Hi! So, I've had an eventful few months. Having to move out of the house we were in, looking for a new place, not finding anywhere, and now all our stuff is in storage, while I sleep on my sister's floor. (on a mattress, of course) Stupid annoying rental market is flooded right now, and it's so hard to find a place. We've been looking since early December last year.

Added on to that, I haven't really been writing. It's noisy here, and I can't really concentrate with noise. Today was different, since my niece is sick, so everyone was upstairs. I feel a little bad about being happy for the quiet, but she's feeling better now, and things will be back to noisy normal tomorrow.

On top of all of that, we haven't had any internet, except whatever we had on our phone. That majorly sucks. :P But I suppose that's enough of my griping, how about you all enjoy the chapter I managed to write today?

Disclaimer: Alas, the Naruto universe, and all it contains, belongs not to me.

Chapter Five

Minato was nice and clean and dressed up in a casual yukata styled shirt, along with his favourite pants and sandals. His uncle was having a good snigger at him for dressing up, but Minato ignored him. This was the first time he'd ever had friends that weren't part of the Sarutobi clan, and he wasn't going to risk messing up. He was determined to make a good impression.

(ignoring the fact that Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba already liked him, it was their family he was really concerned about)

They headed out to the restaurant that they were meeting them at, Furuhata's. Minato had been there once before, for a clan celebration back when he was six. He had a lot of fond memories of the food that night, his uncle had let him eat as much as he'd wanted, to his utter delight. (he'd paid for it later with a rather painful case of indigestion, but he swore to Hakuku-oji black and blue, that it was worth it)

The Nara and Akimichi were already there when they arrived, and Chouza-sama (Minato had decided to add the -sama once he'd properly realised they were the clan heads) waved them in eagerly. Minato bowed in greeting, and thanked him for the invitation.

"No need to be so formal," Chouza-sama told him. "You're Chouji and Shikamaru's friend! Come on in! Hakuku, so glad the two of you made it."

"I doubt this one would have missed it for anything," Hakuku-oji said, ruffling Minato's hair.

Minato glared up at him, then took a seat next to Shikamaru, who had Chouji on his other side. Hakuku-oji immediately ordered up some meat, and began cooking it up on the open grill in front of them. By the time it was cooked, Kiba had shown up with two women who were apparently his mother and his older sister, and Inoichi-sama had arrived with his daughter.

"Who's this guy?" Inoichi-sama's daughter asked rather bluntly, pointing at Minato. "He looks a lot like that baka, Naruto."

The adults seem to freeze, which Minato noticed, but if any of his year mates did, they didn't really react. "You're so annoying, Ino," Shikamaru said. "This is Minato. Chouji, Kiba, Naruto and I met him today, he was there for the exams."

Ino narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinising him. "I've never seen you before," she said, her voice almost accusing.

"That's because he's been home-schooled," Hakuku-oji spoke up then, obviously having recovered from whatever it was that had bugged the adults. "He's my nephew."

"He doesn't really look like you, or any other Sarutobi," Ino challenged, causing her father to sigh what sounded like a long-suffering sigh.

Hakuku-oji just smiled indulgently. "Maybe he takes after his mother," he suggested, though Ino didn't look all that convinced.

"Leave it alone, Ino-chan," her father told her. "Tonight's for celebrating your graduation, not getting in interrogation practice."

Ino sighed. "Well, whatever," she said dramatically, flipping her hair, then her gazed turned positively giddy. "Sasuke-kun graduated too, naturally. Oh, I hope I'm going to be on his team!"

"Doubt it," Shikamaru muttered, but Ino heard him and whirled on him.

"What was that?!" she practically screeched, and Shikamaru shrank in his chair.

"Nothing!" he denied.

"Don't lie to me, Shika!" Ino retorted hotly. "You just said… you said that I…"

Ino looked to be putting on the waterworks, and without thinking, Minato spoke up, "You'll probably be on a team with Shikamaru and Chouji."

A whole lot of eyes were on him then, and Minato was now the one shrinking in his seat. "What makes you say that?" Shikaku-sama asked, his voice lazily curious.

"Well…" Minato's eyes darted around everyone assembled at the table, then he sighed. "It's just, the InoShikaCho trio is a time honoured tradition for Konoha, going back generations. So since there are three of you graduating from the same class, it would only make sense for them to arrange that same team."

They all looked surprised, then Kiba's mother let out a raucous laugh. "Haha! The boy's really clever! Good job, kid! Got any more insight on the team placements?"

Minato looked up at his uncle, who gave him an encouraging little nod. "Well," he began. "I saw that there was a Hyuuga and an Aburame in the classroom today, so maybe they might be on a team with Kiba? Your three clans have worked well together in the past, from what I've learned, and you all make for a good tracking squad."

"…Hakuku, what have you been teaching the kid?" Inoichi-sama asked.

Hakuku-oji smirked a smug smile. "Oh, a little bit of everything," he told them.

Silence, then Ino let out a dramatic sigh of frustration. "Dammit!" she complained, then glared at Shikamaru and Chouji. "Well, as long as Forehead doesn't end up on Sasuke-kun's team, I suppose I can deal with it."

Minato noticed a look that Inoichi-sama and Shikaku-sama shared, and wondered what they knew…

The rest of the dinner passed without too much more drama, with Minato noticing that Kiba occasionally fed some meat to a small white dog that he introduced as Akamaru. Before he knew it, they were all saying goodnight and heading their separate ways. He walked with Hakuku-oji, eagerly chatting about how much he'd enjoyed the dinner. They were nearly home, when a series of sharp whistles sounded, and Hakuku-oji suddenly stiffened. He grasped Minato's shoulder and started moving them along at a more hurried pace.

"What's wrong, Hakuku-oji?" Minato asked as they passed into the Sarutobi complex.

"Nothing, everything's fine," Hakuku-oji said, smiling down at him.

It clearly wasn't, but Minato let it go. Maybe it was some adult, shinobi related thing? In any case, he was soon home, and preparing for bed. Once he was actually in bed, he felt his uncle's chakra as he paced restlessly, before Hakuku-oji finally just left, after a brief check-up on him. Minato faked sleep, but sat up, staring out the window as his uncle's chakra signature headed straight to the Hokage tower.

Minato tried his best to sleep, wondering what could possibly be going on, but he fell asleep before his uncle returned, and the next thing he knew, it was morning, with his alarm going off.

OoOoO

When Minato reached the Academy the next day, Hakuku-oji by his side, he was greeted by Kiba, who'd just arrived with his sister. Kiba had Akamaru on his head, and the Inuzuka properly introduced him to Minato. He explained that Akamaru had taken his own test the previous day, to make sure he was ready for missions as well. Then the two walked in, chatting as Hakuku-oji allowed Minato to go in by himself, since Kiba was there to make sure he knew which room he was going to. When they got there, they found Naruto in there, sporting a shiny new hitai-ate.

"Hey Naruto!" Kiba greeted. "Didn't you fail yesterday?"

"Nu-uh, I passed!" Naruto told them, then indicated with his thumb where his hitai-ate sat. "This is a regulation hitai-ate, a hundred percent genuine! I'm a gennin now, ya know!"

"Whatever you say," Kiba shrugged, then narrowed his eyes at him. "Hey, you look beat up. What happened?"

Naruto gave a nervous side glance to Sasuke, and said, "Oh, nothin', nothin'! Ah-hahaha!"

Kiba and Minato sat down, and Shikamaru leaned over to tell them, "Teiji accidentally bumped Naruto into Sasuke, and they kissed. The girls beat on him after that."

Kiba let out a loud guffaw, and Minato shook his head in commiseration, noting the embarrassed look on Naruto's face.

Soon after, Iruka-sensei came in. "Alright!" he said. "I'm sure you're all anxious to find out what teams you're on. These teams were selected by the staff, and approved or modified by the Hokage. Starting with Team one, we have…"

Minato listened as the team match-ups were announced, and when he reached team seven, Iruka-sensei called out,"Team seven will be, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura," Minato saw Naruto cheer, "and Uchiha Sasuke."

Now Naruto was booing, and Minato glanced up to see that Ino didn't look too happy, either. Shikamaru was laughing, and she turned to punch him on his head.

"Team eight!" Iruka-sensei continued. "Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino!"

"Man, you totally called it!" Kiba exclaimed next to him, giving him a high five.

"Team nine!" Iruka-sensei called. "Hyuuga Shuji, Inuzuka Kiku, and Sarutobi Minato!"

Minato looked over to see the two gennin in question, who were also both looking at him. Kiku waved, her grin slightly menacing as she glanced at Kiba, and a small brown puppy poked its head out from the top of her shirt. Shuji gave him an appraising look, then decided he wasn't worth any more of his attention. Minato's brow rose at that.

"Don't mind Shuji," Kiba told him. "He's almost as cold a bastard as Sasuke, but you could take him on, I betcha! Look out for Kiku, though, that cousin of mine is as crazy as my kaa-san!"

Minato smiled wanly at both Kiba's conviction, and his warning.

"Team ten!" Iruka-sensei called. "Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino!"

Ino looked resigned, then whacked Shikamaru over the head and started complaining at him, telling him how he'd better not slack off on their team. The Nara looked incredibly annoyed, and Chouji patted his back consolingly. Four more teams were read out, then they were all told to sit with their team mates. Minato and Kiku had to move to where Shuji was, because he refused to budge.

"Now," Iruka-sensei said, "we are going to be going over the basic gennin guidelines for the next two hours, and I expect you all to pay attention!"

There were collective groans, but Iruka-sensei ignored them all and began what turned out to be a lecture on what they could and couldn't do as gennin, the rules that applied to them for missions and other such things, and the types of missions they would be expected to go on. Minato noticed a few people, including Naruto and Kiba, began to tune out rather quickly, not really taking in the information that Iruka-sensei was giving them.

The bell for lunch rang, and Iruka-sensei yelled, "Remember to be back by one, so you can meet your senseis. Also, you will remain seated with your team mates when you return as well. Dismissed!"

Minato was dragged off by Kiku, who had him and Shuji both by the wrists. He noted that Ino was doing something similar with Shikamaru and Chouji, and that Hinata, Shino, and Kiba were wandering out of the Academy building together. Sasuke had already taken off on his own, with the girl, Sakura, following him, and Naruto following her. Kiku seemed to be leading them out to the area where they'd all had lunch the previous day.

"Stop pulling on me, Inuzuka!" Shuji snapped, trying to reclaim his arm, but Kiku's grip was too strong.

"Forget it, Hyuuga!" Kiku snapped back. "We're a team now, and we're going to get to know each other."

"I already know you, you insufferable mutt!" Shuji said as Kiku made them sit on the grass as she then followed suit.

"Maybe ya do," Kiku said, "but neither of us know Minato here."

The two turned to look at Minato, who self-consciously scratched the back of his head. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Well…" Kiku said thoughtfully. "How about you tell us why you're a Sarutobi, when you so obviously don't look like one."

"Uh…" Minato felt quite put on the spot. "I'm not one, not by birth. But Hakuku-oji adopted me after the kyuubi attack. I guess I would have grown up in an orphanage otherwise."

"Ohhhh."

Kiku sighed in realisation, and Shuji looked away from him briefly before nodding slightly.

"So…" Kiku asked, "does that mean you were taught at home? K'know, since I've never seen you at the Academy before."

Minato nodded.

"I-I have a cousin who was home schooled," Shuji admitted. "But that was because he was always ill. You aren't ill, not that I can tell. So why didn't you attend the Academy?"

Minato shrugged the question one he'd asked himself, as well as others, for years and years. "I don't know," he admitted. "Hakuku-oji has only ever said that he'd tell me when I'm old enough."

They talked for a while longer, with Kiku introducing Inuka, her ninken partner, to them, then the bell to end lunch sounded. "Oh shit!" Kiku yelled, and then all three were running back to the Academy.

Kiku and Shuji dashed ahead of him, and Minato stayed a bit behind them, though he could easily have overtaken them. But because they were ahead, that meant they weren't affected when, after passing by a building, something or someone barrelled into Minato as he passed the corner of that building. He went down heavily, everything was a blur of red, pink, and green, and when his eyes could focus, he found himself staring up into a pair of the greenest eyes he'd ever seen in his life.

Thank you for reading! :)