Request and sorting
It was past dinner time at the Uzumakis house. The Uzumakis lived in a cosy small two storied house. It wasn't big, but they were not too many either. They were still in the dining room. The maiden was in the kitchen washing the dishes. The family was still around the table, chatting well-humoredly. Naruto was telling his kids a story of when he was still a genin; something about a big dog and an electrified fence. Everybody was cheerful. The maiden could listen to her husband's story from the kitchen, so, she laughed too.
Then, unexpectedly, the door bell rang.
Naruto wasn't expecting visitors at that time. Naruto got up slowly and walked through the house, to the front door, his kids awaiting in the dining room. When he finally opened the door, he made a surprise face.
Three people were standing in front of the door. Two adults and a teenager. They all had dark hair and white eyes, although the teenager's skin was taned and his hair was short and messy while the adults' skin was fair and pale and their hairs long straight. Naruto noticed that the two adults, Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hanabi, were wearing almost ceremonial kimonos and the kid, Hyuuga Ten, was wearing newly dressed clothes.
"May we enter, Hokage-sama?" asked Hyuuga Neji. He was wearing a dark blue kimono than enhanced his pale skin and eyes.
Naruto wide eyed at this, still not totally opening the door. "Kimono? Formal visit?" he asked and they nodded. He then stepped aside and opened the door. "Sorry, I was a bit surprised, wasn't expecting you at this time. But if it's formal, please adress me as Naruto, it would make the air less heavy ehe" he grined as they entered. Hanabi also smirked a bit when she crossed Naruto, but Neji and the other kid remained passive and serious.
"Who is it, dad?" Naru came from the dining room, her eyes went wide when she saw the three Hyuuga. "Hanabi-baa-chan? Neji-san? Ten-kun? What is wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, Naru-chan." answered Hanabi, while Naruto guided them to the main room. "We just want to have a conversation, concerning the new genins. It would be good if you listened too." They arrived the main room. The three Hyuuga sat in line, Hanabi in the middle, since she was the head of the family, while Naruto sat at the opposite side of the room.
"So" started Naruto "What was it that you wanted to talk to me? If it's a formal visit, then it can't be just because of some genin. Tell me what's troubling you? Is it the elder Hyuugas? I thought I made the points all too clear for them." afirmed Naruto, a serious look on his face.
Neji shook his head as in negation and spoke. "No, fortunatelly all the matters between the Hyuugas were all solved, thanks to you, my friend." he said, while making a light smirk. "And may I say that you're wrong. This matter does concern the genin. One genin, to be precise." he said but was interrupted by a girly voice.
"Hey, it's Hanabi-baa-chan!" yelled cheerfully Hideki as he stepped into the room, which supposedly had the door closed. Hideki got a little intimidated with Ten's and Neji's look.
"Not now, Naru-chan, Hideki-chan" said Hinata, in a serious tone. "We are having an important conversation here, something that shouldn't bother nor concern you."
"Actually" cut Neji. "It does." They all stared at Neji with unbelieved looks.
Hanabi signaled Neji to proceed. "As you know" he started "My son, Ten, although quite young, is already a chuunin. Since he is a chuunin, he will be longer out on missions than in the village, with his team, training. Beside, he already knows everything a chuunin needs to know, concerning the Jyuken Ryu." At this, Ten supressed a confidence smirk.
"That's why" proceeded Hanabi "We would like to ask you, Naruto-sensei, for the permission to take Hideki as a Jyuken Ryu apprentice in the Hyuuga manor." she finally declared.
Everybody went to shock besides Naruto; Naru as wide-eyed and wide-mouthed staring at Hideki, who was in the same state, looking to the three Hyuugas. Ten was also caught in surprise; obvisouly he didn't know exactly what was going to happen in this meeting. He was switching stares from his father to Hideki.
Naruto, who remained calm all this time, seemingly thinking, finally spoke. "I see. It's quite logic, isn't it? Although an Uzumaki, he's also a Hyuuga and he does possess the Byakugan." he said. "Very well, you have my permission, but this will all depend on Hideki's decision." he finally declared, everybody now looking to Hideki.
"I..." muttered Hideki, dropping his head, clearly not sure of what his decision would be. This was all too sudden for him.
"Let me just say" Neji spoke suddenly "That, if you accept our proposal, you will have to train at the Hyuuga manor. I will personally train you while I'm not out on missions, but you will have to relinquish the ambition of being part of a team. At least for the time being."
At this, Hideki wide-eyed and lifted his head again. "But, then I won't be with 'nee-chan!..." he said, turning his look to his sister. "And I won't make any more friends."
"That is not true. There are many Hyuuga teens and youngsters training at the household. Many of them choose to train the Jyuken Ryu for a few months or even a year before joining a team. You will be able to meet many with the same ability as you." said Neji.
"But..." Hideki lowered his head. "God! But what?" cut finally Naru, surprising everyone. "Don't you listen? You will meet many boys and girls our age, you will train and finally be able to use those weird eyes of yours, and you will be able to become strong! What more can you possibly wish for?" Naru yelled to her younger twin.
"But then 'nee-chan will be alone!" pleaded Hideki. Naru gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry. It's not like I'm afraid or anything. Besides, it's only during day time, at night we will meet again here, as always, right?" she asked, a bit uncertain, turning to the Hyuugas. "Yes." smiled Hanabi. "All of them stay there because they live in the Hyuuga household. But since you're not exactly a Hyuuga, you can come home almost every day." She said to Hideki.
"See?" Naru grined to Hideki, as a fox would do to a fellow fox. Hideki finally gave a thin smile and nodded. "Ok. I'm not sure if I'm good enough for it, but I will try. I accept." He finally said.
"Of course you're good enough. I don't know any Hyuuga who wouldn't make a fine ninja." said Neji, smiling to Hideki, but directing his thoughts to someone else who was not present. Naruto smiled inwardly.
"Then, it's settled!" Ten finally talked, in a cheerful way, mostly reminding his mother. "Maybe we can even spar a bit and I'll give you some lessons."
Hideki nodded, smiling, as well as everyone in the room.
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The class room was full and lively. Twenty one genin filled its desks, happily talking to each other, mostly about the exam of the day before and the possible three-men teams that were to be sorted that day. Many of them were talking about the most noticed absence that day. Hideki was nowhere near sight and since no one of the rookie genins, aside from Naru, knew of what had happened, they were all very curious and suspicious.
"Hey, where's Hideki?" was the most asked question, mostly directed to Naru.
She could only sigh. Her parents and the Hyuugas had asked her not to tell anybody about it, mostly because the chuunin instructors would tell them everything, so there was no need to rush things.
"Something wrong with Hideki-kun?"
Naru looked up, recognizing the voice. Uchiha Sakuya had sat in the desk beside her, and had leaned towards Naru, trying to make the conversation private.
"Nah. You'll see what happened. Dad asked me not to tell anyone, and since the senseis will tell everybody, there's no use in me opening my mouth." she whispered, but making sure Sakuya would listen.
Sakuya frowned a bit at these words, but Naru noticed through that, seeing her concerned look. "Don't worry. He's alright, nothing's wrong with him. In fact he will be great." she grined, lifting her head again, as the chuunin instructors were entering the class room, leaving a confused Sakuya.
"Sit the hell down!" yelled Maki, wide-smirking, everybody obeying. "Thanks everybody for being here. As you know, today we will proceed to the team sorting. Each genin team will be made of three genin students and an assigned jounin instructor." informed Maki, making sure everyone could listen and understand her. "There will be seven teams, as you're twenty one, since Uzumaki Hideki will not be joining us, at least for the time being."
At this, the whispers started. Finally a boy rised from the crowd and asked what everyone wanted to know. "Where is Hideki, Maki-sensei?"
Maki flinched a bit at this. She looked back to Udon, who was sitting again at the desk, looking for some sort of clue of what to do. Udon stared blanky at her for a bit and then nodded, a slight smirk on his face. Maki turned and, with a serious tone spoke.
"Uzumaki Hideki will not be joining us because he chose not to belong to any team." Everybody wide-eyed at this, mouths open in surprise. "He received an offer for being taught at the Hyuuga household in the Jyuken Ryu, which he accepted willingly. Therefore he will be taking classes there and not in a normal team like you will."
After Maki finished talking, everybody bursted into whisper. Sakuya looked incredulous to Naru. The blonde girl looked lazily to Sakuya, flashing a grin to her. Sakuya let out a slight smirk and sigh.
"Ok, let's start this!" anounced Maki, catching all the genins' atention. The room went silent, every genin eager of getting to know their team and their team mates.
Maki started calling the students, anouncing each team. As each team was anounced, the students remained in the classroom, but were free to join their team mates, if they wanted to. There were mixed feelings. Some of them were happy with the sorting, either because they were teamed with strong genins or with friends, and disappointed expressions, clearly some genins prefered not to be teamed up with some other.
"Team # 3" called Maki. "Inuzuka Tsuga!"
"Aha! It's us, Kurosuke!" said Tsuga happily to his pup, who was now sitting on his lap, since Tsuga was wearing only a long shirt and shorts, who barked.
"Chad Lee!" Maki anounced the second member.
"Yosh! Just like my father when he was assigned to be with Gai-sama! I shall have the same glorious and flashy future!" Lee punched continuously imaginary enemies, everybody sweat-dropping at this.
"And Yamanaka Tatsune!"
"Hai!" said abruptly the young blonde, her cheeks flashing bright red. Everybody was commenting this sort. "With those two?" "Isn't she lucky?" "Loser-girl with Tsuga-kun! No way!" were some of the bitter comments, but most were just whispers, so hardly anyone could hear.
Great luck, Tatsu-chan! With those two team mates you will surely be stronger. thought Sakuya as she smirked slightly, looking in Tatsune's direction. The blonde girl noticed this, grined widely and then turned her face, blushing even more than before.
Maki continued anouncing the teams, pretty much the same reactions as before. Then there were only six students remaining, which meant two teams to be sorted.
"Team # 6" Maki started. "Uzumaki Naru!"
The blonde girl nodded. Everyone looked to her. If she was to be in team # 6, then, most certainly, Uchiha Sakuya was to be in the other one, because the teams were sorted mainly based on the balance criteria.
"Uchiha Sakuya!"
The girl had no reaction, although you could see a light smirk on Naru's face. The two girls then crossed looks. The remaining genins were quite surprised with this. If the two most skilled ninjas at the academy were to be put together in a team, then that team would certainly be stronger than the others. Where was the so-called balance?
"And Oozora Yuusou!"
The room went quiet. Slowly everyone turned to the farthest corner of the room, to the brown haired boy. Noticing this, Yuusou tried to look away from all the stares, but failed. His face was now crimson red. He noticed some jealousy stares and even some "you foreign bastard" stares. It only made him even less comfortable. People now started changing arguments and commenting on that kind of sorting.
"Hey, come on! There's one team to be sorted yet!" complied Maki, but no one was paying atention anymore. The three remaining genins already knew who they were going to be teamed up with, and everybody in the room was now talking, ruckus erupting, nobody listening to what Maki said, as the kunoichi tried, vainly, to quiet down the crowd.
Maki cursed, her teeth grit. It was impossible for her to tame the crowd and Udon apparently had fallen asleep with his eyes opened.
"Ok, Ok! Kids, sheesh..." she muttered. "You may leave now. Be sure to be here at 15h00 to get acquainted with your assigned jounin instructors!" informed Maki, having to speak loudly to the crowd, that was already walking to the door, most of them shouting angry coments about "what happened to balance?" and "great, foreign-san teamed up with genius-chan's" in a sarcastic way. "Oh, yeah, I forgot." started Maki, getting everyone's atention. "Has anybody here any complains about the sorting?" She talked in an almost fearsome way, trying to put all those unhappy genins in their places.
Nobody spoke. The genins looked to each other and to Maki several times, looking down, not even daring to say anything that they knew would anger the female chuunin. The episode of the day before still was carved in their minds. Maki smirked at this. Apparently her plan had succeeded. She was going to open her mouth to dismiss everyone when a hand was raised.
Everybody searched the source of the hand and looked, incredulous expressions when they found it. At the far end of the crowd, a little distance between him and the rest of the genins, Yuusou kept his hand high in signal, catching everyone's atention. Although his face looked a bit uncertain, his stance and his arm did not waver.
Maki was a little taken aback from this, not expecting Yuusou, especially him, to complain about the sorting. After staring at him for some time, she finally asked him to speak.
"Well, you see" started Yuusou, his voice and words were spelled slowly, as if he was trying to choose the better ones to speak. "Everybody knows that, the main criteria used on this sorting is balance, right? Genins are chosen in groups of three, in a way that they can complement each others' flaws and abilities, right?" "Right." answered Maki, as if she asked the boy to proceed. "Well, I was wondering, why was I put in the same team as Naru-san and Sakuya-san. I mean, they're both strong, have great talent and charisma, while me..." he sighed "I'm just a pot of flaws. I'm weak, have no confidence and I can't even stand up for myself. Why was I put in the same team as them, if I'm so weak?"
Everyone wide-eyed at Yuusou's words. When the boy finished talking he was trembling all over, his eyes were wide shut in a painful expression and his fists were clenched. It had been very difficult for the boy to mutter those words out, that was visible to all of them. Even those who did not aprove his graduation as a genin, were astounded at the boy's sincerity. Naru was dumbfouded looking at the boy and, unexpectedly and with no apparent reason, butterflies started flying in her stomach and she felt a weird warm feeling filling her from within until her cheeks, who reddened intensely. Yuusou...
Maki looked a bit surprised when Yuusou stopped talking but she smirked almost immediately. She closed her eyes, still the slight grin on her face, as if she was trying to think the best way to answer the boy's question, but still thinking about his words. Finally, she opened her eyes back and stared to Yuusou.
"Yes. You're right. We sort teams based on the balance criteria. Sakuya and Naru are strong. You are weak." She kept her smirk. Although most of the genin laughed at this, some, especially Naru and Yuusou wide-eyed at her words. How could she say that and even keep that smirk of hers. Was she saddist in any way? "And that's why you were picked into that team." she continued. "With such strongs team mates, even if you are weak, the team is balanced. And, with such strong team mates, even if you are weak, you will be able to, undoubtly, get stronger and stronger, so that you are no longer weak."
Yuusou's eyes widened even more for a moment, then relaxing. He fixed his gaze on the ground, a smile forming on his lips. A smile of understanding, of gratitude and of will.