I don't own Naruto characters, but the ones I made up are mine.
Keitaro looked down at his paper, then at the students around him. He hadn't the slightest clue what they were supposed to write. Why did all these classes have to be so hard? He knew it was ninja school, but really! Not that the fact that not paying attention helped any...
Dumb Maeko. Why did she always get me into trouble? This was all her fault... if she hadn't-
Keitaro's thought was cut off by a rolled up piece of paper hitting him in the cheek. He looked down at it, then in the direction it came from. Maeko was waving at him, a few seats away. Keitaro ignored the letter to the best of his abilities, and went back to staring blankly at his piece of paper, on which he still had no clue what to write.
He was then hit in the face with another note. He turned angrily in Maeko's direction. She was giving him a "Read it, now!" expression and waving her hands in the air. She prepared another note and flung it at Keitaro. This note was caught out of the air, by a hand belonging to their teacher.
"Now, what do we have here?" The teacher said, fondling the note in between his fingers.
"Shikamaru Sensei, please don't-" Maeko was about to say something, when their teacher (Shikamaru) opened the note. He briefly looked over it, then sighed.
"Maeko, please don't pass notes, you won't get away with them."
Maeko almost choked on the fact that the teacher didn't notice the first two that she got by.
"Now then..." Shikamaru turned toward Keitaro. "May I have the first two?"
Keitaro handed his teacher the two papers. "Here you go, sensei."
"Thank you." Shikamaru pocketed the parchments and walked to the front of the class. "Now as you all know, the Ninja Graduation Exams are TOMORROW. I DON'T want to see anyone fail."
"Shikamaru Sensei, did anyone fail when you were our age?" A student from the class asked.
Shikamaru smiled and looked up in thought. "There weren't any that failed... although there was one who almost failed."
"Really? Who was that?"
Shikamaru paused. "...He's your Hokage now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Naruto sat in the Hokage chair, twiddling his thumbs. He had become Hokage, proved himself to everyone, become among the greatest... and now had nothing to do. No emergency assignments... nothing. He had kind of expected more action in this position, and now that he came to think of it, he had never seen the third do much... the fifth just did medical stuff, which was her specialty... there was really nothing to do, unless there was some emergency that effected the entire village.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Naruto said, shifting in his chair.
Someone wearing an Anbu mask and a cloak, as all Anbu did, walked in. "It's been a while, Naruto." They removed their mask.
"Ah, Sasuke! How have you been?"
Sasuke chuckled. "Shall I call you `The Sixth' or can I just say Naruto?"
Naruto made a stuck-up face. "Well, now that I'm in a much higher position than you, you can call me The Sixth!"
"You really haven't changed at all, Naruto."
"The Sixth!" Naruto reminded.
"The Sixth, fine." Sasuke sighed. "So how's everyone doing since Neji and I joined the Anbu?"
"Well, lets see... Sakura and Hinata went into medical training under the fifth... Tenten, Lee, and Ino are supervising Genin... Choji, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru are still taking missions... Shikamaru is a teacher... I think that's it."
"So, you've finally matured a little?" Sasuke questioned, eyeing Naruto.
"What's that supposed to mean?! I was always mature!"
"Whatever, `The Sixth'" Sasuke mocked. "Just one last favor... DON'T tell Sakura or Ino I was here, they'll freak."
Sasuke walked back out the door, readjusted his mask, and then disappeared into the wind. Naruto sat back in his chair. Nothing to do... again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Maeko! You almost got me in trouble! Again!" Keitaro scolded.
"Well, technically, I didn't, and that's what's important, right?" Maeko gave Keitaro a fake smile.
"Not really..." Keitaro tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't think of anything. "I'm going to study for the Genin exam." Keitaro started to walk away.
"You actually study for these things?" Maeko looked oddly at Keitaro.
"Well, yes, it just does happen to do with the rest of our ninjitsu career."
"Have fun. I'M going to."
"Yeah, whatever..." Keitaro sighed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, the sun was shining brightly. Unfortunately, Maeko wasn't. Keitaro walked up alongside Maeko, noticing that she was pretty much dragging herself to school.
"Maeko, are you okay?"
"Ungh... I stayed up all night practicing..." Maeko groaned, leaning against something.
"...And you don't have any chakera to do the actual exam." Keitaro finished.
Maeko paused. "I hadn't thought about that..." She went from leaning to sitting against the wall. "God, I'm doomed..."
"Don't worry, it might be shuriken throwing, you don't need too much chakera for that..."
"Watch it not be..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And it wasn't.
"Doppelgangers. It had to be doppelgangers." Maeko flattened onto the table.
"Well, best of luck, I guess..." Keitaro got up when his name was called.
"Okay..." Shikamaru motioned toward Keitaro. Keitaro made three near-perfect doppelgangers.
"Very good." Shikamaru handed a leaf headband to Keitaro. There were a few high-fives, thumbs-up, and things of the sort as Keitaro sat back down.
A few more kids were called up, each one a name closer to Maeko's doom. Then her name was called.
"Hisaki Maeko!"
Maeko trudged down the isle almost completely drained of energy toward the teacher's desk. Nothing she could do...
Sada held her finger in front of her face, eyeing it with her Byakugan. If this worked... it would truly prove her skill at the gentle fist. As Maeko trudged by, Sada tapped a spot on Maeko's arm.
Maeko felt a sudden rush of energy. She went from crawl to half-run in a couple seconds. She jumped down the last few stairs in the isle.
Shikamaru noticed the change of movement and looked at Maeko oddly. "Okay... um, whenever you're ready."
Maeko prepared to split into three copies with her newfound energy. She released way too muck chakera and split into six.
Shikamaru looked at her with a confused face. "Three was all that was required, but more is fine. Here is your leaf headband, you may sit down."
As she returned to her seat, there was a bit of applause, and a few "show off" s from the rest of the kids. The rest of the names were called, and everyone passed.
Shikamaru looked down at a piece of paper. "Hm, you all pass... very good. The ceremony will be tomorrow, and you will be assigned teams in one week. You will be summoned from your home when it is time to take a picture for your ninja license. That is all, good bye."
Maeko got up and hugged Keitaro. "Keitaro-kun, I passed!"
"Um, erk..." Keitaro struggled a bit. "Yeah, I know... what was with the sudden burst of energy?"
Maeko put her finger to her lips in thought. "I don't know..." she threw her arms up in joy. "But who cares? I PASSED! Oooo, my parents will be so happy! Yay yay yay! I passed! I passed! I passed!" She continued in a singsong voice as she twirled out of the room, Keitaro following close behind.
A while later, everyone but Sada and the teacher had left. Sada was about to leave. "See you around, Shikamaru-Sensei."
"Sada, wait one moment." Shikamaru picked something up off the desk and flung it at Sada. Sada skillfully caught it out of the air.
"A gold star?" She asked while flipping the object in her hands.
"For helping a teammate in any way possible." Shikamaru said smiling.
"... Thank you." She bowed and ran out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well, we get assigned our teams today..." Keitaro sighed.
Maeko crossed her fingers, praying to be with Keitaro. Shikamaru came into the room with a scroll.
"I have here" He looked across the room at the faces. "the three person teams. There are fifteen of you, so that makes five teams, which will be numbered six through ten. The teams are the following..."
Shikamaru began to read off names for the teams. Neither Keitaro nor Maeko were in teams six and seven. Then came team eight.
"Kasune Keitaro..."
Maeko's entire body went tense.
"Hyuuga Sada..."
Maeko was REALLY praying. She had to be on the same team as Keitaro.
"And..." Shikamaru noticed Maeko. He sighed. "Hisaki Maeko."
Maeko practically jumped. She was on the same team as Keitaro. This must've been fate... it couldn't have happened by chance.
After a while, Shikamaru finished reading the names. "That's everyone... you're new sensei's will be here momentarily."
A time passed. A couple team's leaders came. Team eight was left there with one other team, number 10.
"That's it." Maeko put her hands on the table and got up.
"Maeko, what are you doing?" Keitaro called to her.
"I'm finding our sensei! If they won't come to us, I'm going to them." She began to storm out of the room.
"Maeko, wait!..." Keitaro got up after her, and then Sada went after them both. They all turned the corner with Maeko in front, but Maeko bumped into someone. It was a woman with white-blonde hair, and tall.
"Excuse me, but are you team eight?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah..." Maeko said nervously.
"Great! I'm you're teacher, Yamanaka Ino!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shikamaru was sitting at his house, doing paperwork. He was thinking how much there was to do when people graduate, and he probably should have been stricter, when there was a knock on the door. Shikamaru got up to answer it, grabbing his cup of tea to bring with him. He opened the door to find a man.
"Um, excuse me, but you read off one of the team's names wrong... it caused a bit of confusion..."
"Hm? Which team?"
"Team eight... Hisaki Maeko wasn't supposed to be on that team, rather Hoshi Ai was... The Sixth approved Maeko's being there and all, but, he reminds you to be a little more careful..."
"Okay, sorry..." The man left, and Shikamaru closed the door. Shikamaru chuckled about his "mistake".
"Sorry Ino..." He smiled and went back to his paperwork.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Please Review.
Please?
Keitaro looked down at his paper, then at the students around him. He hadn't the slightest clue what they were supposed to write. Why did all these classes have to be so hard? He knew it was ninja school, but really! Not that the fact that not paying attention helped any...
Dumb Maeko. Why did she always get me into trouble? This was all her fault... if she hadn't-
Keitaro's thought was cut off by a rolled up piece of paper hitting him in the cheek. He looked down at it, then in the direction it came from. Maeko was waving at him, a few seats away. Keitaro ignored the letter to the best of his abilities, and went back to staring blankly at his piece of paper, on which he still had no clue what to write.
He was then hit in the face with another note. He turned angrily in Maeko's direction. She was giving him a "Read it, now!" expression and waving her hands in the air. She prepared another note and flung it at Keitaro. This note was caught out of the air, by a hand belonging to their teacher.
"Now, what do we have here?" The teacher said, fondling the note in between his fingers.
"Shikamaru Sensei, please don't-" Maeko was about to say something, when their teacher (Shikamaru) opened the note. He briefly looked over it, then sighed.
"Maeko, please don't pass notes, you won't get away with them."
Maeko almost choked on the fact that the teacher didn't notice the first two that she got by.
"Now then..." Shikamaru turned toward Keitaro. "May I have the first two?"
Keitaro handed his teacher the two papers. "Here you go, sensei."
"Thank you." Shikamaru pocketed the parchments and walked to the front of the class. "Now as you all know, the Ninja Graduation Exams are TOMORROW. I DON'T want to see anyone fail."
"Shikamaru Sensei, did anyone fail when you were our age?" A student from the class asked.
Shikamaru smiled and looked up in thought. "There weren't any that failed... although there was one who almost failed."
"Really? Who was that?"
Shikamaru paused. "...He's your Hokage now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Naruto sat in the Hokage chair, twiddling his thumbs. He had become Hokage, proved himself to everyone, become among the greatest... and now had nothing to do. No emergency assignments... nothing. He had kind of expected more action in this position, and now that he came to think of it, he had never seen the third do much... the fifth just did medical stuff, which was her specialty... there was really nothing to do, unless there was some emergency that effected the entire village.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Naruto said, shifting in his chair.
Someone wearing an Anbu mask and a cloak, as all Anbu did, walked in. "It's been a while, Naruto." They removed their mask.
"Ah, Sasuke! How have you been?"
Sasuke chuckled. "Shall I call you `The Sixth' or can I just say Naruto?"
Naruto made a stuck-up face. "Well, now that I'm in a much higher position than you, you can call me The Sixth!"
"You really haven't changed at all, Naruto."
"The Sixth!" Naruto reminded.
"The Sixth, fine." Sasuke sighed. "So how's everyone doing since Neji and I joined the Anbu?"
"Well, lets see... Sakura and Hinata went into medical training under the fifth... Tenten, Lee, and Ino are supervising Genin... Choji, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru are still taking missions... Shikamaru is a teacher... I think that's it."
"So, you've finally matured a little?" Sasuke questioned, eyeing Naruto.
"What's that supposed to mean?! I was always mature!"
"Whatever, `The Sixth'" Sasuke mocked. "Just one last favor... DON'T tell Sakura or Ino I was here, they'll freak."
Sasuke walked back out the door, readjusted his mask, and then disappeared into the wind. Naruto sat back in his chair. Nothing to do... again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Maeko! You almost got me in trouble! Again!" Keitaro scolded.
"Well, technically, I didn't, and that's what's important, right?" Maeko gave Keitaro a fake smile.
"Not really..." Keitaro tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't think of anything. "I'm going to study for the Genin exam." Keitaro started to walk away.
"You actually study for these things?" Maeko looked oddly at Keitaro.
"Well, yes, it just does happen to do with the rest of our ninjitsu career."
"Have fun. I'M going to."
"Yeah, whatever..." Keitaro sighed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, the sun was shining brightly. Unfortunately, Maeko wasn't. Keitaro walked up alongside Maeko, noticing that she was pretty much dragging herself to school.
"Maeko, are you okay?"
"Ungh... I stayed up all night practicing..." Maeko groaned, leaning against something.
"...And you don't have any chakera to do the actual exam." Keitaro finished.
Maeko paused. "I hadn't thought about that..." She went from leaning to sitting against the wall. "God, I'm doomed..."
"Don't worry, it might be shuriken throwing, you don't need too much chakera for that..."
"Watch it not be..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And it wasn't.
"Doppelgangers. It had to be doppelgangers." Maeko flattened onto the table.
"Well, best of luck, I guess..." Keitaro got up when his name was called.
"Okay..." Shikamaru motioned toward Keitaro. Keitaro made three near-perfect doppelgangers.
"Very good." Shikamaru handed a leaf headband to Keitaro. There were a few high-fives, thumbs-up, and things of the sort as Keitaro sat back down.
A few more kids were called up, each one a name closer to Maeko's doom. Then her name was called.
"Hisaki Maeko!"
Maeko trudged down the isle almost completely drained of energy toward the teacher's desk. Nothing she could do...
Sada held her finger in front of her face, eyeing it with her Byakugan. If this worked... it would truly prove her skill at the gentle fist. As Maeko trudged by, Sada tapped a spot on Maeko's arm.
Maeko felt a sudden rush of energy. She went from crawl to half-run in a couple seconds. She jumped down the last few stairs in the isle.
Shikamaru noticed the change of movement and looked at Maeko oddly. "Okay... um, whenever you're ready."
Maeko prepared to split into three copies with her newfound energy. She released way too muck chakera and split into six.
Shikamaru looked at her with a confused face. "Three was all that was required, but more is fine. Here is your leaf headband, you may sit down."
As she returned to her seat, there was a bit of applause, and a few "show off" s from the rest of the kids. The rest of the names were called, and everyone passed.
Shikamaru looked down at a piece of paper. "Hm, you all pass... very good. The ceremony will be tomorrow, and you will be assigned teams in one week. You will be summoned from your home when it is time to take a picture for your ninja license. That is all, good bye."
Maeko got up and hugged Keitaro. "Keitaro-kun, I passed!"
"Um, erk..." Keitaro struggled a bit. "Yeah, I know... what was with the sudden burst of energy?"
Maeko put her finger to her lips in thought. "I don't know..." she threw her arms up in joy. "But who cares? I PASSED! Oooo, my parents will be so happy! Yay yay yay! I passed! I passed! I passed!" She continued in a singsong voice as she twirled out of the room, Keitaro following close behind.
A while later, everyone but Sada and the teacher had left. Sada was about to leave. "See you around, Shikamaru-Sensei."
"Sada, wait one moment." Shikamaru picked something up off the desk and flung it at Sada. Sada skillfully caught it out of the air.
"A gold star?" She asked while flipping the object in her hands.
"For helping a teammate in any way possible." Shikamaru said smiling.
"... Thank you." She bowed and ran out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well, we get assigned our teams today..." Keitaro sighed.
Maeko crossed her fingers, praying to be with Keitaro. Shikamaru came into the room with a scroll.
"I have here" He looked across the room at the faces. "the three person teams. There are fifteen of you, so that makes five teams, which will be numbered six through ten. The teams are the following..."
Shikamaru began to read off names for the teams. Neither Keitaro nor Maeko were in teams six and seven. Then came team eight.
"Kasune Keitaro..."
Maeko's entire body went tense.
"Hyuuga Sada..."
Maeko was REALLY praying. She had to be on the same team as Keitaro.
"And..." Shikamaru noticed Maeko. He sighed. "Hisaki Maeko."
Maeko practically jumped. She was on the same team as Keitaro. This must've been fate... it couldn't have happened by chance.
After a while, Shikamaru finished reading the names. "That's everyone... you're new sensei's will be here momentarily."
A time passed. A couple team's leaders came. Team eight was left there with one other team, number 10.
"That's it." Maeko put her hands on the table and got up.
"Maeko, what are you doing?" Keitaro called to her.
"I'm finding our sensei! If they won't come to us, I'm going to them." She began to storm out of the room.
"Maeko, wait!..." Keitaro got up after her, and then Sada went after them both. They all turned the corner with Maeko in front, but Maeko bumped into someone. It was a woman with white-blonde hair, and tall.
"Excuse me, but are you team eight?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah..." Maeko said nervously.
"Great! I'm you're teacher, Yamanaka Ino!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shikamaru was sitting at his house, doing paperwork. He was thinking how much there was to do when people graduate, and he probably should have been stricter, when there was a knock on the door. Shikamaru got up to answer it, grabbing his cup of tea to bring with him. He opened the door to find a man.
"Um, excuse me, but you read off one of the team's names wrong... it caused a bit of confusion..."
"Hm? Which team?"
"Team eight... Hisaki Maeko wasn't supposed to be on that team, rather Hoshi Ai was... The Sixth approved Maeko's being there and all, but, he reminds you to be a little more careful..."
"Okay, sorry..." The man left, and Shikamaru closed the door. Shikamaru chuckled about his "mistake".
"Sorry Ino..." He smiled and went back to his paperwork.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Please Review.
Please?