-Naruto's Apartment-
-Morning-
As Naruto woke up, he groggily felt around his body, touching each spot that he'd been hurt the night before. Fortunately, most of the injuries had healed overnight, leaving nothing that would inhibit him in the first day of his duties as a ninja.
Getting out of bed, he tossed some bread in his toaster, before making his way to his bathroom to wash his face off. Taking a moment to look in the mirror, he noticed that the cut above his left eye was already beginning to scar.
With his attention grabbed, he started to look at his face from various angles, before dejectedly muttering to himself, "At least the scar doesn't look that bad. If anything, maybe it makes me a little more handsome?"
Done in the bathroom, he returned to getting ready for the day, all the while thinking back on the aftermath of yesterday's prank.
Naruto and his clones had been sitting on the roof of his apartment for roughly twenty minutes before the first shouts roared through out the village. As if it were a ritual, cries of, 'Naruto!' and 'That damned brat!' were amongst the majority.
As time went on, more and more screams erupted from around the village as each clan began to fall into the pranks that were left for them. One would think that Naruto would hide, or begin to run, but as part of the 'game' in his own mind, he would wait for the first person to show up before he began his escape.
Naruto and his clones were growing more restless by the second, as they'd only really pranked one clan at a time in the past, thus, they were starting to feel uncomfortable as they realized the scale of the resulting chase that would ensue.
Even so, none of them budged, it would feel like cheating if they had left ahead of time. At least they could take comfort in their numbers, that is, until one of the clones let out an, "Oh shit!"
That naturally gathered the group's attention, as they turned to him, he quickly said, "Our alibi won't mean a thing if they see all us clones!" Immediately popping himself as soon as he finished the words.
If what he said didn't get through to them, the rush of memories quickly did, as each clone popped themselves. In one instant, Naruto was once again alone.
Wincing from the sudden influx of memories, Naruto began to chuckle to himself at some of the more comedic moments in the memories, before getting himself ready to run.
Just in time, too, as a shoe flew past his head, narrowly missing him as he ducked out of reflex. Spotting the culprit out of the corner of his eye, an angry mother of the Kurama clan, Naruto leapt into motion. Quickly scaling the fence on the edge of the roof of his apartment, Naruto jumped down to lower roof nearby.
The moment his feet were about to touch the roof, already bracing himself to land, Naruto was suddenly kicked from the side by an angry Hyuuga clansman. Unexpectedly launched in a different direction, Naruto quickly grabbed onto the edge of the roof before he fell off to the ground.
Seeing several more Hyuuga clansmen charge at him across the roof, he abandoned any thought of staying, he braced himself against the building next to the one he was dangling from and slid down between the two of them into the alley below.
Upon reaching the ground, he heard shouts, "The brats in the alleyway! Cover both entrances, don't let him escape!" Thinking fast, he transformed into a rat, and crawled back up to the roof through a drainage pipe for the gutters.
He could hear his pursuers trying to figure out where he was hiding down below, and as panicked as he was growing, he was starting to lose it. Luckily, the experiences of all his previous chases guided him, as he patiently peeked out from his spot in the gutter to see if the roof was clear.
There was a single Hyuuga clansmen still left on the roof, fortunately, not one using the weird eye technique they liked to use when chasing him.
While his back was still turned, he scampered off, sneaking behind him, before transforming back into his normal form to make the jump to the next building.
As he flew over the gap between the two buildings, he heard from below, "I see him, I see the brat! He's hopping between the rooftops!" Once again, the intense pursuit was on.
Rolling upon landing on the other roof, Naruto dodged several thrown objects, before jumping into the air to dodge yet another volley. Grinning from his successful escape thus far, a rock smashed into the side of his head.
Dazed, and with blood gushing out, covering his left eye, Naruto quickly began to move once more, ignoring the particularly dangerous force that was employed in his capture.
Suddenly much more serious than before, Naruto jumped off the roof he was on, transforming into a rat midair, and flying into an apartment through an open window. Rubbing the blood out of his eye as he undid his transformation, he calmly made his way through the apartment and out the front door, being careful to lock it again behind him.
Temporarily, he had lost his pursuers. Taking a moment to collect himself, unsure of why they were being so hostile this time around, Naruto adjusted his headband, using it to cover the gash above his eye and keep the blood out of his face.
Needing some help this time around, Naruto created a clone, which upon forming, instantly popped, updating any of his remaining clones as to the situation he was in.
Readying himself, Naruto jumped off the apartment building's veranda, and was once again, instantly spotted.
Landing on the street below, he was surrounded by ninja from various clans. Already prepared for this, Naruto quickly flashed through the hand signs for the Shadow Clone jutsu, intentionally performing it wrong, and creating a massive cloud of smoke.
All the failed attempts at the technique that night before Iruka had found him had found a surprising use, as an impromptu smoke creation technique.
Transforming into one of the ninja who had surrounded him, Naruto carefully made his way out of the encirclement while the ninja were distracted. Fortunately, none of them were Anbu or a Hyuuga, as both groups had methods to deal with such vision-denial tricks.
Casually making his way into a nearby alleyway, Naruto once again, undid his transformation to kickstart the pursuit once more.
Dashing out of the alleyway, Naruto was instantly subdued by an Anbu that had been lying in wait. Taken completely by surprise, Naruto had no way of resisting, especially when the Anbu normally went easy on him, like it was a game.
"Hey, what's the deal! That was so anti-climactic!"
"Listen to me, Uzumaki Naruto. We'd like to continue the game just as much as you do, but we can't this time. Unfortunately, some bad elements have slipped into the pursuit this time, as we're sure you are aware. So, the chase ends here."
Resigned, Naruto nodded his head, agreeing that the chase this time seemed more dangerous than usual.
"Wait a minute, we? Whose we?"
Upon saying those words, Naruto was suddenly acutely aware that he was surrounded by three agents of the Anbu, all sporting colorful masks.
"Now if you'll come with us, we are to keep you safe while the various clans calm down."
Naruto had been forcibly taken into Anbu custody for his safety.
Finished with his breakfast, and with his signature orange jumpsuit on, Naruto left to the academy to figure out his assignment. He hoped he would get paired with Sakura, or maybe someone he knew at the very least, like Shino. He didn't really have any hopes of having Shikamaru or Choji on his team with the next iteration of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation on the way.
Ducking through a couple alleyways, including one he had passed through the day before, Naruto arrived back at the academy in a short amount of time.
Making his way to the room where their assignments would be given out, Naruto found himself in an almost empty room. For one of the first times in his life (outside of pranks), Naruto had been one of the earliest students to the school.
He calmly made his way to seat, and sat down, intent on peacefully waiting. After the previous day, he was still pretty tired, and he found himself slowly dozing off.
Some time passed, and he heard his classmates enter the room every now and then. He only got up after quite some time had passed, and not really of his own volition.
Choji had entered the room, bag of chips in hand, with Shikamaru following slowly behind. Scanning the room, Choji spotted some open seats for the two, only they were next to something interesting. Naruto.
'Didn't Naruto fail the test? Why is he here?'
Shrugging to himself, 'Only one way to find out.'
"Come on Shikamaru, I see some open seats next to Naruto over there. Speaking of which, didn't he fail the final test?"
Shikamaru opened his half-closed eyes, intrigued. Naruto had failed his test. Why would he be here?
"Don't know. Curious. Only one way to find out."
Taking the lead this time, Shikamaru walked over to where Naruto was sleeping, with Choji tagging along. Sitting in a seat next to Naruto, Shikamaru waited, not willing to disturb another man's slumber, even to fulfill his own curiosity.
Fortunately, he would not have to wait long, as shortly after he sat down, Iruka entered the room.
Walking to the front of the class, Iruka started, "You all know why you're here, so I won't waste your time."
As curious as he was, the assignment was more important, so Shikamaru forced himself to look forward, and pay attention to what Iruka was saying.
"Team Seven will be compromised of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Kurama Daisuke under the leadership of Jonin Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight will be compromised of Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino under the leadership of Jonin Yuhi Kurenai. Team Nine is still under use. Team Ten will be compromised of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji under the leadership of Jonin Sarutobi Asuma. Wait here for your Jonin instructors. That will be all."
Not surprised with who he was teamed with, although he was a bit curious about his Jonin instructor, Shikamaru went to talk with Choji to pass the time.
Just as Shikamaru opened his mouth, Iruka left the room while saying, "Oh, and Naruto, come with me for your assignment."
Remembering why he and Choji had specifically sat down next to Naruto, Shikamaru snapped his head around to talk to Naruto before he left. Only to be left in a stupor, as he caught sight of what appeared to be a massive scar beneath Naruto's headband.
Not able to ask his question out of astonishment, Shikamaru watched as Naruto left the room to follow Iruka.
Naruto entered Iruka's office, following right behind him. Thoughts were racing through his mind the entire walk over.
'Why didn't I hear my name before? Was my graduation rejected? Does it not count for some reason? Maybe its punishment for stealing the scroll? Or for the prank yesterday?'
But before Naruto could dig up every crime or transgression he had committed within the past year, Iruka broke him out of his thoughts, and calmed him down with one sentence.
"Don't worry Naruto, you are a still a genin, that won't change."
Relief washed over Naruto, that was the biggest worry he had, resolved, in one sentence.
"The reason why you're here talking to me is for another reason. And honestly, as your teacher and friend, a part of me wishes your graduation was rejected."
A look of betrayal now emerged on his face, Iruka had been the one to give him the pass, why would he say something like that? Especially now.
"What? Why would you say that, Iruka-sensei?"
"I know how it sounds but let me explain. It's because your assignment."
"My assignment?" Naruto didn't quite understand, he hadn't received an assignment.
'Wait a minute. If I graduated, and am officially a genin, why was I not assigned a Jonin instructor?'
Naruto waited for Iruka to explain, no matter what he thought of, it probably wouldn't be right.
"Naruto, your promotion to genin was a field promotion. Essentially, your promotion was not through normal avenues."
'Not through normal avenues. That does not sound good.'
"So? I'm still a genin, anyhow? Right? Why does that matter?"
Taking a moment to think, Iruka explained, "You know how each group of genin is split into a 3-man cell with a jonin as their instructor."
"Yeah?"
"There are no other genin to pair you with. And since a squad with a single jonin and genin would be unbalanced, it would be inefficient for you to be paired with one."
Naruto did not like where this was going.
"Naruto. You're now considered a roaming genin, not a part of any squad."
Internally, Naruto was screaming, 'What does that mean!? What does that mean!?'
Trying to stay calm, Naruto stammered out, "Then…then what I am gonna do? Who is gonna train me?"
Iruka then told Naruto the best news he heard that day.
"Well, its not all bad. Have you ever heard of the Eternal Genin? He's offered to teach you the ropes…"
Author's Note: Outside of the aftermath of the prank, pretty short chapter. Mostly establishing a foundation to build off of. Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter.
