A/N: Ha! Finally, I've decided to stop being lazy and start a long fanfic, I plan for many chapters! YEAY! I was inspired to write this after reading Black Destiny by BlackWindKaze (My favorite OC I've ever read about was Kaze blush he's SO cool. Lol). So I'll be dedicating it you my friend (if you're even reading this…)
Disclaimer: No need to tell you what I'd do if I did own this wonderful anime, since I don't. /cries/
Dim The Sun: Chapter One
Shizune almost had a heart attack when she had come into the Hokage office to find Tsunade looking over what looked like some paperwork or maybe files.
"Tsunade-sama! I'm so proud! Finally living up to your responsibility as Godaime!" Shizune said dramatically with the usual comical, anime joyful-tears.
Tsunade looked up at her younger friend with her eyebrow raised slightly. Reaching across her desk she picked up her morning sake and took a quiet sip.
"Shizune, calm down. Go fetch Teams 7-10(A/N: team 9'll be Gai's team, just cause...) for me please, the Jounin instructors should already know what this is about." Tsunade said in a serious voice, scribbling a few notes on a pad of sticky notes next to her sake bottle.
Shizune calmed herself quickly and curiously looked over the desk at the folders that had been previously looked at.
"Ne, Tsunade-sama, why were you looking at the Genin's profiles?" Tsunade looked up and gave the woman a sharp look.
"That was an order, Shizune," she said in a patient voice. Shizune blushed briefly before turning serious and giving a small nod disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The youthful-looking Godaime sighed quietly and slumped against her chair. Looking up to the farthest corner of her desk she smiled at the picture she'd put there.
One of Jiraiya with in one of his poses (A/N: admit it, ero-sennin is the coolest old guy ever), a picture of herself, Shizune and Tonton outside a casino with a pile of their (rare) winnings, a picture of her old Genin team with one face scratched out, and finally one of her new surrogate son/brother.
She smiled at them all with a fond smile, her eyes lingering on the last picture an extra second or two.
Straightening in her chair after about a ten-minute musing session, she gathered the shinobi profiles into one pile with her sticky-notes on top.
She called in one of the ANBU outside her door, and gave him an order, one of which he raised an eyebrow (though hidden with his mask) at in mild surprise, but didn't question it. He gave a small bow before leaving much like Shizune had.
Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. "So I suppose you're going to make this decision of yours final. Are you absolutely sure of the teams?"
The Godaime looked up at the sudden voice to see Kurenai, followed by her students, who seemed to have not heard their sensei's words.
"Hai." Tsunade said simply before looking each of the Genin from head to toe.
Out of the corner of her eye Tsunade saw the head of a familiar taijutsu master look in through the slightly ajar door before quickly darting out of sight again.
Ten seconds later the two oak doors slammed open and a very bright light flooded behind a tall bowl-cut man with thick eyebrows (all for dramatic effect). The man flashed his pearly whites with a small 'ping!' gave his famous pose. "Good morning on this wonderfully youthful day our equally youthful Godaime!"
Tsunade offered him a rather weak smile, while Kurenai shook her head in disapproval and the Genin sweat-dropped.
Lee came in after his sensei, flashed a similar yet less bright 'pinging' smile and gave her a thumbs-up. Tsunade's smile turned genuine at that and watched as the two others of the team filed in silently, Tenten giving her an adoring look.
"Asuma-sensei, you should put that out while we're in the Hokage Tower!" they all heard Ino's loud voice shout.
Seconds later, a tense Asuma, without one of his cancer sticks, came in silently, his usually nonchalant expression on. Ino soon followed looking slightly annoyed, and finally Chouji, stuffing his face, with a potato chip bag in hand.
"Good morning, Hokage-sama!" Ino chimed brightly. Chouji nodded in acknowledgement without stopping his eating. Asuma just twitched a few times, willing his hand from reaching into his left-top vest pocket.
Tsunade surveyed the gathering before clearing her throat and beginning to speak. "I'll explain everything as soon as Team 7 comes. You, Jounin, already know the most important details, but I'll explain for the benefit of you Genin."
There was a long pause in which a few looked interested (Kiba, Hinata, Lee, Tenten), others looked blank as ever (Shino, Neji, Chouji) and the remaining few looked impatient (Ino and the Jounin).
Tsunade cleared her throat a few more times, uncomfortable with the silence, one of the many moment she'd wish Naruto was present to lighten the atmosphere.
Tenten finally broke the stillness by looking at her wristwatch impatiently, groaning in annoyance. "They should have been here a half an hour ago."
A few Genin rolled their eyes, while Gai had a sudden outburst. "No doubt my eternal rival is obeying the 'fashionably late' rule. Curse his hipness!"
(A/N: ready now? okay. GROUP SWEATDROP! .)
"You know this is all your fault, Kaka-sensei! Leading us around the whole village with your nose in that dirty book! We must of passed the Tower five times!" Everyone, including Gai, sweat-dropped at the sound of Sakura complaining loudly about her sensei's dirty habits.
"Ne, Kaka-sensei? Is that the real reason you're always late?" Naruto's voice asked, surprisingly quieter than Sakura. "..."
No answer was given and Kakashi walked in 30 seconds after, with his normal bored expression, with just the hint of annoyance.
"Sorry, we got lost on the road of-" "LIAR!" shouted everyone in the room (excluding Neji, Shino & Hinata(A/N: They're all too quiet to yell, trying as hard as possible to keep it in character.)).
Kakashi just shrugged, Gai quickly pounced on him (not literally) with a long, surely 'youthful', speech about their rivalry, etc.
Sakura smiled respectfully and bowed in front of the Hokage before going to ann-err, talk to Ino.
Naruto walked right in front of the desk and greeted her with a loud "Good morning, Tsunade-baachan!", which was returned with a punch in the head.
Naruto groaned and rubbed the now swelling bump. "Hey! What was that for, old hag." which got him into a head lock, receiving a rough, yet affectionate, noogie.
After Tsunade was satisfied that he had gotten his punishment, she let him go and straightened up against her tall-backed chair.
"Okay, now that everyone's here. Finally." she paused to glance at Kakashi, who shifted slightly, trying to hide his book behind his back. "I have an important subject to discuss."
All attention in the room immediately went to her. She gave a small smile at the rare serious on Naruto's face, she giggled silently before starting up again.
"Teamwork is one of the many things a Chuunin should have mastered as a Genin. As a Chuunin usually you'll have alternating teammates, according to your skill and type of mission. Therefore, I have decided that with the close of each Chuunin Exam, Genin teams should be changed."
She stopped there to catch her breath, and also to see the Genin's reaction. All the Genin looked surprised, even the ones trying to hide it. The first one to recover was Hinata, who frowned and looked a little troubled.
Tsunade saw this and started again. "I decided to use these four teams as an experiment, to see if it could work. If it does, I'll continue to do it with all the Genin teams. I'm confident that this will be a great opportunity for all of you, including you, Jounin. It'll help you grow in many ways."
She surveyed the room. Naruto looked thoughtful and a bit uneasy, but tried to smile, which came out a bit weak.
"I agree, this will be helpful!" Naruto said in his usual confident, happy tone. Tsunade smiled in appreciation.
The others slowly followed suit with remotely the same statement.
When it finally went silent again, Naruto got irritated and decided to speak up. "Well? The new teams, Baachan?"
Tsunade decided to just ignore the last bit, and give in to his request.
"Well, I put a lot of thought into this, and made sure no Genin had any of their other teammates, and each Jounin had at least one person from before so it's not so completely new for them."
The Jounin smiled in appreciation; they would have enough stress trying to get used to and teach two new students.
They all stayed silent, waiting anxiously to hear their new teams. Tsunade took a deep breath, just for dramatic effect, she inwardly snickered at Naruto's obvious impatience.
"Team Seven: Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, & Tenten." All three girls looked curiously at each other, Naruto noticed Kakashi had one of those looks. He felt sorry for the three.
"Team Eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Uzumaki Naruto, & Yamanaka Ino." Naruto looked over at Kiba, who was wearing a small grin, Naruto figured he'd be okay with that; Kiba was close to being a friend. He looked over at his new female teammate, she looked unsure, probably not knowing how she should feel about the grouping.
"Hey, Wait a minute! We don't have enough Genin. We're missing two since Shikamaru's a Chuunin and Sasuke..." Naruto trailed off.
He glimpsed over at Sakura, she had a pained expression. He gave her a mental sorry, but in the back of his mind he was whispering for her to get over it.
Sasuke had betrayed the only close people he had left, it's not worth the time to be sad about it if he would just leave them for power. Power from an insane, evil pedophilic snake…
At the very moment Tsunade was about to answer Naruto, there was a quiet knock on the door. They all turned to look almost in sync. "Leader! I'm a Genin, now!"
Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of Konohamaru at the door with a silent girl behind him. "Hinabi!" Hinata gasped out.
Tsunade smiled as the small boy ran at Naruto, who hugged him back. "There's your answer."
Neji glared silently and grunted in annoyance, his arms were crossed over his chest and he was leaning against the wall(very cool and appropriate for the super-cool, awesome genius).
He still needed a team, and it was probable that he'd have at least one of the new Genin. He couldn't decide what was worse, his Main House cousin or the seemingly annoying brunette boy who worshipped Naruto.
"Ahem!" Everyone looked back at the Godaime. "Team Nine: Aburame Shino , Hyuuga Hinabi, & Rock Lee."
There was a short break before Tsunade continued in which Lee and Gai hugged (with a sunset in the background), with Gai saying something like 'blah blah talented student blah blah youth blah blah'.
Neji just sighed in slight relief of being spared the presence of a Main House member. He then looked at the brown haired midget (A/N: no offense to all short people out there.).
Life was so unfair...
"Final group, Team 10: Akimichi Chouji, Hyuuga Neji, & Konohamaru. Now that we all know our groups and subordinates, I'll give you all a day to say good bye, a day to rest, a day for the Jounin to let this roll through their heads and think of what to do. That gives you all three days before your first meeting with your new team. Jounin make sure to send a note to your new students to tell about where to meet and what time. Dismissed!"
Team Seven was told to go home, since there were no missions for them that day. Naruto and Konohamaru walked out together, while the others just went their separate way.
Naruto looked over at the boy next to him. "So, how come you were allowed to become a Genin so soon?" Konohamaru gave him a wide grin as they strolled out of the building.
"Tsunade-sama decided since Hinabi-san and me were at the top of our class we could become Genin before everyone else." He looked so proud when he said that.
Naruto smiled at his young friend. "I didn't know you were at the top of your class…" The fox boy snickered while Konohamaru glared at him slightly.
"Yeah, well I am! I'm the best at weapons and Iruka-sensei said I have decent agility. I'm also okay with chakra control…"
Naruto nodded absentmindedly. "So you're on Chouji & Neji's team…" A slightly evil grin crawled onto his face.
"Make sure to talk a lot, that will really annoy Neji! And a little advice about Chouji, don't try to take his chips." When he turned to head he saw Konohamaru taking notes (Lee style).
The blonde sighed in amusement and reached over to ruffle Konohamaru's already messy hair. "Good Luck." Naruto said as they came to a fork in the road, turning left. The brunette nodded, turning toward the opposite side-road. "Good Luck to you too, Naruto-niisan…"
That night, Naruto sat up in his bed with his back against the wall. He gazed out at the bright, sliver of the moon.
Silently he wondered what his new team would be like. Hopefully better than his last. Team Seven had been a family to him, a somewhat dysfunctional family, but he'd miss them. And yet, he felt that maybe this would be a new chance for him.
His awkward, dysfunctional family had ended in a wreck, all because a few stupid mistakes. Mistakes that had caused jealousy and self-doubt.
But no one was to blame. In his opinion, what happened, happened. There's no going back. Not that that meant that he didn't wish…
Wish that Sasuke was back, and that stupid snake-bastard had never been.
Naruto shivered and leaned over to close his window. Thinking about these things was never good. Dwelling on the past had never been his thing, otherwise he'd have gone insane long ago.
With a small yawn he laid down, pulling the warm comforter over himself. Tomorrow was when he'd have to say good-bye. He'd need a good nights sleep for that painful occasion.
A/N: Ne, First Chapter, not that bad I hope. I'd like a Beta though, it'd make it a lot easier for me. So if you wanna be my Beta could you review and give me your email please. Mostly the Beta'd be reminding me to update so I don't get lazy like I tend to get…
I hope you liked it, I gave the teams a lot of thought, and the two (new) rookies are just there because I'd just hate to make OCs or mess up the timeline anymore than I did, for the most part I'm taking it from after the Sasuke betrayal, and making it so Naruto didn't go to train with Jiraiya nor did Sakura get to be Tsunade's apprentice (cause I just think that's dumb, Sakura's not good enough for it in my opinion). Plus the two younger Genin may make it a bit more interesting. lol, I'm so sorry for Neji, Konohamaru'll drive him crazy. Bwahahaha! /cough/
I'll try to not bash any characters, but you know, beware of me being mean to Sakura and Sasuke, just cause I don't like them so much. The others'll be pretty okay, though.
Please Review. I wanna hear your opinion, not just that it's good, okay?
Ja Ne, Minna-san!