Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, would I really need a Disclaimer? Would I even need to WRITE fanfiction? NO! I'd make a series of alternate universe Manga and DVDs! If Tenchi can do it, why can't I! But no, I don't... so don't sue me, or else I'll gather the Nine Biju and bring Armageddon down on your sorry behinds!
Nightmares, Reflexes and Team Assignments
'It has been a while since I had this dream' thought Naruto as he watched a younger version of himself running through a grassy field, chasing a wayward butterfly. It was a rather soothing scene really, with the wind blowing gently, as if trying to aid the young boy in halting the butterfly's progress. Just as the boy is about to catch it, he sees a small cabin off to one side, smoke rising from the chimney as a woman's voice, full of warmth and love, calls out from the window.
"Naruto-chan! Time to come in for dinner!"
"Hai! Coming kaasan (mother)!" Leaving the butterfly alone, Naruto made his way to the cabin at a dead run, not wanting to be late. Reaching the door, he doesn't open it immediately... instead, he rests his hands against the wooden door and leans against it gently, pressing his ear to the surface to hear the voices inside. The door and the voices are always willed with warmth... the kind of warmth that could easily counteract the ice cold stares he got on a daily basis if it ever existed for him.
"Moooooom..." whined a female voice, similar to the kind he used in his Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique) form. "When is that brat coming in? I wanna eat NOW!" He always wondered what it would have been like... an older sister to fight with or to teach him things... a mother to hug and to take away his pain with kisses like the other kids had.
"Now now, don't call your younger brother a brat." said an eerily familiar male voice. It was strong and full of determination, and sounded like the kind of person who could have taught him and protected him from the harsh world outside. "You were just as excited as he was when you passed YOUR exams. You both do the Uzumaki Clan proud."
"Where IS that boy! It's time for dinner! Naruto-chan! Hurry up!" called the warm, female voice from before. Sighing, Naruto couldn't help himself as, with tears rolling down his cheeks, he pushed the door open... and revealed an empty house. No trace of the warmth he felt before was there... just chilling, heart-breaking lonliness. No sister to bother and play games with... no mother to hug him and make the pain go away with soothing words and kisses... no father to protect him from harm or be a role model for him... no one. Just as the sadness began to well up within him, a hand touched his shoulder, causing him to turn around and face the kitsune-form of the Yondaime.
"Kit... you aren't alone anymore." He said softly. "I'm here with you now kit... and whenever you want to talk, I'll be here. Now... wake up." The kitsune was surprised when the young Dream-Naruto wrapped his little arms around his waist tightly... before vanishing all together. As the dreamscape around him slowly faded and the bars to his self-made prison revealed themselves once more, the Kyuubi sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry Naruto... On my honor, I will do my best to atone for my sins against you..."
Waking up, Naruto yawned and looked out his window. The sun had just started to rise and he felt more energized than ever before. Smiling softly, he lightly scratched his belly where the Seal was. "Thanks... Kitsukage..." he said softly. Since the one inside him was a fusion of the fox and the hero, he decided to call him by a different name altogether.
"Kitsukage huh? Nice... it fits the new me." the kitsune's voice suddenly said out of nowhere, startling Naruto so much he fell out of bed.
"Ow... " Slowly sitting up, Naruto looked around cautiously, as if expecting his apartment to suddenly become that dank, dark sewer where the large cage was located. Not seeing anything of the sort, Naruto frowned and carefully stood up. "Oi... Yokodaime! Where are ya? Is this a dream or something?"
A deep, growling chuckle was heard when he asked this. Obviously the kitsune was amused. "Silly kit... I'm inside you as always. Since we made out deal, I was able to establish a bond between us that will allow us to communicate with each other. This way... I can help you with decisions and such, as well as coach you through training. If you need to talk to me, just think what you want to say, and I'll hear you. Understand?"
Inwardly, he wondered if becoming fused made the Kitsukage chatty, or if it was something his two personalities had in common. This earned him an undignified "HEY! I HEARD THAT!" followed by his own chuckles. Shaking his head, he began to clean himself up and prepare for his first dayas part of the Ninja force. After a brisk shower and a quick breakfast (which was made up of ramen and water, since his milk was expired), he quickly got dressed. Just as he placed his goggles on his forehead, he glanced at his dresser to spot his hitae-ate (forehead protector). Frowning, he looked from the protector to his goggles and back. Finally deciding on something, he gives a simple shrug and places the hitae-ate around his neck like a collar, unwilling to lose his trademark goggles just yet. Flashing himself a grin at a mirror, he nodded to himself before running out of his apartment and towards the Academy for the last time.
Naruto, by some stroke of luck, was early for the meeting at the Academy, and sat himself in his usual seat, arms folded on his desk so he could rest his head against them. With where he placed his new hitae-ate, no one could easily tell if he passed or not. 'Heh... it'll be great to surprise them!' he thought as the other passing genin entered the room. With his head down, he really couldn't see who came in, though the lazy drawl of one Nara Shikamaru caused him to raise his head. When Naruto glanced at him, the kitsune within him gave him a good look over, taking in one of Naruto's possible teammates.
"Hmmm... a Nara huh? He doesn't look like much... but then, most Naras don't. From what I recall from your memories kit, he doesn't do much, does he? Still... you gotta look underneath the underneath. The Nara Clan can manipulate shadows... using them to trap their opponents to dealing damage to them. They are also known for high intelligence and lazy personalities when it comes to the men. Keep your eye on that one in the future kit."
Naruto was impressed at what he was told and glanced at Shikamaru curiously, trying to see if the intelligence or shadow abilities were somehow visible. It wasn't until he saw Shikamaru's annoyed face that he realized that the boy had said something while the Kitsukage was talking. 'Uh.. help?'
Giving a soft sigh, the fox shook his head. "He asked what you were doing here, since only graduates can attend the Explanatory Meeting for Team Sorting."
Sitting up straight, and giving mental thanks to his inner companion, Naruto grinned and unzipped his jacket halfway, letting the Nara boy get a good look at his new hitae-ate collar. "Hey, can't you see this? Starting today, I'm also a ninja!" he said with his trademark fox grin. "Geez... you'd think a genius would understand that!" Completely missing Shikamaru's look of surprise and suspicion, Naruto continued to go on about how good the hitae-ate looked on him and how he had difficulties choosing between goggles and the ninja mark before deciding on both.
Little did Naruto know, a white-eyed girl by the name of Hyuuga Hinata, a shy quiet girl with the most obvious infatuation with the fox boy, was currently touching her own hitae-ate that rest at the nape of her neck. She was happy he passed, of course, though as she looked (stared) at his hitae-ate, thoughts of 'fate' and 'destiny' started playing in her thoughts. 'N...Naruto-kun is wearing it the same way I am...' she thought, blushing fiercely. 'Could... could this be a sign that we are meant to be together?'
While Hinata started drifting off into her own little world of Bishie Naruto and Princess Hinata, complete with sparkles, near kisses, and flower petals everywhere, the door to the classroom suddenly slammed open, admitting a pair of newly graduated kunoichi. Instead of looking at the disturbance immediately, Naruto felt a slight jolt as the fox tried to get his attention again.
"Hey kit... look around the classroom. I wanna take a look at all these hopefuls." Shrugging, Naruto began to do just that, occasionally stopping when the Yokodaime asked him to. Each time he stopped, the fox-formed Fourth would give slight information about the more prominent genin in the room. "Not a bad batch... An Aburame, an Inuzuka, a Hyuuga, the Nara kid from before, an Akamichi, the Uchiha kid next to you, a Yamanaka and, if I'm not mistaken, the pink-haired one is a Haruno. Not a bad bunch at all. I'll tell you bout the clans later if ya want kit... A few seem to be missing from the bunch, but then they are probably older or younger, so not a bad pick kit. By the way... the love of your life is glaring daggers at you." The last was said with a snicker as he jolted Naruto back to paying attention to the outside world.
While the Kitsukage was drawing his attention, Naruto's body had apparently been under auto-pilot, dodging grabbing attempts from Haruno Sakura in her effort to get him to move. At the moment, he was crouched on his desk, hand holding Sakura's and gripping firmly, stopping an attempt to punch him apparantly. There were looks of shocks on everyone's faces as he looked about, trying to figure out just WHAT happened. Suddenly, he felt a wave of killing intent comming from behind him. 'Wait.. the only person behind me is...' Slowly turning around, he noticed that Uchiha Sasuke was sporting a mark on his face quite similar to the bottom of one of his sandals. The aura of killing intent was comming from him, quite obviously... and if looks could kill, Naruto would have been tortured and killed in ways that would have Morino Ibiki green with envy. Who Morino Ibiki was and what he would be envious of was completely lost to Naruto, the only thing he knew was that a.) The kitsukage had something to do with this, since he was laughing up a storm, b.) another wave of killing intent was comming from Sakura and the surrounding girls (sans Hinata), c.) If he didn't move right now, he would be one dead jinchuriki and d.) he STILL didn't know why people were staring at him, though he guessed it had to do with him somehow kicking Sasuke.
Muttering a silent prayer to whatever higher power may be watching, Naruto quickly leapt behind Sasuke, pushed him towards the shiocked girls, and did the only thing any other man in his situation would do... move to an easily defensible position and cower in fear. As such, he bolted right to the last row, sitting right next to a blushing Hinata, and ducked under the desk while the horde of girls swarmed around Sasuke to make sure he wasn't hurt badly.
In the Hokage Tower, a group of Jounin were watching the scene unfolding in the classroom through the Hokage's crystal ball. Many were in shock, others were angry... and a small amount were actually impressed. At first, they were all interested in Uchiha Sasuke, the Rookie of the Year... but the events of the last few moments were just too unbeleivable for anyone to focus on him completely.
The ones who were impressed were the Hokage and two jounin by the names of Yuuhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma... while the one who was shocked as the jounin who specifically asked for the Uchiha heir, one Hatake Kakashi. A majority of the other jounin were the ones who were angry that the 'demon brat' kicked the Uchiha heir, even more were inwardly complaining about the decision about making him a ninja. The atmosphere of the room was broken as the Hokage chuckled heartily. "As usual, Naruto is being the center of trouble." Slowly standing, the Hokage looked at the gathered Jounin and smiled. "I have called you all here because I plan on doing something different with this batch of Genin... Walk with me as we go to the Academy. I have already spoken with Iruka-kun about my idea and he agreed to alter a few of the teams... now then..."
As everyone filed out behind the Hokage, Kurenai glanced back at the crystal ball and smiled softly. "Uzumaki Naruto, hmm?" Shaking her head, she followed after the group, not wanting to be left behind.
Iruka had finally arrived, saving Sasuke from the horde of fangirls that were fawning over him, saying things like "Don't worry Sasuke-kun! It was only a lucky shot!" and "You can kick his ass next time Sasuke-kun!" As everyone took their seats, with Sakura and Ino both claiming the seats on either side of the Uchiha, Sasuke inwardly began to plot his revenge on the dead last in the class. Not just for the kick in the face.. oh no. After all, it WAS only a lucky shot, it wasn't like a nobody like Uzumaki Naruto could actually be a challenge to the Uchiha heir, right? No... if it was just that, he'd merely beat the crap out of the orange-clad boy and be done with it. What had Sasuke's teeth grinding was the fact that he had ALLOWED the boy to shove him into the vicious jaws of his fanclub!
It was his second-to-worst nightmare.
"Starting today, you are all official ninjas, but you are all still new Genins." Looking around the class to make sure he had everyone's attention, Iruka allowed himself to smile softly, before looking up to where Naruto was sitting. With how he held himself, it still looked like he was looking at the class as a whole... but Naruto felt as if his favorite teacher were singling him out. "It's only going to get harder from here."
Determined to not let his sensei down, Naruto sat upright, lightly rubbing the hitae-ate at his neck with pride. 'I'll make sure Iruka-sensei is proud of me.'
Happy that Naruto seemed to be paying attention for once, Iruka once again allowed his gaze to drift throughout the faces of his students. "You all will be in a group of three, where you will accomplish missions and train under Jounin teachers." This news brought some looks of surprise throughout the class as people began to wonder who their teammates would be. Unsurprisingly, a majority of the girls save for Hinata began to hope for Sasuke, a majority of the guys including Naruto were hoping for anyone BUT Sasuke, and the Uchiha in question was thinking of how anyone else would be a burden to him... though if Uzumaki ended up with him, he would easily be able to exact his revenge AND put the idiot in his place. With Sasuke between them, Sakura and Ino were only capable of glaring at eachother as they silently wished for Sasuke to be on THEIR team.
"We've arranged the groups such that overall abilities and potential shall be brought about by not only your teammates, but by your instructors as well. The way we are doing it is different from the past few years, but then the Hokage himself asked for this line-up. If anyoen has any complaints.. well.. I'm sure Hokage-sama will be able to answer any doubts you may have as long as it is within reason." The very thought of asking the Hokage to change anything like team arrangements was ludicrous to almost everyone in the room... save for the one person who actually called the Sandaime Hokage 'Old Man' to his face. "I will now announce the teams!"
Time passed as group of three after group of three were called. Naruto would have blocked everything out by now, were it not for the Kitsukage within him forcing him to listen. "After all" the fox formed Fourth reasoned, "you might find yourself in a position where you need to work with one of these teams in a joint mission. It will pay to know who gets placed where."
"Team 7: Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke." To this, Shino merely arched a brow, Sasuke stayed emotionless, and Sakura found herself torn between celebrating and rubbing it in Ino's face, to being creeped out by being teamed up with the 'Bug Boy'. Naruto himself was also torn.. between celebrating the fact that he wasn't with Sasuke, to mourning the fact that Sakura WAS with Sasuke. He began to feel pity as well, though this was towards the Aburame. 'I hope you get along better with Sasuke-teme than I would'
"Team 8: Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto." Now, for the first team, Ino was actually releived. Why you ask? Simple.. she wasn't really a Sasuke-fan. The only reason why she competed with her childhood friend was to give her confidence to act. Now, though, she found herself in shock. She was stuck in a team with two of the loudest ninja in the class! Oddly enough... this thought was echoed by Naruto and Kiba both as all three stood up at once, slamming their hands on the desks in unison as they glared at Iruka. "WHAT! WHY AM I STUCK WITH THOSE TWO LOUDMOUTHS!" they shouted at once. Blinking, they all turned towards the others and glared.
"Again.. if you have problems, take it up with Hokage-sama. He himself suggested this line up, and I agreed with him." said Iruka simply. Unable to fight against that, but still upset, all three loud ninjas sat back down with a collective "HMPH!" doing their best to ignore eachother. Sakura found herself feeling smug since Ino got stuck with the idiot known as Naruto... while Hinata felt upset and disappointed that she and Naruto were not in the same team. The ninth group was called while the newly appointed Team 8 bemoaned their bad luck to be stuck with eachother. Finally, Iruka looked up from his list to announce the final group.
"Team 10: Hyuuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji." Hinata blinked and looked towards her new partners. Shikamaru actually thought his group wasn't too 'troublesome' while nearby, Chouji continued to eat his potato chips. Ino actually counted her lucky stars that she wasn't stuck with the lazy bum and childhood friend Shikamaru, though she did start feeling sorry for the Hyuuga heir. 'Poor girl... I hope they don't drag her down too much.'
"That is all. I will introduce you to your sensei in the afternoon. You are dismissed until then! I suggest you take this time to get to know your new team." With that, Iruka walked towards his desk, gathered his papers, and left the classroom to meet with the new instructors.
As soon as Iruka left, a majority of the class began to gather in their new groups and started leaving the classroom to enjoy the new day.
The newly christened Team 8 currently sat on one of the many balconies of the school, enjoying both the sunny weather and their lunches, chatting happily to each other and bonding as a good team should, smiling in the bonds of new found comraderie. Meanwhile, Sasuke was smiling happily and professing his love to Sakura, only to have Shino shout angrily that HE wanted Sakura and challenged Sasuke to a duel right there, Hinata came into Team 8's group hug to pull Naruto away and give him a big kiss on the lips, Shikamaru decided to train hard and Chouji decided to go on a diet.
In short? Team 8 was doing anything BUT chatting happily and enjoying their lunches.
In fact.. the only one eating a lunch was Kiba, who had four onigiri (riceballs) in his lunch box. Apparantly, Ino only had a bottle of water and Naruto forgot to bring a lunch that morning. Shaking his head, Kiba held out the lunch box towards his the two blondes. At first, they refused, Ino claiming to be on a diet and Naruto being too prideful... but, of course, the growling stomachs of the two blondes spoke a far greater truth and they gave in.
"Oi, Naruto!" said Kiba after a while, who watched as Ino ate her riceball daintily while the goggle-headed boy wolfed his down like a starving animal. "How the hell did you manage to get that kick into Sasuke-teme's face? I mean... ya never did anything that cool during taijutsu class!" Kiba was impressed to say the least. Sasuke, the untouchable Uchiha, Number One Rookie... kicked in the face by the Dead Last. Ino also looked interested, absently rubbing her forearm from when Naruto smacked it away.
Naruto blinked and was at a loss. He didn't remember ANYTHING like that. 'Oi... um... Kitsukage? What DID happen?All I remember is looking around for you, then all of a sudden Sasuke wants to kill me and the girls want to rip me to shreds!'
Instead of answering, the Kitsukage let the memories of the event, which he remembered to the last detail wash over Naruto. Both Kiba and Ino watched as Naruto's face went through a very interesting change of emotions. Shock, worry, victory... then horror. Looking to his teammates, Naruto scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Um... reflex?"
Any and all respect and awe for the foxboy flew right out the window as Ino and Kiba facefaulted. Ino was the first to get up, growling with a clenched fist while an aura of killing intent surrounded her. "Na... ru... TO!" she growled, imagining all the different ways she would make him pay for his stupidity. Her violent thoughts (and Naruto's subsequent fear of being beaten down) were interrupted as she heard something odd. The sound was comming from Kiba, who was still face down on the floor... only now he was... trembling. At first, it sounded like he was choking or gagging... but when Kiba finally rolled over, his hood slipping from his wild brown hair, it revealed the tattoo-faced boy was laughing so hard, tears were flowing down his face.
"He.. He hit Uchiha on REFLEX! Sasuke'll never live it down if he ever finds out!" By now, the dog boy was clutching his sides as he howled in laughter. At first, Ino just looked at Kiba like he was crazy... but slowly, as the thoughts of how the brooding Uchiha would react to the information began to cross her mind, she couldn't help but smirk. The smirk soon evolved into a smile, then the smile soon turned to full, blown-out laughter as she joined Kiba on the ground, clutching her sides to keep them from bursting. Both were soon followed by Naruto, who easily succumbed to the gales of laughter at the thoughts of Sasuke's indignant and kick-marked face... and inwardly, he began to feel the warmth that he had only dreamed about.
'You're right Kitsukage... I'm not alone. Not now... and hopefully, not for a long time...' And the kitsune within Naruto merely smiled as dark, dank sewer that represented the area outside his cage began to get brighter. Turning back to his viewscreen, Kazama Kyuubi Kayaku grinned a very familiar foxy grin and snapped his clawed fingers, causing the laughing scene to rewind back to when Naruto was listening to him and not paying attention in the classroom. Sitting on the ground, the Yokodaime began to chuckle at the antics his new charge did without realizing. "I'll be using these images for entertainment for a good while" he said to himself as he began to laugh once more at a few of the funnier scenes.
Wondering what happened in the classroom? Let's recap...
While Naruto was looking around the classroom, listening to the fox within him labeling each one briefly, his body went into a kind of auto-pilot, his eyes seeming to grow dull as he turned his attention inward. While this was going on, Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, the two kunoichi who entered at the same time, began arguing about who came in first. The arguement lasted for only a few short sentences until Sakura spotted the boy of her dreams, the brooding Uchiha Sasuke. From there, she had gone down to sit next to him in order to claim her prize as being first in the class (despite the fact that other kunoichi were there before her). Unfortunately, the glassy eyed Naruto was in her way, but then it would be easy to push him out of the way if he wasn't paying attention, right?
This, my friends... is where things got weird.
As she reached out to grab his shoulder and shove him out of the way, Naruto's hanxd reflexively went up and slapped her arm away. Not hard, just enough to shock her out of her Sasuke Tunnel Vision. That caused a few eyebrows to go up, since anyone who wasn't deaf or brain damaged had heard Naruto claim his undying love for the pink-haired kunoichi.
"Naruto!" cried Ino as she stomped down the stairs to stand by her best friend/rival/neighbor. "You can't do that to Sakura!" A majority of the girls agreed as they grouped behind the two, glaring at Naruto as Sakura rubbed her arm. The glare wasn't working of course, since Naruto was lost in his thoughts. "Oi! Naruto! Pay attention!" By this time, Naruto turned his head away to face someone else. "NARUTO!" Angry, and slightly worried about Naruto's behavior, Ino tried to shake his shoulder to wake him up... only to have her own hand batted away in reflex. Visibly stunned, Ino began to rub her forearm gently as she looked at Naruto in shock.
"Oi.. Dobe... what are you staring at?" came Sasuke's voice. Everyone noticed that he was looking blankly at the Uchiha this time, causing the normally withdrawn boy to glare back. At this point, Sakura became fed up and tried to punch the fox boy, only to have her hand slapped away harder than last time, causing her fist to his the table at a bad angle. She didn't break anything, but it would leave a bruise, and it caused her to cry out in shock
At this point, Sasuke stood up and threw his own punch at the blond idiot, following through with the ease and grace that allowed him to be the Rookie of the Year. The only problem with this is that Naruto had leapt straight up, his foot lashing out at Sasuke's face so quickly that he didn't have time to dodge, sending the Uchiha flying back out of the row and onto the floor, before landing on the desk in a crouch.
Angry at the fact that Naruto was ignoring them AND had dared to kick her precious Sasuke-kun in the face, Sakura drew back her other hand to punch Naruto with all her might.. only to have her fist caught in the palm of his hand, his fingers clenching around the fist to slowly add pressure to it. It was at this point Naruto came back to reality.
End Recap
Next Time: Team Loud! The Dog, The Boar, The Fox and the Beast!
Author's Note: Well. .this was one of my longer chapters! It didn't drag on, did it? I know I skipped the entire Konohamaru thing, but that's only cause I wouldn't have changed a thing. Anyway, i may make this NaruxIno.. I might not. Again, Pairings aren't really important to me at this point in time, though I am open to suggestions. C&C always welcome! Questions and suggestions as well! Oh, and to those making mentions of Naruto's father's name? I like Kayaku myself. Arashi is all well and good.. but, like.. alot of people use it. That, and Kazama Kayaku flows better to me .
As for the nicknames... Kitsukage doesn't really mean anything, just a combination of Kitsune and Hokage. The same is said for Yoko (fox) and Yondaime. Since Naruto loves giving nicknames, i figured these would be good
Hehehe.. anyway, I hope you guys like these teams.. they'll become even more interesting soon. What plans do the Hokage and Iruka have? What changes shall Windfalcon bring to the Naruto-verse with these changes? What is the deal with Naruto's 'reflexes'? And WHEN will training begin for Naruto? All this and more in the next installment!