"Yosh! It is refreshing to see a young ninja making the most of their youth! The brisk morning air, the chirping birds, the rising sun, it makes for a delectable atmosphere!"

"I can't disagree. Getting a jump on the day lets me build enough momentum to run through any obstacles along the way."

"Well said young man! Say, you look a little on the skinny side. How does group training with my student Lee sound? Build a little muscle on that body!"

"I think I'll take you up on your offer."

"I understand your appre - ah! But of course! Excellent choice! Meet us at training field 12 after academy hours! We will be there from the dismissal bell to sunset!"


"Hey Sasuke, can't we do something fun instead? All this reading stuff is boring."

"Hm."

"What?! No! I don't think that reading's boring because I'm bad at it! I just don't really like it."

"Hm.?"

"Alright, alright. I want to go out and replace Iruka's chalk with worms, ok? I've been itching to do it for months now. Come on Sasuke help me out please please please please-"

"Hm."

"Fine, be that way Sasuke. I for one am going to go out and have some fun."

"Hm!"

"Don't you worry your little duck head Sasuke! I'll be on time for training! Believe it!"

"Hmm?"

"Yes, I know the year 2 evaluations are 'fAsT aPrOaChINg'. Yes, I will remember to throw them properly. Yes, I understand that no one can know. Yes, I will avoid Lee during practicals. Now can I please go and prank Iruka, mom?"

"... Hmm."

"Great! See you later Sasuke!"


The fuck are you doing buddy? Leaning into Naruto's guard, I take advantage of his overcommitment to redirect his motion slightly, leaving a completely open avenue of attack to his neck.

Sharingan blazing, I monitor the redirection of chakra across his body. I land one solid hit before the blue juice reaches critical quantities, and Naruto once again goes for a strike that is too strong, and also too late, and it doesn't matter either way because his bullshit chakra bails him out every goddamn time.

"Yosh Naruto! Show him the strength of your training!"

Honestly, sparring with Naruto might not be the best choice. This guy perma abuses chakra in a way that should rip his muscles apart, but he just gets to do it for free. I really need to get him out of that habit before it comes to bite him in the ass.

I throw those thoughts aside with the same speed as the Naruto ball barreling into me.


"Cross your hands like this… Yep. That's it. Now do the visualization thing I taught you. You see your flame? Good. Split it."

"You want me to what?!"

"You heard me right. This is a pretty high level technique, but you definitely have enough chakra to make it happen."

"But… you want me to split it? How?"

"Full disclaimer, I've never actually done it myself… Hey hey, wipe that grin off your face, it's not my fault you have a ridiculous amount of chakra... Now let's get back to it. Scroll says you… create a normal bunshin and add your split chakra into it until it works? The fuck? Yeah, no way that's actually how you-"

"Sasuke! Look at me!" "Sasuke! Look at me!"

"... And once again, you just win. Alright, lemme give you a rundown on some best practices..."


"Man, the summer night sky really is the best huh? All the stars are out, the air's hot but the gentle breeze is cool, and everyone in the village is all chilled out."

"How was training with Lee today?"

"I saw Iruka marking our tests today, I think you got full marks again!"

"Alright Sasuke quit being an asshat. You're doing the thing where you get all quiet and stare off in the distance while pretending that you aren't listening to me. I can see the way your mouth twitches, you're not very - "

"Have I ever told you about your parents?"

"... My… what?"

"I haven't, have I? Scoot on over Naruto, I gotta give you a big ol' hug for this one. Yeah yeah, shut up dumbass, get in here. See? That wasn't so hard. Now where was I…"


"And finally Team Ten - Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi, led by Asuma Sarutobi. Best of luck everyone, it's been a pleasure teaching you all. Visit from time to time when you're older, okay?"

"Pssst. Hey Sasuke, do you remember who our sensei is?"

"Hmmmm."

"Ah come on now! Don't tickle my balls here. I know you know."

I lower my sunglasses so I can fix him with a deadpan glare that he's absolutely unable to ignore.

"... Kakashi Hatake."

"Wow! The guy from the bingo book? He's our sensei?"

"Hm."

"That's crazy."

"Hm."


"Hey um… nice to see you Sasuke"

"Yo."

"I'm really excited to be teammates with you…"

"Feeling's mutual."

"Ah! Well… that's good to hear."

"..."

"I uh… I was wondering if you guys wanted to go out to eat - "

"Ichiraku? We can go to Ichiraku right?! "

"Sure."

"Yeah! Yeah I'm okay with that."

"Alright! Team Seven team lunch! My treat!"


A/N: Every chapter keeps getting shorter. Good news - the pattern gets broken in the next chapter. Bad news - said next chapter comes out in like a week because it's bigger. You win some you lose some.

As you can probably tell, I'm experimenting with some different writing. How do y'all feel about both dialogue as exposition / timeskip and the execution of it?