering her cheeks. Akira sighed and rolled her eyes. "Um, my hobby is, uh..." she giggled. "My future dreams are..." she squealed.
"And? What do you hate?"
"Naruto!"
Akira fought the urge to slam her palm onto her forehead.
"Next."
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have a lot of dislikes and 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."
"All right, there, don't scare the children," Akira chuckled dryly.
"Uh, right, yes, last one."
"My name is Akira Uchiha. Sounds stupid, but I like learning about things. Anything, really. One of my favourite things, though are my friends. Um..." Akira frowned and scratched her head. "I don't particularly dislike anything except for seafood, I don't think. As a hobby I sing a little—hum mostly 'cause I hate the sound of my voice. And dream for the future? That's an easy one," Akira said with a smile. "I want to become the best ninja I can be and follow in my father's footsteps. One day, I want to be the head of Konoha Military Police and protect my city with all I've got!"
Kakashi-sensei seemed almost relieved to hear something normal.
"Good," he said. "You're all unique and have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."
"Oh! What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked.
"It's a task that the five of us will do together."
"What—what—what—what?"
"A survival exercise," Kakashi-sensei said.
Akira perked up at the mention of a survival exercise. They had done many during the Academy, but it was always fun seeing Kai trying to eat beetles because he didn't manage his food correctly. She could only imagine what it would be like to see Sakura try to eat squirrel.
"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice!" Sakura complained. "We already did this stuff at the Academy, that's how we got here."
"This is not like your previous training," Kakashi-sensei said.
"So uh—so uh, what kind of training is it then?" Naruto asked.
To everyone's surprise, Kakashi laughed, almost maliciously.
"What's so funny, sensei?" Akira asked, worried.
"Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it," he said.
"Huh? What's he talking about?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi looked directly at his new students.
"Out of the twenty-nine graduates who came here, only eleven will be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy." Akira's eyes widened. "In other words, it's a make-it-or-break-it pass or fail test, and the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six per cent."
"That's crazy!" Naruto yelled.
"See? I told you, you wouldn't like it."
"Then what was that graduation test for anyway?" Sakura complained.
"Oh, that. Well, that was just to select those who might become Genin," Kakashi-sensei replied. "Or not."
"Whaaaat!?" Naruto shouted. "The test was useless, then!"
"Well, I wouldn't say that, Naruto," Akira said contemplatively. "I mean, sure the test in itself was stupid and a complete waste of our time, but at least it made us review what we knew—gave us a little more practice and a better chance at becoming Genin. That's if Kakashi-sensei thinks we're worthy or something."
"That's the way it is—I decide whether you pass or fail," Kakashi said. "Be at the designated training ground tomorrow morning at five, and bring your ninja gear. Oh, and tomorrow you better skip breakfast, or else... you'll puke."