The day finally came and Naruto was less than eager. Even after fighting Sasuke for years he was still reluctant to be entering the ninja life. Of course it afforded a person respect and the chance to fight for their home, but from what Naruto understood that was only if one lived long enough. He remembered there had been a boy in the orphanage a few years older than him who joined the shinobi corps and died within the year. While he hadn't known him well, Naruto had shed tears for him all the same. It had been a year after he himself joined the academy and he hadn't been able to sleep for a few nights afterwards. It was probably what prompted him to start training with Sasuke no matter how much he detested the idea. He supposed that he just had to get so good at sealing that nobody would be able to kill him, better even than the Yondaime who unfortunately died an untimely death.
No, Naruto wasn't excited which was a contrast to the rest of his classmates who were all overly excited. Even Sasuke had been in a better mood than usual, which really just meant that he called Naruto an idiot less often, or more often, it was hard to tell.
At least he got some enjoyment out of his classmate's reactions. Hinata's fainting spell when she found out she was on the same team as Kiba was hilarious and Mizuki had to pause in the middle of assignment to get her medical attention. She was going to have to figure that out if she wanted to stay alive. Besides for her, there was Ino's reaction when she found out that she was going to be on a team with the dead last and Choji, she almost fainted as well and she looked like she wanted to kill Shikamaru. Naruto didn't know what she was upset about, Shikamaru had worked really hard to get the dead last rating. But at least the InoShikaCho trio would continue as tradition. Most of the other team assignments made sense. The classroom emptied out well enough until the only students left were Sasuke, Sakura and himself.
"I think your team assignment is pretty clear," Mizuki said finally. "You may as well wait outside until your sensei shows up. He should be here in about. . ." he looked at his watch and grinned maliciously. "Maybe an hour."
Naruto blanched. He was kidding right?
Mizuki didn't give any further explanation however, walking out of the classroom quickly before any of them could ask him what he meant. Sakura stared after him, looking confused. "Does he mean that our sensei is going to be late?"
Sasuke shrugged. Naruto said nothing as he figured Sasuke's shrug spoke for both of them. Grumbling, Sakura walked out of the classroom, leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone. She was most likely going to wait for their sensei.
"Should we go home to get some lunch?" Naruto suggested.
Sasuke shook his head. "We shouldn't eat. We might have to fight."
Naruto nodded sagely. "Let's go meet Sakura then. We may as well get to know each other if we're going to be a team."
Sasuke sent an expression his way that told Naruto anything would be better than such a prospect but he didn't argue. Naruto grabbed a sheaf of paper, some ink and a brush just in case they were going to be waiting for quite some time, and shuffled outside, Sasuke in tow if reluctantly.
They found Sakura sitting on one of the swings looking grumpy and staring out at the nearby forest as if expecting something to come out of it at any moment. Naruto took a seat on the swing next to her and nodded with his head for Sasuke to sit on the swing on the other side of her. Sakura seemed surprised at their entrance but didn't say anything as they took their seats.
"Introductions," Naruto declared. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, last surviving member of the Uzumaki clan and I'm good at fuinjutsu but not as good as I'm going to be. My angry looking friend is Sasuke Uchiha, last surviving member of the Uchiha clan and rookie of the year. He's also really fast. Pleased to meet you. . ." he trailed off, waiting for Sakura to follow along.
"Sakura Haruno," she supplied. "Middle section in the Haruno clan and I had the best marks in our academy class."
"Huh," Naruto said, scratching his head. "Why aren't you the rookie of the year then?"
"Marks aren't everything," Sasuke supplied coldly.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "You're just annoyed that she beat you in the written tests." Then before Sasuke could respond Naruto clapped his hands together. "This commences the first meeting of genin team seven. Now before we continue with anything else we should decide on a leader."
"How about our sensei, idiot," Sasuke commented, but his heart didn't seem in it.
"Well yeah, he's our sensei, but he's not going to be with us all the time, such as right now. So I figure we may as well appoint a leader so that we always know who to follow," Naruto said.
Sasuke grunted. "So I suppose I'm the clear leader then," he stated.
Naruto tilted his head to look at him strangely. "Why would you think that?"
"I'm the best ninja out of the three of us," Sasuke answered, sounding exasperated.
Naruto snorted. "Being the best ninja doesn't mean anything if you don't have leadership skills. I personally think the best leader for our group would be Sakura."
"Why? She's not nearly as strong as I am," said Sasuke.
Naruto grinned. "Because she's going to be Hokage."
Sasuke blanched, turning slowly to look at Sakura then look away again. "Isn't the Hokage supposed to be the strongest ninja in the village?" he asked, ignoring Sakura's uncomfortable fidgeting.
Naruto shook his head. "Lord Hokage told me that when he passed the hat to the Yondaime he could've whupped his butt in a fight. He said that the reason he chose him was because the will of fire burned bright in him or something."
"I have the will of fire," said Sasuke defensively.
"No, you have the will of vengeance. And I have the will of sealing. Sakura wants to be Hokage though so she has the will of fire," Naruto explained.
"Why don't we just ask her who she thinks should be the leader?" Sasuke suggested.
"That wouldn't be fair," Naruto said.
"Why not?"
"Are you blind? It's because she's in love with you," Naruto said smirking. His face dropped when he realized what he had just said. Standing quickly he backed away. "I uh, I just remembered something I need to do," he mumbled nervously before throwing a smoke pellet down and scarpering. Sakura snarled and jumped into the smoke, trying to smite Naruto, but he was already gone.
Naruto retreated to the top of the academy where he found a white haired man sitting on a deck chair with a small book held out in front of him. With a gasp he realized who he was looking at and all fear of Sakura vanished. He was looking at an urban myth, a legend. The Academy Hobo. He had heard the stories of a white haired man sneaking into the academy at night, but to see the legend manifest. . .it was simply unbelievable.
He needed to tell somebody, anybody. He couldn't tell Sakura though because she still wanted to kill him and Sasuke probably also did after dropping that information on his head even though he probably knew it already. There wasn't anyone else to talk to besides for the academy hobo. Retrieving a kunai from his belt, he wrote a quick note, tying it to the end and threw it hard enough that it would land in the ground just in front of Sasuke.
Sasuke jumped in fright, but quickly recovered and looked up to where Naruto was waving. He said something to Sakura who gasped loud enough for Naruto to hear, then they were both on the way.
"Where is he?" Sakura asked frantically as she scrabbled over the ledge, she was followed closely by Sasuke who had taken the stairs. "Where is the hobo?"
Naruto pointed, putting his other finger over his mouth to keep them quiet. They snuck towards the man, trying to get a better look. As they neared though he snapped his book shut, sitting up to look at the three genin approaching him. As he rose, the image became clear and Naruto was sure he had never seen this man before. Besides for the spiky white hair, this man had a ninja headband covering his left eye and a face mask pulled up over his nose.
"You found me?" he noted sounding surprised. "Impressive."
"Yeah well how long did you think you could stay hidden?" Naruto asked rambunctiously.
The man looked at his watch. "I was only planning on hiding for another hour," he said sounding slightly confused.
"Why would you suddenly come out of hiding now?" Sasuke asked. "After all this time?"
"Yeah, what gives?" Sakura concurred.
The white haired man looked at all of them, seeming very confused. "Wait, who do you think I am?" he asked.
"Psht, that's obvious. You're obviously the infamous academy hobo," Naruto declared loudly.
The white haired man scratched his head, looking at the two other genin who nodded in agreement.
"I'm uh not the academy hobo," the man said.
"That's exactly what the academy hobo would say," Sakura shouted.
"I'm your new sensei," he said quietly.
Naruto opened his mouth and closed it again, glancing back to Sasuke and then to Sakura, both of whom looked equally surprised. "I didn't see that coming."
