CHAPTER 6 - (Final Edit)
TITLE: A Lease on Trust
It was getting dark by the time they got to the spot. The low-hanging sun casting a bright yellow-orange glow through the trees. The setting sun casting the entirety of the village in a majestic orange haze.
Konohamaru leaned forwards, carful to mind the precipice of the high cliffs they stood on, staring open-mouthed at the beautiful view.
"Wow…" he whispered to himself.
From here you could see the entire village. From the tall residential buildings, to the shinobi dorms, to the long stretch of markets shutting down for the day. Everyday people scuttled around like ants on an anthill, the people only tiny dots peppered throughout the village. The buildings spreading out across the expanse, hugged by the 'U' shape of the mountains they now stood atop.
He looked further down, tracing his usual route to and from the academy, his view widening once more. Taking in the enormity of the entire village compared to how it seemed on the ground.
It was times like this that he kind of understood why his grandpa named him after the village. It really was beautiful.
It didn't really make sense to him most of the time. All his life, he'd been told over and over again how much of an honor it was to be named after the village his grandfather loved so much.
But to him, being named after a bunch of winding, busy streets and boring old houses seemed pretty weird.
But from here, sitting at the top of the famous Hokage Monument, watching the sun bathe the town the Sandaime loved in golden light, he kind of… got it. At least a little bit.
Konohamaru absorbed the wonderful view with a long sigh, "When I'm Hokage, I'm gonna put my office up here. So I can see the whole village all the time."
He heard a scoff to his right, and turned to see his new boss Uzumaki Naruto, sitting down with his hands behind his head. His mouth curled upwards in amusement, "Baka, the Hokage already has a really tall tower in the center of the village! Why would they build another one."
Konohamaru pursed his lips in outrage, "Because I ordered them! Because I'd be Hokage!"
He turned back to the view, "Then everyone could see the whole village, what my gramps is protecting."
Naruto laughed, his laugh warm and friendly.
He looked to Naruto. If anyone else laughed that hard at the things he said, he'd think that they were mocking him. But Naruto was... Sincere.
Sure, it took a pretty painful whack to the head for him to understand, but Naruto wasn't the type who cared for ceremony or tradition.
Naruto smiled gently at him, "I'm sure you'll be a great Hokage Konohamaru."
He felt his cheeks heat up at the complement, but while he felt flattered, he also felt confused, "I thought you wanted to be Hokage."
Naruto's smile fell at that, settling into something of a neutral expression. His lips forming a thin line on his face, "I don't need to be Hokage to be the strongest ninja in the village..."
Konohamaru quirked his head to the left in confusion. He never really counted himself among the smartest of his peers, but even he knew that the Hokage were always the strongest in the village. Every Hokage was the strongest, from the first to the fourth.
He scoffed, "Uh, yeah, you do. The Hokage is supposed to be strong enough to protect the village." He stated simply, somewhat surprised that his boss didn't know that.
He halfway expected Naruto to either get upset or angry at his disagreement, but instead Naruto just smirked at him, "Heh, shows what you know dattebayo! Just watch me."
He said the words with such certainty, it actually threw Konohamaru off a bit. He was about to argue the point when Naruto just turned his head to the view, his cocky smirk still on his lips, "Don't worry. I'll still let you be Hokage. I'll just be your bodyguard or something. Just as long as I get to be the strongest."
The young sarutobi just stared at Naruto for a moment, before he finally smirked in kind, wondering how a person just a couple of years his senior, could be so cool.
He couldn't wait to grow up and be just like him.
The sound of rushing wind and rustling leaves completely overshadowed any of the subtle sounds of the deep forest that surrounded her. Instincts cultivated over her many years as a shinobi empowered her legs to move faster, jump harder than any civilian.
Her quick reflexes allowed her to step on all the right branches among the web-like canopy, the branches before her paving a complicated road to reach her destination on time.
She couldn't afford to be late, today was a special day.
Naruto had just graduated, and his graduation marked the last day she was assigned to him. According to the parameters of her mission, their training, lessons, and ramen lunches were about to end.
He was about to be turned over to his jounin-sensei, who would take over in this next stage of his shinobi career. As a result of his genin status, in the eyes of the village he was now a legal adult. He'll be expected to take care of himself from now on, despite his young age.
It was a likely he would still be monitored closely while inside the village, but they would probably have much less contact from now on.
She felt her heart ache a little at the thought of not being able to see Naruto as much. But, she was happy for him, Even if she couldn't quite rid herself of the stubborn lump of melancholy stuck deep in her gut.
Especially since the lack of a 24/7 mission would put her back on rotation for regular ANBU missions. Even more time away from the village.
Away from Naruto…
She hadn't told him yet, something she knew was cowardly, but something about telling him made it more final, more certain.
Like speaking the words somehow sealed her fate, even though she knew she would always follow the Hokage's orders.
Tori shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, when suddenly, she felt something rough and strong snatch her up by her leg.
She was violently torn from midair, her body jolting to a sudden stop once whatever was holding her leg went taut.
By reflex, she grabbed a few kunai and shuriken from the pouch on her leg, and whatever grabbed her deflected the projectiles, solid metallic clangs ringing out.
Whatever was grabbing her dropped her suddenly, sending her free-falling through the canopy, various branches and thorns clipping at her exposed shoulders.
She threw a kunai with a ninja wire attached at a nearby tree, and as soon as the wire snapped taut, and she found herself swinging at an angle towards the mossy trunk.
She landed hard on her feet, using her chakra to attach herself firmly to the tree as she gave a sharp tug on the wire, retrieving her Kunai from the thick bark of the ancient tree.
With a single hand sign, she disappeared in a burst of leaves and dust, instantly finding herself at the top of the tree.
She peered over the grand swathe of trees, seeing nothing but the green of the leaves, and the soft blue of the clear sky about her.
She was about to use her chakra to summon backup from her ANBU companions, when she felt subtle vibrations in the tree she stood on. Her eyes went wide behind her mask, her instincts pouring pure fear and adrenaline into her, filling her body with the unstoppable urge to move. She launched herself from the tree's peak, flipping once, using her arms to stabilize herself in the air. Simultaneously drawing the ninjato on her back, only to face at least a dozen hissing, vermillion green snakes that lunged forward. Their fangs bared, each ready to inject what was likely a deadly venom into her flesh.
She swiped her sword in a deadly maze of practiced directions and patterns, sending the heads of the snakes falling to the forest floor like a torrential rain as she swiped for each and every one that lunged at her.
The second she decapitated the last of them, she felt her body brush past the canopy of leaves and branches once more. Only before she could fall any further, the familiar rough tendril that tripped her before, caught her in a vice grip that completely surrounded her.
She felt the coarse texture of scales completely restrict her movement, leaving her hanging upside down, completely helpless.
Tori watched as her world, now upside down, turned around slowly to reveal some familiar sandals, and a familiarly scandalous fish net shirt.
Tori sighed in exasperation, the harsh grip the snakes held her in being one of the only things tempering her anger, "Anko, I believe this is rather unnecessary."
Anko laughed uproariously, the snakes hoisting her upwards, eventually brining her to Anko's eye level.
The Snake mistress of Konoha grinned widely, and a little too tight to be anything close to friendly, "Oh I beg to differ Tori-chan."
Anko lunged forwards, roughly gripping the torso of one of the snakes binding her, a tic mark appearing on her forehead, "You forgot about our monthly dango meetup little missy! About four fucking times in a row, as a matter of fact!" She hissed angrily, the snake's hissing rising in volume as she spoke.
Tori did her best to appear unperturbed, staring ahead blankly, "As ANBU I am required to—" Anko gave the snakes coiled around her a sharp tug, making Tori dip forwards, cutting off her response.
Anko leaned in closer, her angular face enhancing the deadly glare she now leveled at her, "Don't bullshit me. What, just because you think you're hot shit now ever since you got that special assignment from the Hokage means you have to forget about your friends?"
Tori winced at the particular comment, the subtle motion breaking the stoic ANBU demeanor she was going for, "That's not true."
Anko inspected her closely for a minute more, narrowing her eyes at her less rigid, robotic response.
After a moment more of close inspection, she huffed in annoyance, apparently unsatisfied with what she saw in her. "Why did you 'forget' then?" She said sarcastically, using air quotes to describe her absence.
Tori thought about the reason she was prepared to say, finding it difficult to find the words. She knew she was going to miss some of those days the second she was assigned to take care of Naruto, but until recently, she'd done a fair job of making sure she could at least stay for a few minutes to talk. In fact, she'd only failed to come about five times, showing up for a short time, or at least as a shadow clone.
"...I've been busy." She offered feebly, knowing that her answer would not satisfy her friend, and current captor.
Although instead of getting angrier, Anko gave her a toothy, sinister grin she knew would give less experienced ninja nightmares for weeks. But Tori was not inexperienced, especially with Anko, but she knew exactly what kind of pain and discomfort that kind of grin heralded.
"Well, I don't see you doing anything right now… Why don't we just head over there now! I think Kurenai-Chan is still at Kurogiri's!"
Tori sighed woefully, "I was actually about to—"
Anko hauled the snake-human bundle off the branch it clung to, throwing it over her back as she began her trek out of the forest, and towards town, "Well if you were that desperate to get there you would've beaten me."
"I was trying..."
"THAT was you trying!? Ha! Well serves you right for slacking off in training. You deserve to be captured if you think that little spar was anything close to 'elite'. ANBU-chan."
Tori felt heat rise to her neck and cheeks at that particular comment, and was about to retort when Anko jerked her hard, making her body shake violently before she could speak.
"Oh shut it, you know I'm right. You've definitely been slacking, and you're not talking your way out of this. Now quiet down and enjoy the ride before I tell Gai that you've been trying to get together for a training session."
Tori tactfully decided to employ her hard-wired skill in remaining silent at all costs. That kind of threat was not given lightly, especially with the knowledge that the words, 'training session' was more akin to 'several hours of hell' when it came to the taijutsu master known as Might Gai. Besides, Tori was already sore from her bout with Mizuki. No need to compound that with whatever fresh hell 'The Blue Beast of Konoha' had in mind.
Tori shuddered at the thought.
Anko smirked at her, "Yeah, so buck up buttercup! Delicious dango, here we come!"
Anko picked up her pace, shaking a hapless Tori on her back. She silently lamented the time it was going to take to pick the twigs and leaves out of her previously neat brown hair, but also figured that this was a long time coming.
'I suppose my last meeting with Naruto will just have to wait.'
To be honest, she really should've seen this coming from Anko. Although, even if she had, she wasn't sure if that would change anything.
And it sure as shit wouldn't make her feel any better...
Yuuhi Kurenai currently sat in the middle of the courtyard in front of her best friend's favorite dango shop, her head in her hands, embarrassed beyond belief at the arrival of Anko, their wayward ANBU friend slung over Anko's shoulder in a makeshift binding composed entirely of slithering, hissing snakes.
She was really trying to hold it together, and pinching the bridge of her nose wasn't helping. It was bad enough that Tori ditched them for the fourth time in a row, and now all the other people in the restaurant were staring at them becasue it looked like Anko had just kidnapped an ANBU in broad daylight.
She blew one long breath out, trying hard to calm her temper, "Anko, when I said 'bring her'—"
"Oh no! You are not gonna pin the blame on me!" Anko objected loudly, no doubt drawing more attention to this travesty of a lunch date.
Kurenai dared to look up, and regretted it instantly. She saw that stubborn, angry look on Anko's face, and while he couldn't see Tori's, her rigid posture as she lay helpless in the snake-sack told her that she likely wasn't in the best of moods.
Anko wasn't done though, she kicked a leg up on a nearby chair, jabbing a thumb into her nearly exposed chest, "I told you I'd bring her, and I did. You don't get to be upset at how I do it!"
The increasing volume of her friend's voice turned even more heads, and Kurenai conceded defeat, "Anko, please just sit down..." She begged.
Anko looked a bit confused, tilting her head as she inspected her a bit further. She wasn't surprised, as Anko, lacking any sense of embarrassment or shame, likely found it odd that she was so embarrassed that Anko showed up in the manner she did.
She caught on quickly though, swiftly turning her Ire to the innocent occupants of the dango shop, "Oi, you pervs better stop ogling me and my friends, or I just might let my babies play monkey in the middle with your family jewels!"
After a few outraged grunts, gasps, and a few winces, most of the customers who surrounded their tables, customer and shinobi alike, swiftly vacated. Most merely finding new seats, and a few leaving the restaurant entirely.
Kurenai found herself reaching somewhat of a crescendo with her level of mortification at the incident, and just sat down. Wanting to just have their lunch together and be done with it.
Anko followed, with a small huff of annoyance for good measure.
Tori chimed in with a small cough, "May I please be released?"
Kurenai would've laughed if this all wasn't so horribly embarrassing, "Yes Tori, you may."
Anko reached over her shoulder and grabbed the 'package', dropping it roughly into the seat next to her.
The snakes released their hold, relaxing their grip slowly until they all fell to the floor, where they eventually popped into puffs of white smoke.
Tori immediately began picking the various twigs and leafs out of her dark brown hair tied into a once neat ponytail.
Kurenai groaned loudly, leveling a steady disproving stare at Anko as she reached over to help her friend, "Really Anko, you couldn't have been any gentler? Half the damn forest is stuck in here!"
Anko scoffed, but leaned over and started to help, "You know I don't do gentle. You should know—"
"That's enough Anko!" She screamed, mortified.
Tori winced beneath her, and Kurenai felt her cheeks grow hot once more, "Sorry Tori..."
They finished up, Tori rising up straight in her seat, throwing her hair behind her, "It's fine. Thank you for the help. At least it's not in the way."
As they all settled down after Anko and Tori's spectacle of an entrance, their dango was delivered. Anko was obviously the first to chow down, munching happily on the sweet treat as her and Tori quietly ate, watching Anko as she sloppily ate her helping.
Anko sighed happily, "Ah, there's nothing like a good sparring session to work up an appetite." She pointed a wood skewer at their ANBU friend, "Speaking of which, you're rusty! Like, stupid rusty. What the hell happened to you?"
Tori put her own skewer down gently, "I've been busy. Mostly non-combat related missions lately, so I haven't had a lot of time to train as hard as I used to."
Anko scoffed again, turning her attention back to her precious dango, "Yeah, SO hard at work on a mission Ms. High-And-Mighty can't tell us jack shit about."
Kurenai frowned at her friend, her crimson, piercing gaze narrowed in anger, "Anko! You know how it is better than most of us do. ANBU are different, we don't have the clearance."
Anko poked at her dango with a spare wooden skewer, poking angry holes in her food, "Yeah, doesn't mean I can't be pissed about it."
Kurenai opened her mouth to say more, but Tori cut her off, "It's fine. Besides, today's my last day after all. I'm back on regular duty tomorrow."
Anko exploded in joy, flinging the skewer to Kami knows where, embracing Tori in a tight hold, "Great! So the gang is back together, back to our old hijinks."
Kurenai felt her eye twitch, "By 'Hijinks', I sincerely hope you mean our jobs..."
Anko waved a dismissive hand to Kurenai, "Of course, of course."
Kurenai turned an observant eye to Tori, who, despite being held tightly by Anko, still seemed transfixed by her plate of suspiciously untouched Dango.
"Tori, you don't seem thrilled by that idea do you?"
Her quiet friend didn't move, not even to wriggle out of Anko's tight grip, "I grew, somewhat attached to my assignment. I think I might miss them."
Kurenai's fingers froze, and she felt her eyebrows raise in surprise.. Tori, attached to someone that isn't one of them? That hadn't happened since...
Anko shared her surprise, letting go of Tori to reel back, her eyes wide. Then she watched as Anko grinned mischievously, her sharp canines exposed as a shifty, suspicious look fell over her friend's face.
"Oh... Grown, 'attached' have we? Is it possible our pet ANBU has caught feelings for a mission?" Anko said smoothly.
Kurenai couldn't see her face to gauge her reaction, but she watched with some amusement as a sickly white pallor swept over her exposed neck and shoulders.
"... While… I cannot divulge the identity of my charge, their age would make such an attachment deeply inappropriate."
Anko slid over, drawing close enough to whisper in her ear, "Ah, an old, crusty cougar, is it? Well, there's nothing wrong with a little sugar daddy situation here or there. After all, who am I to judge other people's fet—"
"Anko-san, please stop." Tori begged, a very rare amount of emotion in her voice. Kurenai felt the temptation to remain an onlooker for this particular conversation, after all, getting any kind of response like that out of Tori was rare. But it would make her a bit of a hypocrite, considering her own relationship with Asuma.
"All right Anko, that's enough. It's Tori's own business, and we're teetering on possible treasonous territory, since the person you're referring to may be some kind of noble or foreign dignitary."
Anko looked back and forth between Tori and herself for a moment, a distinctly displeased look on her face after he fun had been spoiled.
"Well can you tell us what the problem even is?"
Tori looked to think it over, placing both hands in her lap. Kurenai was beginning to get the feeling that they were steering towards a particularly touchy subject for the ANBU kunoichi. After all, ANBU were secretive enough on their own. She hadn't been a jounin long, but she didn't have to be an expert to know that ANBU often went to great lengths to ensure the security of the village's secrets.
However, Tori being ex-root probably made her even more sensitive to revealing any information at all. She was about to tell Tori that she didn't need to say anything she didn't feel comfortable talking about, but surprisingly Tori spoke up first.
"...The person I've been watching over has had some issues with training. Mostly having to do with chakra. Normal chakra control exercises haven't been enough to help, and I've run out of time to think of a possible alternative."
There's silence at the table for a moment, neither really prepared anything but another deflection. Let alone a full explanation.
Kurenai shook her head, and placed a finger on her lip, humming in thought as she thought about what she would do in Tori's place.
True she was still a novice when it came to teaching, but really all it came down to was what she would've helped her as a genin if she had a similar problem.
"Hmm, you said that normal chakra exercises haven't helped. What exactly do you mean by that. Are they able to complete them and they just haven't made a difference? Or have they not been able to complete the exercises?"
Tori sat still, not saying anything for a moment, and Kurenai suddenly found it infuriating as always that she couldn't see her face to possibly decipher what she was thinking.
"They're able to work on some advanced ones, but the smaller the output needed, the less likely it is that they'll succeed. I taught them wall walking, and although they had some trouble, they were able to learn it relatively fast."
Kurenai nodded, and was internally doing somersaults at the accidentally leaked information she just heard, 'So it's not an older shinobi at all. A shinobi that age would've certainly learned wall and water walking by now.'
"Wall walking before all of that? That is strange..."
Anko piped up next, a dango stick still poking from the side of her mouth, "Well, after the snake bastard ditched me, I had a lot of trouble with chakra control afterwards." She pointed a finger to the black tattoo on her neck, one of the three tomoe shaped marks poking from the edge of her collar.
"For an eternity afterwards, my body had a hard time recognized the extra chakra in my system and my control was shot for months. I was putting too much chakra into everything. Thankfully, being the bad ass bitch that I am, I knew some higher level techniques, and just worked myself down from there."
Kurenai watched with amusement as Tori's posture straightened, leaving forward to absorb the words of their friend. Anko preens at the attention, smiling broadly at Tori, "At least that's my two cents." She adds haughtily.
Tori stands suddenly, bowing deeply to Anko first, then to herself, "Thank you both so very much for your help, and your advice. But I really, must—"
"Whoa, whoa whoa!" Anko objected, standing up with her. But by the time she stood up, Tori was already gone. Anko growled in anger, taking. A few angry steps in the direction of the nearest rooftop, but Kurenai raised a hand to stop her, "Don't bother Anko. She's long gone."
Anko turned to glare at her, her gaze snapping back and forth from the rooftop to the table, eventually sitting back down at the table roughly.
Anko reached down for another stick of dango, but found a small note stuck into one of the balls of the sweet treat.
Anko pulled it out, reading it silently for a moment. After a few seconds, Anko's face soured even more than it was already, and she angrily threw the note over her shoulder. Paying attention instead to her precious dango.
"H-hey! What did it say?" Kurenai demanded loudly.
Anko mumbled something incoherent to her, and Kurenai's nose crinkled in disgust.
"Swallow your food first Anko." She moaned in annoyance.
Anko obeyed, swallowing loudly and thickly before speaking, "She said that she'll have more time next month, but I call bullshit. She'll just trump up another excuse and rain check just like today. Honestly, if she doesn't want to hang out with us she should just say so."
Kurenai scoffed, "Don't take it so personally Anko. You know how much of a workaholic she is. Besides, she said that her assignment is almost up anyway."
Anko shook her head, "No way. The way I see it she'll still be plenty busy with him."
Kurenai's eyes widened, "Him? You know who it is?"
Anko smirked, "I have a pretty good idea. And If I'm right, she'll have her hands full for a while yet."
"I told you for the last time kibble-for-brains! Rei gave me this headband and made me a genin yesterday!"
"Yeah well, why did she fail you in class last week if you passed?" He asked, a heavy amount of suspicion coating his already accusatory tone.
Inuzuka Kiba crossed his arms as he stood stubbornly in his way. He was probably the exact Idea of what Kyuubi would call, 'a mindless brute'. Tall and broad for his age, his sharp-toothed classmate was often more brawn than brains. Hell, at this point Naruto was ninety percent sure that his dog partner Akamaru had more brain cells than he did.
The hapless dog in question, sitting atop Kiba's head, none the wiser to their squabble.
Kiba's eyes narrowed as he spoke his next words, "How do I know you aren't just trying to con your way into being a genin Mr. dead-last?"
Naruto took a step forward, jutting out his chin in anger, flicking the Hitai-ate on his head with his finger, "I passed another test after class dumbass. And how the hell was I supposed to get one of these if I didn't pass?" Kiba stood his ground, growling in anger at the insult.
"Calm down dog-breath..."
Naruto and Kiba both turned to look at Ino as she sat at her usual desk behind kiba's. Filing her already perfectly manicured nails, she glanced at the pair, sighing lightly in annoyance, "Naruto's right. There's no way he'd have a headband if he wasn't promoted. You can't exactly buy those things down at the market. Now both of you calm down before you give me a headache."
Kiba turned away from Ino to glare at Naruto again, but having had enough obstacles to his promotion to genin, Naruto simply went around doggy-boy and made his way to his usual seat.
Kiba seemed to get the hint, and after another warning glare courtesy of Ino, the miffed Inuzuka walked back to his seat with one final scoff of indignation.
"Whatever." He said as he slumped in his seat.
Naruto rolled his eyes at the rude dog boy, privately thanking Ino for the assistance. Naruto crossed his arms, laying his head down on his seat as he waited for Rei to arrive and announce their teams.
Although, Naruto realized with some sadness, that although Rei made it out of their fight with Mizuki alive, Rei was still pretty injured the last time he saw her. Naruto sighed in annoyance when he realized that it was probably going to be some other instructor to assign their teams. He could only hope that he wouldn't be shoved off to some crappy team with teammates who hated him.
It was a rare thing to find a classmate that wasn't already against him, either because of his reputation as a troublemaker, or those whose parents taught them to stay away from him.
It was hardly a day after Iruka... died. That there were whispers that he was the one responsible. That he somehow murdered the man in his sleep, and threatened witnesses to keep quiet lest he kill them too.
Ridiculous as it was, it was less boring than the official story that Iruka left the academy to join the mission roster without announce that. And so the more interesting of the rumors became the prevailing theory, a dark cloud that followed Naruto ever since.
He scoffed to himself, 'There's no point in wasting time worrying about it. It's like they could stop me from becoming a shinobi.'
He still had to become the best shinobi who ever lived, and there was no way he was gonna let a substitute teacher and some snot nosed kids get in his way.
"Hey there."
Naruto felt his soul leave his body as he jumped in surprise, but as he turned to look, inevitably, he only saw the annoying, smirking face of Ino grinning in sick satisfaction.
Naruto sighed in both relief, and irritation. 'Of course it was only Ino...'
"Kami Ino! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He yelled.
Ino did her best to look considerate, although despite her efforts, Naruto saw a right through her facade, "Oh, sorry, did I startle you?"
Naruto just stared at her. She was trying to show her best worried expression, but Naruto had been the unwilling audience member to her acting performances for a while now, and he was not gonna be fooled by this one again.
"Quit with the puppy dog eyes Ino! You're not fooling me, you totally did that on purpose." Naruto accused angrily.
Ino just fluttered her eyes at him, "Little old me? Mess with you? I would never!"
Naruto just sighed, settling back into his seat as his heartbeat slowly went back to normal.
'Quiet down boy...' the Kyuubi drawled drowsily.
Naruto grumbled back a snippy retort, hopefully low enough so that the fox wouldn't hear.
Ino laughed at his expense, but gently put a hand on his shoulder, "Oh calm down. I'm just surprised that you're actually here. A lot of people in class wouldn't shut up about how you didn't pass."
Naruto gave a short laugh that probably came off as more harsh than he meant it, but he really couldn't help himself.
'Of course they did.'
It was like the Kyuubi said, most people were never going to get over the fact that he was different. Its no different now than it's always been.
"I'm sure they wouldn't..." He said.
Ino frowned, but the frown was gone an instant later as she lightly punched his shoulder, "Hey but, you did pass. I'm happy for you."
Naruto looked to Ino with a surprised expression, his eyebrows raised up as far as the would go. Ino was rarely sincere, and almost never as direct and straightforward as she was now.
Sure she joked and fibbed tons of times, after all, sarcasm and smarmy comments were her bread and butter. Sort of like his own more blunt straightforward nature, Ino depended on them to communicate with nearly everyone. But she never lied to him or mislead him in order to try and hurt him. So hearing that from Ino was a bit out of character, but not altogether unwelcome.
Naruto felt a strange, warm feeling in his chest, and couldn't resist smiling wide for his fellow blonde, "Thanks Ino."
Ino nodded sharply, her gaze drifting to the left, her face relaxing into a dreamy grin as she stared past Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto looked over to see what Ino was staring at, and he heaved a tired sigh when he saw what the object of her attention was.
"Of course."
At the end of the classroom was one Uchiha Sasuke. The class pretty boy, and resident, entitled douchebag of their classroom. He just sat there, his head turned to glare endlessly out the window. Ignorant of everything happening around him.
Next to him, he heard Ino sigh happily, her eyes still fixed to the raven haired kid. "I hope I end up on his team."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Fat chance. With your luck you'll end up on a team with me and Sakura on it."
Ino whipped around to stare at Naruto incredulously. Her mouth agape in a silent scream of outrage, "Don't even joke about that! That would be pure hell."
This time it was Naruto's turn to gape at her, "What do you mean? I get that you and Sakura are fighting over duck-butt over there, but what's wrong with being on a team with me?"
"Oh come on. I know you seem like a decent guy and all Naruto, but imagine being on a team with him! Not only is he gorgeous, but he's a shinobi prodigy! Being on a team with him would make shinobi life a breeze!"
Naruto scoffed, "Screw that! What's the point of being a shinobi if you don't get to be real strong and do a bunch of cool stuff!?"
Ino smiled, "Yeah well if I'm Sasuke's husband than I won't need to do any of that stuff. I could be a clan leader, and also the wife of Uchiha Sasuke. The last Uchiha, a handsome, and very famous ninja!"
Naruto could literally see the stars in her eyes as her mind likely went rampant with fantasies about her future life with a person she has yet to even meet.
Naruto stared incredulously for a moment, before eventually turning away from his friend, "Aaaand I've lost her." He grumbled.
Naruto sighed, giving up on their conversation once he saw where it was headed. He wasn't about to go singing the praises of some asshole just cause he was 'handsome' and strong. If she was so determined to suck the guy off, who was he to stop her.
Naruto laid his head into the palm of his hand, and leaned on the desk as he heard all the people, especially the female ones rant and rave about that emo. Sasuke this, and Sasuke that. What the hell made that guy so special?
Sure the guy was strong, he'd give him credit for that. He would never admit it out loud, but he stomped the shit out of him when they had their fight a couple of weeks ago. He was fast, and apparently his clan had a special taijutsu that was really hard to beat, and about as hard to learn.
He'd respect it, if he wasn't such a huge, raging prick.
Naruto sat up in his chair, staring at his hands as he clenched and unclenched them. Noting the toughened skin and callouses he gained in his taijutsu practice with Tori. He'd worked hard since then, and he'd definitely learned a few new tricks since their last fight.
Naruto sat up suddenly, turning to march his way to Sasuke. He vaguely heard Ino yell for him, but he ignored her as he made his way across the classroom. More and more students began to notice him, and slowly the classroom started to quiet down.
Eventually Sasuke noticed the lull in the noise, and he turned to him, leveling his cold stare over to him as he walked. His dark eyes narrowing at his approach. He wasn't scared at all, no arrogant, brooding asshole was gonna scare him, not then, not now.
Naruto hopped up onto his desk, startling a few from the sudden noise. Now everyone was staring, some whispering about the both of them as they watched the class done stare down their golden boy.
He crouched down to stare into the Uchiha's black eyes. 'What the hell is so special about this guy?'
Naruto narrowed his eyes, and Sasuke narrowed his in turn, staring back with just as much venom as he was able.
Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but the second he was about to speak, he felt a strong nudge from behind him, making him lose his balance, face planting into Sasuke's face into a cruel mockery of a kiss.
A cry of surprise and outrage passed his spluttering lips as Naruto sprang backwards, hacking and coughing in disgust. Sasuke shared the sentiment, coughing and gagging himself, but not without a few choice words levied against the blonde.
"Dammit usuratonkachi..."
"Don't blame me jerk. That was totally you!"
As Naruto tried desperately to get the taste of emo out of his mouth, he glanced up, and saw a distinctly unusual expression on Shikamaru's face. A giddy, scheming smile.
Shikamaru's covered his smile with his hand as he broke into a bout of snickering. Naruto spoke through his own horror and disgust as he hissed at the Nara, "Damn it Shikamaru! What the hell was that?"
Shikamaru just shrugged at him, laughing all the while, "Well you looked like you both had some untapped feelings to sort out. I just thought I'd help out a little."
Naruto gaped at him in outrage, "What!?"
Shikamaru raised a hand to interrupt him, "Don't bother. You're welcome."
Naruto growled in anger at the prank, taking only a single step before a chill suddenly went up his spine. Naruto shivered at the feeling and stopped in his tracks as he turned slowly to see what he suspected the cause to be.
He was met with nearly all the class's girls, Ino surprisingly among the angry mob.
"Et tu, Ino?"
Ino shook her head dismissively, her face a mask of cold-hearted fury, "You brought this on yourself Naruto."
Naruto just closed his eyes and met his fate, 'Kyuubi, Kami, someone, please help me...'
And so Naruto was bombarded with blows upon blows from the female population of his class, all while the nine tailed fox slumbered peacefully to the sound of Naruto's wails of terror and pain.
The Kyuubi smiled in his sleep, grunting in approval at Naruto's suffering, 'Ah, what a pleasant sound...'
If Hiruzen possessed a single ryo for every time he found himself in a moment like this. Where his office, a place designed for quiet ruminations, deep thought and a metric ton of paperwork, devolved into a chaotic chamber of pointless arguing, ad hominems and death threats...
Well, honestly he'd use the funds to supplement his plans for renovating the shinobi housing buildings, but the point was he'd have a hell of a lot of cash on hand.
Hiruzen currently sat his his usual spot in his chair, surrounded by clan leaders whose children currently sat downstairs in their classrooms. Preparing to further their careers as ninja by graduating from the academy to become Genin of Konoha.
And he sat now, staring silently as professionals bickered back and forth about the announcement their chunin instructor just made. Rei was a mirror image of himself, only her expression was blank, mostly devoid of any noticeable emotion. Her expression was a stark contrast to himself, feeling his mouth stretch downwards in an expression of anger and outrage that only grew more and mores severe as he watched said chunin stand respectfully still. Defiant of the various bandages that covered her arms and legs, as well as the cast that her arm rested in.
He was waiting for at least one of his guests to use some of their hard earned situational awareness and notice that he wasn't exactly happy with their actions right now. A teaching tactic he learned from his mentor Tobirama rather early on as a genin. A tactic that had served him well with children and young shinobi over the years. And now he stood in a room of qualified shinobi, veterans of Konoha, ignore his increasing anger for the sake of their own ego's.
He silently counted to ten, then released his anger in the form of a wave of killing intent, "Enough!"
The reaction was immediate and visceral. Most flinched hard, while he noticed that others instinctively reached for the various weapons hidden in their clothing, or in their kunai pouches.
The room fell silent, and Hiruzen rose quickly from his chair, "I called you all here to discuss some changes to the genin roster, to account for some changes to the class dynamic, and the inclusion of certain members of the graduating class..."
He made a point of glaring harshly around the room. Slowing the movement of his severe gaze around the loudest, and most angry of the group as he spoke, "...Changes, that have not yet been fully announced. Am I in the company of jounin, and clan leaders, or children who are in dire need of a lesson in manners?"
None spoke, but a few outraged glances cued him in that some were less than pleased with his rebuke. He whipped his head around to meet the gaze of those few, every single one of which avoided his stare, choosing to look at anything except for his eyes.
Hiruzen had no time right now for enlarged ego's or pompous, idiotic pride. Not when he had a whole village to run. He'd do damage control later, but not when there was work to be done.
He cleared his throat loudly, and gestured to Rei, who cleared her throat as well, before continuing her announcement.
"I saw some issues that seemed worth mentioning to the Hokage roughly four months ago. He agreed with my proposals, and now I've been assigned to inform you of the changes and provide answers to any questions you may have."
Hyuuga Hiashi was the first to step forward. His expensive clan robes swaying slowly as he walked forward to speak, "Masako-San. I appreciate your proactivity, and holding the interest of the next generation of shinobi first. But why change the prior roster that the rest of us had already agreed to?"
The question drew a murmur of agreement from the crowd, many likely finding the apparently arduous task of dragging themselves from their clan grounds to the Hokage tower too much for seasoned shinobi.
"Quiet." Hiruzen barked, "Let Masako-san answer."
The crowd obeyed, some more reluctantly than others, and Rei took her chance to speak, "With respect to my fallen comrade, the meeting you speak of took place with me absent, and as such I can't speak for Iruka's intentions."
She looked up, her dark brown eyes meeting the misty grey ones with ferocity, "However, I can answer that regardless of what was said in my absence, I can only go by what I've seen as their teacher."
She turned away from Hiashi, and faced the rest in the room, "What I've seen, are very talented individuals that will no doubt take the shinobi world by storm, and lead our village to a new height of power and prosperity. But I want to ensure their success in the long term, not just as chunin. As such, I chose positions that would allow their members to not only supplement their teammates, but also cover the areas in which they might struggle."
Rei, with some effort, turned her body back to face the Hyuuga clan head, who bowed respectfully to the young, injured kunoichi before backing up to his prior position.
Hiruzen felt his heart surge with pride, smiling at the young girl who spoke so fearlessly in defense of both her decisions, and her class. The Hokage saw very few that seemed unconvinced by her speech. Hiashi, who Hiruzen was the most concerned about, seemed satisfied by the answer.
He scanned the crowd, and saw Kakashi there, sitting among the other soon-to-be Jounin-sensei.
Hiruzen felt a bead of sweat fall down his neck, finding the typically absent Kakashi's unusual attendance to this sort of meeting more unsettling than he thought it would be.
Hiruzen cleared his throat loudly, "If there are no more questions, if you would, please announce the new teams."
Rei nodded, and pulled a small notepad from her pocket and opened her mouth to speak. While Hiruzen braced himself for the oncoming surge of outrage and anger he had just seen not a moment before.
'If they thought they were upset when they heard the previous teams were being reassigned, I'm not sure what they'll do now.
"Sheesh, I said I was sorry!" The Nara whined. Naruto merely continued his stubborn ignorance of Shikamaru's presence, let alone his woefully weak apology.
He pronounced his 'cold shoulder' with a huff of irritation. The effect somewhat lesser due to his wince of pain he uttered at the sudden movement of his swollen head and the various bruises marking his face.
Shikamaru sighed, canting his head to the side in a sort of tired exasperation befitting the lazy Nara clan heir.
"I didn't know you'd just lean forward like that, I thought you'd both just kind of fall over..."
"I'll listen when my head goes back to normal." Naruto mumbled, rubbing his sore head, feeling the shrinking knots with a moan of pain.
Shikamaru sighed, scratching at his head, "How was I supposed to know that was going to happen? I might be smart, but I'm no Yamanaka! I can't just read minds..."
Naruto whipped his head around to glare at the Nara. "You know that the girls in our class are weird! How could you not know that!"
Shikamaru just sighed, "I try not to associate with the girls in our class. Too troublesome."
Naruto just turned back around, tired of dealing with the lazy genin, "Well what are you gonna do when one of these 'troublesome girls' is on your team, huh?"
The Nara sighed, his tone dripping in despair, "That's the worst part, I already know that I am." Shikamaru let his head drop into his arms and letting out a groan of despair.
"No doubt my old man and his old war buddies have set me up with their kids. Something about Their old team dynamic or something."
Naruto's head jerked up in surprise, "Wait, so it's not just random?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes like he just asked a ridiculous question, "No way, then it'd just be a chaotic mess."
Naruto squinted his eyes in suspicion at the Nara, "So how do they decide then?" The pineapple haired genin sighed, "Well it's not all that hard to figure out. The teams are normally connected to scores in the exams. Mine is different only because of our parents. So I'll be with Chouji and Ino."
Naruto felt an unexpected pang of disappointment when he heard that Ino wouldn't be on his team, but since he'd never hear the end of it from Shikamaru, he was careful not to let it show on his face.
Shikamaru smirked at him, "Sad that she won't be on your team huh?" Naruto felt his cheeks grow warm, but shook his head to clear the feeling from his face.
"No!" He denied. Shikamaru didn't seem convinced, but he just shrugged his shoulders and turned back around to face the front of the class.
Naruto's face scrunched up in annoyance, and leaned over the side of his desk to speak more quietly to the Nara.
"So, who exactly is supposed to be on my team, exactly?"
Shikamaru huffed out a laugh at the change in subject, "Ok, well I got some good news for you."
Naruto's brow furrowed, more suspicious than ever, "What?"
Shikamaru leaned in closer, and despite his threat of ill tidings, you wouldn't know it from seeing his smarmy smile on his face.
"Well, looks like you have your other two crushes on your team. Congrats!"
Naruto frowned, the gears in his head turning at what the hell that was supposed to mean, two crushes, but he didn't—
Naruto's eyes flew open, and his head turned to stare at Shikamaru, "You have got to be kidding me..."
Shikamaru had the decency to look a little bit sorry for him, his smirk fading to a somewhat respectful neutral expression. Almost as if he were paying respect to a fallen comrade.
Naruto turned his head to stare at his two soon-to-be teammates in desperate despair, watching Sakura try to make conversation with the ever brooding Sasuke, as the pink haired girl constantly sighing pleasantly and fawning over Sasuke. While the brooding Uchiha merely stared out the window in silence, his mood somehow even worse than before.
Naruto put his head into his hands in despair, groaning into his desk as Shikamaru just patted his shoulder in what was probably legitimate sympathy.
What was supposed to be a great day, and the starting line for his shinobi career, the beginning of his story of becoming the strongest shinobi ever, was rapidly starting to feel like the beginning of the end.
The hallway was completely silent as she made her way down the old and cracked steps of the Hokage tower. A single railing extended to her left, which she took full advantage of on her way down the stairs heading towards the part of the building that housed the academy.
Only the ambient sound of talking inside of other classrooms was heard as she made her way down the hallway, slowly but surely.
Even injured, Rei always believed that a respectable shinobi should never be heard unless it was purposeful. A demonstration that training can take any form and be effective.
She walked forwards, knowing that her classroom lay on the right at the end of the hall. She took a deep breath, and sighed out slowly to calm her nerves, knowing that the facts in this folder would end her role as a teacher for these students, her first class.
She knew that some students especially would likely be very affected by these decisions. It was far too late now, the list had already been approved by the Hokage, and they couldn't be changed this late in the process, even if she wanted to.
She'd just have to obey her instructions, walk through the door, announce the teams, and leave.
She shook her head, concentrating on her task, 'Easy enough...'
She nodded to herself, but didn't move a muscle. Her left arm in a sling, and her right hovering over the doorknob, still as a statue.
She sighed, pulling her arm back to her side, '..Maybe not so easy...'
It was around fifteen minutes later when Naruto felt the bruises on his head and face heal completely. But the blonde troublemaker barely noticed, too focused on cursing his life for the hand he'd been given when it came to his anticipated teammates.
All he could do was look back and forth between the two, the Uchiha princeling with a stick shoved so far up his ass it propped his hair up straight or Ino's pink haired friend that just finished using his head as a training post.
He groaned again and was about to retreat into his mind to consult the Nine-tails, when he heard another voice speak to his right.
"If I hear one more anguished groan out of you I swear I'll stab you."
Naruto peered over and gave the Nara a petulant, stubborn glare, his lower lip jutted outward.
Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow, "I'm not kidding Uzumaki. I swear, I'm the one that should be moaning and whining about the teams right now!" Shikamaru put his elbows on his desk, resting his chin in his hands, "Sure you might get the Uchiha and Sakura, but I think that Ino's worse."
Naruto gaped at Shikamaru amazed how the supposed genius could think of two more incorrect things to say in just as many seconds, "No way! I've talked to both of them before, they both already don't like me anyway! It's gonna be hell on earth!"
He knew for a fact that Shikamaru was either trying to get in on his own little pity party, or was trying to make him feel better by making his own situation look worse. Neither was working though, and Naruto also felt just a little bit instuled on the Yamanaka's behalf for Shikamaru's slanderous words.
"Besides, Ino's not that bad. Sure she's annoying, and she nags a lot, but I bet she'd be way better than Sakura."
Shikamaru seemed to think on this, before he took his head from his hands, and turned to face him. A suspicious smile on his face, "Oh, is that so?" The Nara asked slyly.
Naruto was about to retort with a witty, albeit crass remark, when the door opened.
The classroom was instantly quieted when the door opened with a slow creak. She passed slowly through the door, her movement a significantly less smooth and controlled due to her injuries, which covered her body. Her left arm was in a sling, with the arm itself, along with its twin, covered in bandages in varying size to accompany the injury. She walked with a slight limp, and walked slowly, making her way to the middle of the chalkboard behind her.
Whispers swept throughout the classroom, and among the cacophony of voices, a similar sentiment was passed among the students that made a handful of student frown, righteous anger building as they made the connection of Naruto to their injured teacher.
The parallels between Rei and Iruka was not lost on many, with the single common denominator being one Uzumaki Naruto, who sat in his own chair, staring at the teacher in worry, oblivious to the growing tension in the room.
To the right of Naruto, Shikamaru turned his eyes away from their injured teacher, and turned to absorb the view of his classroom quickly turning on the blonde. He took a moment to think on the possible implications, quickly surmising that although it looked bad at first glance, the reaction from Naruto and Rei quickly eliminated any ideas or theories of foul play on the part of Naruto.
Rei demeanor was calm, a bit conflicted, with no small amount of pride in her dark gaze, every emotion intensifying whenever she looked to Naruto. With the blonde returning her gaze with worry, but also unmistakable affection.
After a moment of silence, she finally broke the silence when she opened her mouth to speak.
"I apologize for my tardiness, there was a meeting that could not be pushed back. I know many of you will have questions, and I will do my best to answer them in time. Several of you have likely heard of an incident between me and Mizuki-san..."
The room's whispers increased in volume, but Rei silenced them with a raised hand, "...The truth is classified, but the long and short of it is that Mizuki has retired and will not return to teaching at the academy."
Silence reigned over the classroom, and despite the lack of whispers, Naruto could feel the class's eyes on him. He did his best to ignore them, staring only at his teacher, but in truth, it was an action that was more difficult than it seemed.
Naruto scanned the injuries to her body, remembering in detail the way Mizuki attacked her viciously, all in an effort to get to him. He felt the weight of guilt settle in his heart, the accusing eyes from some members of the class only making the feeling more intense.
He risked a few glances away from his sensei to look for certain members of the class. Spotting Ino who, despite his fears, wasn't glaring angrily at him, or with that dispassionate, contemptuous look he'd seen on the faces of so many villagers. But there was that expression of impatient annoyance of hers, that told him they'd be having a talk about this sooner rather than later.
Before he had a chance to think about that however, he heard Rei clear her throat, gathering the attention back to her, "Anyhow, despite that news, I'm so very glad to see you all today!" She announced in a cheery voice.
She smiled widely and sincerely, staring directly at him as she added the second part of her announcement, "And I do mean, all of you."
Naruto felt his face flush, and his heart quicken at such praise, and he felt the whole of his focus narrow in on her as she went on, "I know I haven't taught all of you for your entire time here, and in that way I am a bit of an outlier. You all have worked hard to get to this point, and lesser men and women would have certainly faltered before now."
She raised her uninjured arm up high, "But here you are! Today, you are no longer students, you are Genin of Konohagakure no Sato. Shinobi, proud defenders of our home, and warriors for your clan, family and village!"
She looked around to room to see many round faces, and a few teary eyes, "I will continue to root for all of you, ad watch as you all grow to become spectacular ninja in your own way. Also know that I'll always be here if you ever need guidance or help."
She smiled again, and despite her injured appearance, the sincerity of her words and her pride and joy of her students was palpable, "I release you now to your Jounin-sensei, where your real training will begin. I wish you all luck."
With that, Rei pulled out a folder from her sling, using her hand to open the folder to read from it.
Naruto felt nervous anticipation settle in his gut as he stared at the Manilla folder, 'Here it is...'
Rei looked up, and the next few minutes went by painfully slow as she announced the first few teams that had none of the people he knew in them.
Naruto felt his fingers dig into his desk, and his foot tap rhythmically on the ground as he waited.
"...Team 9 is currently in use, so...Ah! There."
She looked up, "Team 10 will be, Yamanaka Ino..."
Ino perked up when she heard her name, her pale blue eyes fixed on her sensei, "...Akamichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru."
Naruto turned to look at Shikamaru, who just wearily sighed, his expression giving Naruto a clear and damning, 'I told you so'.
Ino whipped around to stare at the lazy Nara, and his best friend Chouji sitting beside him, a content look on his face as he munched away at his bag of chips.
Before Ino could make her feelings known, Rei continued, "Team 8 is, "Haruno Sakura..."
Naruto closed his eyes, wincing in anticipation for the announcement of his doom.
"...Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba." The two mentioned genin both responded in their own way, with Kiba staring at both of said new teammates with both satisfaction and anticipation, while shino just nodded silently.
Now it was Naruto's turn to stare at Shikamaru, an incredulous look on his face. Shikamaru looked just as surprised as he felt, an odd thing in itself, as he'd never known the Nara to be this surprised at anything before.
As he stared, his mind whirled into action. His intellect was certainly less than the Nara, and if he couldn't figure it out there was little chance the feat was possible for him. However, he did feel a glimmer of hope as he stared at the surprised Nara, 'Maybe if he was wrong about Sakura, I won't be stuck on a team with the asshole!'
The hopeful thought came suddenly, and he couldn't help but get his hopes up for such an outcome. He gestured to Shikamaru to get his attention, possibly to get his opinion on his thought, but Shikamaru just shrugged at him as Rei went on, "Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hinata."
Naruto's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he felt his hope die a quick, but painful death at the mention of the Uchiha heir. From the look of him, Sasuke's expression was the same, as well as both Ino, Sakura, and Hinata. While Sakura and Ino seemed more upset at their mutual loss of the Uchiha on their team, Hinata wore an expression that seemed to be a strange mix of surprise, elation, and apprehension.
Naruto turned to look at his two 'teammates' with suspicion and surprise. Especially noting the difference between Sasuke's insulted and annoyed look, verses Hinata's hopeful look.
Although he had spoke with Sasuke, and fought him a handful of times, his encounters with the Hyuuga heiress were sparse. He counted himself lucky that the girl didn't seem to be one of the girls that seemed to fawn over him like some kind of gift from Kami.
Any other thoughts were interrupted when Rei closed the folder with one hand, tucking the folder back into her sling, "That's it for the announcements. It's been an honor being your sensei, and although this isn't goodbye, I'm sure you'll be busy with your new tasks and training. Nevertheless, I wish all of you the best of luck as you all continue to move forward."
At the utterance of the last word, the door opened to reveal a tall, hairy bear of a man. His hair was dark, and his complexion tan, with a single glowing red cigarette hanging from his mouth. He was dressed in what Naruto knew to be the standard Jounin uniform, an armored dark green vest with multiple pockets, along with the dark blue long-sleeved shirt and pants typical to Konoha shinobi. The only distinctions seemed to be the white tape that was wrapped around his biceps and shins, and a white, black and red sash, with the Kanji for 'Fire' around his waist.
Naruto was instantly reminded of the old man, the stark comparison in his memory, choice of tobacco and all hit him like a punch to the face.
'Oh, this must be that Asuma guy Konohamaru was talking about.'
The man opened his mouth to speak, but before he could the cigarette flew from his mouth, disappearing at the sound of something impacting with the wall. All in the classroom looked over to see the cigarette impaled by a senbon, apparently thrown by Rei, if her outstretched hand, and irritated look were any indication.
Asuma glanced back to the teacher, a tad embarrassed, scratching the back of his head compulsively, "Hehe, sorry Rei-San. Forgot about your rules about smoking." The man said, his voice a deep rumble compared to Rei's soft, but authoritative tone.
Rei's eye twitched in annoyance, "Just take care that you remember the next time you visit, or I'll aim for something a little less replaceable next time." She said.
Asuma laughed nervously, but recovered pretty quickly. Clearing his throat to address the crowd, "All those assigned to Team 10 follow me." He commanded.
Chouji was the first to respond, eagerly removing himself from the seat, quicker than NAruto had ever seen the plump boy move. Shikamaru was next, followed by the sulking form of Ino. The lazy Nara uttering a single, "Troublesome...", as he and Ino followed Chouji and Asuma's lead out of the classroom.
As soon as the newly formed Team 10 exited, the next sensei entered. Naruto's eyes widened as a black haired woman strode in soundlessly. She was as paler than Asuma, with dark red eyes that bored into him as she stared. Her eyes sweeping the classroom in a cursory glance. She also looked to have no Jounin vest, replacing it with a white and red blouse, with some mesh armor showing underneath.
She continued to look around, her eyes hovering on him, as well as Hinata, but settling on what were to be her students.
"Come on Team 8, all of you file behind me." She commanded. Sakura was first, a curious look on her face as she got up from her chair, quickly followed by Kiba and Shino out the door.
Naruto was quick to look around as more and more sensei shuffled in, and shuffled out, their new students in tow. After what felt like a millennium, all that was left was their teacher, himself, and his 'teammates'. Although it felt weird to think of the two in that way.
'Do not fall for the trap Naruto...'
He halfway expected the fox to pipe up sooner or later, so he wasn't startled like he normally was. Instead he remained still, not resisting to the pull that brought him into the annals of his mind. His vision faded to black, and when he opened them again, he was in front of the cage, staring into the ever-furious eyes of the Kyuubi.
Only, contrary to the emotion the huge fox always seemed to radiate, the Kyuubi seemed more thoughtful than anything, gauging his expression.
'Do not allow the ones appointed over you to convince you that they, or your soon to be 'team members' are anything close to your equal.'
Naruto frowned, "What do you mean? I can't even beat Sasuke, let alone a jounin." He protested.
The Kyuubi sneered at him, "Only for now. Understand that as you grow, your ability to control my power only grows. There will come a time where none will be able to stand against you."
Naruto sighed, but nodded. Instantly, Naruto was transported back to the real world. The fox's lesson apparently over with.
The world rushed back to him, blurry at first, but the first thing he noticed was Rei's eyes on him, furrowed with concern.
"Huh?" He mumbled.
"...I said, are you alright?" She asked.
Naruto nodded with a frown on his face, "Yeah, just wondering when our sensei is gonna show up." He said as he looked around the mostly empty classroom.
Rei frowned even deeper at his words, taking a sigh as she looked to the yet to be opened door.
"Me too."
Walking was a strange thing for a shinobi so used to the sort of expedient travel most often used by those who were able to use chakra.
After being trained for as long as he had to be a shinobi, walking should seem mundane and pointless. When running up and over buildings, and using chakra to bound across rooftops was within his power, taking a leisurely stroll through the village seemed boring. But as Kakashi walked the grassy road towards his usual spot, he found a sense of calm settle over him as his made his way to the destination where the silver haired Jounin found himself nearly every other day.
But today wasn't just any other day, a fact he was quick to remind himself of. Today was the day where he was to be assigned a team, a specific team with the last remaining Uchiha, the Hyuuga heiress, and the son of his deceased sensei.
Today was the day that he was to finally be allowed contact with the boy after years of forced separation.
He never fully forgave Sarutobi for giving out the order, but like the loyal ninja he was, he obeyed, if with some amount of resistance in the beginning.
As a younger shinobi, he often found himself at odds with Hiruzen over this rule in particular. And he found himself spying on the young boy, often alone and neglected.
Kakashi shook his head as he found himself at the memorial stone, doing his best to rid him of those darker thoughts as he let his mind drift elsewhere.
His gaze focused on the stone, forcing himself to read out the several names he knew to be engraved into the obsidian statue.
The stone was old and worn, the decades of being beaten down by the weather and changing seasons dulling the sharp black edges into a weathered dark grey in places. The lighter color making the newly revealed stone stand out that much more.
This fact made one of the more recently etched names stand out.
Umino Iruka.
He sighed when he read the name, all too familiar with the story behind the name. He knew the chunin's fate all too well, having been an ANBU in the village at the time.
Frustratingly, he wasn't assigned to Naruto, and was recovering from the missions that had reclaimed the boy from his kidnappers not a few days earlier. One of his greatest regrets was not telling the Hokage to shove that pipe of his up his ass and go to Naruto anyway.
An action like that would've certainly seen him dismissed from being ANBU, if not a shinobi completely, but Naruto would've been safe.
He would've stopped it...
He would've kept his promise...
Kakashi laughed darkly, 'Avoiding my team, and dodging responsibility. Iruka would be furious with me.'
He tried to rid himself of his dark, pointless thoughts, but he could feel another emotion stir in him other than regret that gave him pause.
Determination.
Naruto would not be hurt under his watch, he would make sure. They were going to be ready. All of them.
The markings slightly faded now, just one more name in a sea of others who died for their village. He offered a short prayer for the soul of his comrade, taking his time to thank him.
Eventually, he moved on. Taking his time going over the chiseled, sharp characters, dwelling on the memories of his old team, until his eyes found the one he searched for.
Namikaze Minato.
The name brought forward a swell of memories of the ever stalwart leader of their team. His blinding smile, and indelible confidence a paragon of courage and selflessness.
He knelt in the same place he always did, noting the already crushed grass and displaced soil in his usual spot.
'They should really cordon off an area for me already.' He noted with a sardonic smirk and a short laugh.
He continued to remain there in silence for a moment, before he let himself smile again, sighing in trepidation for a moment before he eventually spoke, "Hey Sensei. Been a while this time..."