We'll be jumping to the last year of the Academy. I'm going to try and do more character and relationship building as it leads up to the graduation exam. I'm not doing the most explanations of what characters are wearing, I'm basing the fact that most people have an idea. If you wish me to go into more detail, please tell me. I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry for the later upload, finals and Smash Ultimate has taken a lot of my time. If you have any issues with character portrayal let me know. I am doing my best, but I'm sure I could do better. Anyway please review so I can improve. I hope you enjoy this latest installment.
"... and that finishes up our final lecture on the logistics of missions in a Ninja village economy. Any questions?" Iruka asked his academy class. Not a single person raised their hand, while Iruka was a renowned teacher around the academy, even he couldn't avoid finding students asleep during his teachings. Especially with a certain Nara in his class, but what surprised him even more was that one of the last two Uchiha was asleep as well. Iruka coughed into his hand, everyone in the class knew exactly what was coming, "SEISHI UCHIHA!"
Shooting his head up and snorting awake Seishi tiredly mumbled out "Seven." The class started laughing as Iruka berated him on falling asleep during important lessons about the village's way of life. As he was about to resume teaching Kiba Inuzuka raised his hand and got Iruka's attention,
"Sensei what about Shikamaru?" He asked, bringing Iruka's attention back to the lazy clan heir. Iruka looked ready to yell again, but Naruto Uzumaki shot up drawing the attention of the class, pulling out two small popping fireworks that made a loud bang when connecting with a hard surface.
"May I, Sensei?" He asked, smirking Iruka just simply nodded. Naruto scurried to Shikamaru's location and stood on the long desk that held three students right in front of him. Naruto slowly raised his hand, savoring the moment. As soon as he was ready to move his eyes widened in confusion.
"Troublesome blond" He heard from the previously sleeping Nara. Shikamaru raised his head, his hands in the ram seal below him, his shadow connected to Naruto's. Everyone in the class started laughing at Naruto getting caught in the middle of his prank, then their laughter switched to Kiba as Shikamaru threw his arms towards Kiba, his jutsu making Naruto do the same, causing the small fireworks to pop right in front of the Inuzuka making him and his nindog Akamaru cover their ears in pain. Shikamaru smirked and then released his jutsu. Iruka calmed the class back down and went back to teaching as Naruto returned to his seat. Seishi reduced his laughter from that exchange to mere giggles. Calming himself down, he leaned over to his Uchiha counterpart and whispered to him,
"Wanna spar after class?" He asked. Sasuke only looked at him out of the corner of his eye and grunted, after years of being around Sasuke, Seishi knew he accepted, but he wanted to rile his friend up even more. "C'mon Sasuke, I know you want revenge after last time, and I believe I'm up by two wins. I know that eats you up inside" Sasuke grimaced, not one to ever be outdone.
"You're on." Sasuke replied to his cousin. Seishi smirked, glad to get Sasuke to speak, He'd been doing that less and less, becoming more broody and quiet over time. Seishi made it his personal goal to get him to stop that.
"Alright class, you're dismissed. Make sure you continue to practice your jutsu and taijutsu katas. The final exam is two days away. Dismissed!" Iruka finished. Everyone then filed out, eager to go home. Once Seishi got outside he waited for Sasuke to come out as well. Sasuke was one of the last to get out, and once he did Seishi asked him,
"I'm pretty hungry, wanna go get lunch?" Sasuke just replied with a shake of his head and started making his way to their clan compound. Seishi was a little put off, but was feeling sociable. He looked around for another person to invite. He thought about Ino but she was with her female friends and he didn't feel like approaching that piranha's nest. She was fine one-on-one but with her friends it was a whole different experience. He then looked to around for Shino but couldn't see him anywhere. He had been wanting to get to know the Aburame for a bit, but never got around to it. He then turned his eyes to the pair of Shikamaru and Chouji, he knew Shika was going to watch clouds, and Seishi didn't think his wallet could handle Chouji no matter how friendly the Akimichi was. His eyes then found Naruto, who was sitting on the swing on the wooden swing, gently rocking back and forth with a sullen look on his face. Seeing the usually happy Naruto look so sad just felt off to Seishi, so he decided he was going to help that. Finally choosing his eating partner he made his way over to the Uzumaki.
Seeing someone come his way, Naruto instantly looked up to face his newcomer and put on his fake smile, stretching his eyes nearly closed. As Seishi walked towards Naruto, he was slightly thrown off guard. He hadn't done anything to make the blond smile that widely at him. When Seishi looked over originally Naruto seemed depressed, and now he looked overly happy. Thinking it was just another Naruto thing he was undeterred. Seishi asked the blond,
"Hey Naruto, wanna go grab lunch with me?" Naruto's smile faltered a bit at the Uchiha confused, wondering why anyone would ask him that besides Iruka-sensei and the Hokage. He only had rivalries with Seishi and Sasuke, so he was little skeptical of the offer.
"No, thank you." He replied to the offer. Seishi looked confused for a second, but pressed on, never one to be deterred,
"C'mon blondie. My treat, plus you can pick. I just feel like grabbing lunch with pleasant company. It would be nice before I go kick Sasuke's butt." He laughed at the end, trying to ease the tense Uzumaki. Reacting to his laughter Naruto laughed as well since he also wanted to rip Sasuke a new one for being so rude to him early in their academy days. Nodding to himself Naruto replied,
"Sure, thank you. Since you said I pick, have you been to Ichiraku's ramen stand?"
"Nope." Seishi replied, "But I'm down to try new things." The blond jumped off the swing at that and started speed-walking to the exit of the Academy grounds. Seishi was overall confused about the mood swings, but he had an eating partner for today. "Hey, wait up!" Seishi called out as he jogged to catch up. Naruto turned around to see the distance he had already created between the two. He stopped walking and waited for Seishi to catch up. Rubbing the back of his neck Naruto felt slightly bad. He couldn't just leave his meal ticket behind after all. His mouth watered at the idea of free ramen.
The two began walking at a more sedated pace as Naruto led him to the small restaurant. Seishi thought this would be a good time to get to know Naruto. The only thing he really knew about him was from their spars and the pranks Naruto pulled. Plus his scores marking him as the dead-last of their class.
"So. Naruto." Seishi began. Naruto turned to him with a "hmm?" "Tell me about yourself. I don't know anything about you." Naruto looked at him for a few moments. His eyes closed in thought. He finally returned his head forward and began talking excitedly.
"Well I like ramen, and I want to be Hokage." Seishi gave him a deadpan look.
"Seriously? I know at least that much. That's all you ever talk about." Seishi said to the blond. Naruto's gaze turned back to him.
"Well, what do you want to know?" Naruto asked Seishi. Seishi thought about it. After a few seconds he came up with a question.
"Why do you goof off instead of doing well in class?" Seishi asked him. Naruto was silent for a little bit. He head his head down as if in deep thought. Finally he looked back at Seishi with that same wide smile from earlier,
"Because a Hokage doesn't need to know that stuff!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. Seishi just sighed.
"Those are exactly the things a Hokage NEEDS to know you idiot." Seishi scolded the blond. Naruto just glowered a little bit.
"I'll learn it eventually." He finally said. Seishi sighed again and decided to give up. Troublesome blond was the perfect words to describe Naruto. They settled into a silence as they kept walking towards their destination. After a few more minutes of walking they finally arrived. It was a small stand made out of wood. The entrance was open except for several cloth flaps that had Ichiraku Ramen printed on it. Seishi followed Naruto who immediately pushed through the cloth and took a seat on the middle of five stools.
"One miso ramen with pork please old man." Naruto called out to the friendly looking elderly gentleman behind the counter.
"Naruto." He said happily. "How's our favorite customer today?"
"I'm doing good. How are you and Ayame-nee-san?" He asked. From under the counter popped a late teenage women with brown hair wearing a white shirt with an apron over it. She gave Naruto a bright smile and replied to him,
"We're doing good. Better now that you're here." Naruto just chuckled and rubbed his head bashfully. Her eyes then turned to Seishi who had just sat down on a stool next to Naruto. "Who's your friend Naruto?" She asked.
"My name is Seishi Uchiha. It's a pleasure to meet you." Seishi sad with a slight bow of his head. Ayame smiled at him and introduced herself in return.
"Well my name is Ayame and the grumpy old man behind me is my dad Teuchi." She gestured to the kind looking old man behind her who was wearing the same uniform as her. He looked a little miffed at being called 'grumpy old man', but he smiled as his eyes returned to Seishi.
"It's an honor to have you dining with us Uchiha-san. What would you like?" He asked Seishi. Seishi got a little uncomfortable with the honorific. After 5 years he was still unused to being treated almost like royalty.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I'll have the same as Naruto please." Seishi got out after a second. Teuchi laughed at them before calling out,
"Coming right up!" Ayame leaned on the counter as she turned to them.
"So you're graduating soon right?" She asked them. Naruto was the first to respond.
"Yep. Two days from now you'll see me as a ninja of Konoha." He said excitedly. Ayame smiled gently before turning to Seishi.
"And you?" She asked. Seishi grinned.
"I will be as well. I don't know about Naruto here, but I'm going to be a ninja for sure." Seishi smiled at Naruto, obviously teasing him.
"I'm going to graduate easy!" Naruto yelled getting over excited. "In fact, I bet I'll be a better ninja than you!" He said with an exuberant amount of confidence. Seishi's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh really." Seishi said tauntingly.
"Ya really. Believe it!" Naruto finalized the challenge. Both boys glared at each other. Ayame sweatdropped as she looked at the both of them stare each other down. For a second there she could have sworn she saw sparks fly between the two. The glares switched to a new target as Teuchi swooped in with two delicious looking bowls of ramen.
"Alright you two settle down." Teuchi interjected as he set the bowls down. "I hope you both enjoy." He said smiling at the two. Both boys immediately grabbed their chopsticks, and after thanking the chef, immediately dug in with gusto. Naruto was the first to finish his bowl and immediately called for a second one. As soon as the words left his mouth a second bowl was promptly dropped in front of him, which he began to tear into with just as much fervor. Seishi finished his first bowl soon after, but politely declined the offer of a second one. He still had to spar with Sasuke later and didn't want to overeat on salty foods. Instead he decided to sit there and wait for Naruto.
Thirty-five minutes later Seishi regretted not asking Chouji to lunch. There's no way someone should be able to eat so much. Seishi stared wide-eyed at his first and onlybowl of ramen, and then to Naruto's fifteenth. Feeling his wallet shrinking Seishi thanked anyone above that the Uchiha clan fund was so large, or he might have been in serious trouble. Burping after drinking the broth, Naruto thanked the chef. Seishi turned to the duo behind the counter and just saw them rubbing their hands together thinking of the payment for this lunch. Naruto then turned to his lunch partner and smiled,
"Thank you for lunch Seishi-san. I really appreciate this." Seishi smiled, and waved the blond off. He had gotten over his small anger with Naruto after watching the impressive display that the blond put on.
"It's no trouble Naruto. We should do this again sometime." Naruto smiled and nodded, then Seishi added, "Although maybe next time you don't go so hard on the ramen?" Naruto gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of his head.
After paying for the meal and and thanking the Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, Seishi said his farewells to the rambunctious blonde that was his lunch partner and started to make his way to the Uchiha district. He had a downer to rough into shape. It didn't take long for Seishi to reach the Uchiha district. It had been just over a year ago when he and Sasuke decided to move back into their original home. Seishi had offered Sasuke to stay with him at his place, but Sasuke wanted to get over his trauma and return to his real home. After a little bit they both decided Seishi should live with Sasuke in the main home. It wasn't like Sasuke needed the space. The transition was a little rough for Seishi, but he had moved into a new home before so it wasn't as big of a deal. It was just rough packing certain things of Shisui's and his parents that he wanted to take with him. Things that he didn't originally take with him to his old apartment.
After awhile he finally made it back to the head household. Seishi immediately went to Sasuke's room and knocked. After a few seconds Seishi knocked on the door again, waiting for an answer. When there was none he got annoyed at being snubbed. He knew Sasuke was around here somewhere. He knocked louder this time, following that up with a shout,
"Oi you emo bastard, we have a date with destiny!" Seishi yelled. After his loud remark he heard distant reply of "Over here" from the back of the house. Making his way to and out the back door, he saw Sasuke practicing his aim with shuriken and kunai. All hitting the target dead center.
Seishi whistled as he walked into the training area in the backyard, "That's impressive. I'm afraid for any shinobi that fights against you standing still." Seishi walked onto the opposite side of the field into the usual area they began their spars.
"Shut it." Was the reply he got, Seishi smirked and lowered himself into the academy style taijutsu that he and Sasuke had both modified differently. One arm outstretched and the other close to his body. Seishi smirked and beckoned Sasuke by giving him a 'come on' gesture with his outstretched hand.
Sasuke shot him a challenging look and lowered himself into a similar stance. On an unknown signal they both charged at each other. Reaching in the middle Sasuke threw the first punch, a straight right at Seishi's forehead. Ducking down to dodge it, Seishi threw a sweeping kick, aiming to take Sasuke's legs out from under him. Sasuke jumped over it, aiming his own kick at Seishi's lowered head. Rolling back, Seishi put his arms under him and springboarded up, landing on his feet. Not giving his opponent any room to breathe Sasuke pressed his advantage charging at his fellow Uchiha again. Sasuke threw several punches, forcing Seishi on the back foot and not giving him any chance to go on the offensive.
During the onslaught Seishi smirked, seeing an over extension on Sasuke's part, Seishi ducked low, aiming a punch on Sasuke's exposed ribs, his smirk fell however when he realized it was a bait, too late though, as Sasuke's elbow connected with the dome of his head, stunned Seishi could not react to the spinning heel kick Sasuke delivered swiftly to his temple, sending him flying and spinning landing several yards away.
Sasuke smirked victoriously as Seishi groaned, shaking his head to clear the stars he spoke "I guess I'm only one win up now." Sasuke continued smirking, feeling like gloating but choosing not to since he was in fact still down to his clansmen. "I can't believe I fell for that, I'm disappointed in myself." Seishi said standing up.
"Don't be." Sasuke said, "I've been saving that feint, hoping to catch you with it." Sasuke said grabbing towel to wipe off his sweat, and throwing another one to the now standing Seishi.
"Thank you. I wonder if this is how Shisui and Itachi felt growing up." Seishi pondered. The mention of Itachi's name made Sasuke freeze. His look instantly turned sour. Seishi saw Sasuke tense up and just sighed. 'Some things never change.' Seishi thought sadly. "Well are you ready for the exam soon?" Seishi asked. Sasuke only nodded. Seishi sat down as he watched Sasuke clean up. "I need to train more. I still don't feel like I've done enough." Seishi mused.
"I agree." Sasuke said. "I still feel too weak. I don't like it." Seishi nodded at that.
"Well then I'm going to go train. I still need to work on my jutsu." Seishi said. "Come on. Let's go again. I need to get my win back. Unless you're too tired and scared?" Seishi challenged with a grin. Sasuke smirked back.
"You're so going down loser." With that said Seishi immediately jumped up and Sasuke stopped cleaning. They got into position once again and charged.
Seishi gasped as he felt the drain from the prolonged use of the fireball jutsu. The lake water below him stopped simmering and slowly returned to a rest. He had been hard at work using that jutsu to build up his reserves and getting use to repeated exposure to fire chakra in his lungs. His breathing lightened as he sat down on the side of the lake bed. He felt proud of what he had accomplished. The fireball jutsu was one of three fire jutsus he had in his repertoire, but he was looking to improve it further. It felt good seeing all that he had progressed. He had finally finished the fireball jutsu and gotten the Uchiha Fan on the back of his clothes roughly two years ago. Two weeks after Sasuke much to his chagrin. Then his thoughts turned to the aforementioned Uchiha.
That was one of the few times Sasuke had shown much emotion lately was when he bragged about it. Sasuke had gotten even more quiet. He tended to brood and not speak more than what was necessary, Seishi however was much more loudspoken and brash, but not to the extreme that Naruto and Kiba did. His relationship with Sasuke tended to seem like what Shisui's relationship with Itachi had been and Seishi saw that as a good sign. Those two were the best of friends and Seishi hoped to be like that with Sasuke, though Sasuke never made it easy. They had moments where they were brothers and the best of friends. Other times things were tense, especially when dealing with matters regarding Itachi and what outcome they both wanted from it. Mostly however, it was a pretty fierce rivalry between the two. They were both considered prodigies in their own right, but Sasuke tended to garner more attention than Seishi did. Seishi always tried to talk with Sasuke, but Sasuke wasn't much of a talker anymore.
Sasuke never talked to anyone outside of the academy besides Seishi. He barely responded to teachers inside the academy as well, and for some reason that made him more popular. Girls seemed to fall all over him, and as much as it bothered him, Ino seemed to have a crush on him as well. It even ruined her friendship with Sakura, so that little trio he had blew up. Luckily Ino was nowhere near as obnoxious about her crush as Sakura was. She was the head of a so-called 'Sasuke Fan Club'. Seishi hated that it existed. He was also a little jealous, though he would never admit that. Sasuke also took class very seriously. It may have seemed as if he wasn't paying that much attention, but he always was. He scored near perfect marks and was always just above Seishi. More importantly Sasuke only ever lost to one person in the taijutsu spars, and Seishi was very happy to admit that it was him. He currently held the spar record between them by one win, something he knew irked Sasuke since he just had to be the best at everything. Especially since they went back and forth the day before.
Seishi looked to the horizon as the sun peeked over the edge. He had woken up extra early today to get some training in before the academy and had ended up wearing himself out. After he felt good and rested he stood up, stretched, and started making his way to the Academy. He swung by the market district to grab an apple for breakfast. He wasn't worried about eating too much since his lunch was covered. He and Sasuke had been training fanatics so they had a deal that when one was missing in the morning due to training, the other made lunch for the both of them. It was a good deal, but it led to him tending to make it more for Sasuke. Though that was probably why it worked so well, since that was mostly how Sasuke agreed to it since he was out most mornings regardless.
The walk to the Academy was uneventful as usual. A few people waved to Seishi and he politely waved back. People were still very kind to him, and while Seishi appreciated it, he felt undeserving. Entering the academy grounds Seishi caught sight of Ino. His friendship with her was still rather solid, and since she didn't bring up Sasuke all the time, they still had plenty to talk about. Seishi jogged up beside her as they neared the Academy doors to have a pleasant morning conversation with one of his best friends.
"Good morning Ino." Seishi spoke getting the girls attention. Ino turned to him and glanced him over. Her eyebrow quirked at seeing the dirt covering some of his clothes.
"Good morning to you too Seishi. Training again?" She asked. Seishi laughed a little and nodded. He held the door for her as they both walked in heading to their classroom.
"Our final year is almost up." Seishi said.
"Yup." Ino replied with a nod of her head. "Kind of exciting honestly." She continued.
"It definitely is. I wonder who , if anyone, is going to fail." Seishi asked. Ino put her finger to her chin as she pondered..
"Hmm. If anyone, it might be Naruto." She finally said as they neared the classroom. Seishi only nodded.
Seishi's thoughts then turned to the other blond in class. He liked Naruto, at the very least because he was funny. Still, he tended to always be in some sort of trouble and from what he'd seen of his test grades, they were all very poor. Plus he still couldn't even perform a normal clone. Though his redeeming quality was definitely in taijutsu. Naruto was the only one outside of Sasuke to really give him trouble. Kiba was easy to read since he just ran at you. Shikamaru barely even tried, usually giving up as soon as the match began. Choji was weird, he was slow but his moves definitely packed a punch, but since he was slow he was easy to beat for him and Sasuke. Hinata was another odd one. He just felt like he was getting pushed when she struck, and when he asked her about it she said she wasn't allowed to use her family's taijutsu in class. Naruto was different from the rest. He was a brawler like Kiba, but he hit as hard as Choji. He was also faster than both of them and just did the weirdest things. One time during their spar Seishi had knocked Naruto with a palm to the head and while he fell he grabbed Seishi's extended hand and just heaved him over as they fell. It almost cost Seishi the match because he nearly fell out of the ring. Ever since then he never underestimated Naruto in their spars or left his arm extended for that matter.
"Definitely Naruto, though I think he has what it takes to graduate if he focuses." Ino nodded to that as they entered the open doors of their classroom. They sat together on the front row and chatted amicably while they waited for Iruka-sensei. They were one of the first couple to arrive and soon after everyone started filing in. Sasuke had came in almost last and dropped Seishi his lunch as he took a seat a few rows back next to Shikamaru. Soon the bell rang signaling class to start but Iruka-sensei had still yet to arrive. The whole class started wondering where their wayward teacher was, but soon his assistant Mizuki-sensei arrived and began to teach in his stead.
Not soon after Iruka arrived dragging a binded Naruto behind him and dropped him on the floor in front of the entire class. Seishi only sighed as he saw this. 'So much for focusing on graduating.' Seishi thought. After dropping Naruto in front of everyone, Iruka began to lecture him.
"Now listen Naruto," Iruka began "You failed the last graduation test and the one before that. This is no time to be goofing off, you fool." Iruka scolded the boy. Naruto however just turned his head in indignance. Iruka twitched at just being shoved off like that. He turned to the rest of the class and yelled, "We will have a retest on the Transformation Jutsu! Even those who've already passed will take it!" He finished.
"What?!" Most of the class yelled. Seishi only groaned. 'More wasted time for that dunce.' Seishi thought bitterly. They all started to get out of their seat and form an orderly line.
The line began with Sakura Haruno. "Sakura Haruno. Here I go. Transform!" She said. With a burst of chakra a cloud of smoke appeared, and from that smoke stood a perfect copy of Iruka. Iruka checked his clipboard and gave her a simple "Ok." Sakura then cheered to herself, "I did it. Did you see that Sasuke?" She asked the boy.
Before any response could be given, or rather not given, Iruka went ahead and called out, "Next, Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura sulked back to her seat after being shut down like that as Sasuke stepped up. Before Iruka could even give the signal Sasuke had already transformed into Iruka. "O-ok." Iruka said. Sasuke then proceeded to return to his seat. "Next, Naruto Uzumaki."
"This is a real pain." Shikamaru groaned.
"And it's all your fault." Ino followed up glaring at Naruto.
"Like I care!" Naruto returned. He walked up and stood before Iruka. "Transform!" Naruto yelled. After a smoke cloud appeared and seemingly disappeared, before everyone stood a very naked female Naruto with only smoke covering the naughty bits striking a very provocative pose. Iruka's eyes shot wide open as blood flew from his nose and he fell back. Most of the girls were looking at Naruto with anger, and Seishi himself was finding it very difficult to pry his eyes off of the woman before him. 'Who would have guessed girl Naruto would be so cute.' Seishi thought as he struggled to hold down his blush. Another burst of smoke and Naruto was back to his normal self laughing his head off. "How was that? I call it my sexy jutsu." Naruto said to the fallen teacher. Iruka however was quick to return to his feet.
"YOU IDIOT! STOP MAKING IDIOTIC JUTSU!" Iruka yelled to the boy. Naruto sulked to an empty seat after being reamed at but he still let loose a couple giggles. After that lovely event things went rather smoothly moving through the line easily. Not one person failed the Transformation test, not even Naruto who made a mockery of the entire thing since he successfully performed a Transformation. Class went smoothly after that. At the end of class Iruka finished with an announcement.
"Now you all know your graduation exam is tomorrow. You've had preliminary tests through these last couple of weeks, but we will have extensive testing tomorrow." He informed the class. "We will be covering Taijutsu, One Ninjutsu, and a written test. Everyone do your best tomorrow and know that no matter what, I'm proud of each and every one of you. Dismissed." Iruka finished smiling at all the potential new graduates. Seishi was one of the first out the door, if he sat there any longer he was going to go insane. That day seemed to drag on forever. He waited outside the door for Sasuke. He waved to a few people as they passed by. Sasuke was one of the last out the door. Taking his time as usual.
"Sasuke." Seishi called out. Sasuke turned his eyes lazily and glanced towards him. "Do you want to train and get ready for tomorrow?" Sasuke shook his head.
"No. I'm doing something special to prepare for tomorrow." Sasuke said. Seishi narrowed his eyes.
"Special you say? Like what?" Seishi asked him inquisitively. Sasuke smirked.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Sasuke goaded. A tick marked formed on Seishi's head.
"What was that punk? I'll flatten you!" Seishi exclaimed aloud. Sasuke chuckled before walking past Seishi.
"Not a chance." Sasuke replied coolly. Seishi clenched his fists. He didn't like being shoved off.
"Fine. Be like that, jerk." Seishi growled. He took a deep breath and calmed down. Sasuke continued walking, throwing a wave over his shoulder as he left. Seishi's shoulders slumped, there went his most solid training partner for the day. 'I'll just go train by myself then.' Seishi thought. He was disappointed for sure, but he wouldn't let that stop him. After waving goodbye to a couple of friends, he made his way to training ground three again. Seishi had made that his most frequented area to train aside from the training grounds inside the Uchiha clan.
It didn't take Seishi long to get there. It was empty when he arrived which suited Seishi just fine. Training ground three was a beautiful area of Konoha. The river was wide and its water cool. The trees thick but not overbearing and an open glade to practice what he wanted. Seishi made his way to the water's edge and proceeded to take his sandals off and roll up his pants legs. Once done he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and after channeling chakra into his feet, he stepped onto the water's surface. The water felt cool to the touch on the soles of his feet. Seishi opened his eyes and smiled as he looked down. He had learnt this not too long ago when he had run into Kakashi again. One of the reasons he came by training ground three so much was always the hope of running into Kakashi. He had always been nice and willing to help Seishi when he asked. He hadn't taught him much, but he had gave him plenty of little tips that had helped him tremendously. One such tip was to always keep a focus on his chakra so when in a tough situation it wouldn't take so long to form a substitution or a shunshin in case of emergency.
That lesson had definitely stuck with Seishi. He continuously practiced moving his chakra around while also doing several chakra control exercises so that he understood the feel of his chakra more and more. So far it had already bore fruit with him being able to do such things, like walk on water, that he knew his classmates couldn't do. He had shared the knowledge with Sasuke of course, but Sasuke hadn't begun practicing water-walking yet. His loss.
Returning his attention back to the task at hand, Seishi walked out into the water some more. His next task was multitasking with his chakra, so when he got out just a little bit farther he stopped, and took a deep breath. Going through a few hand seals he took a deep breath, and after heating up his chakra expelled his jutsu
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu"
His finger and thumb on his right hand connected making a circle, Seishi blew with all his might expelling the chakra through the hole as it coalesced into a large fireball shooting just a few yards ahead of him, and as he blew harder he extended the flame until it almost touched the other side of the river. Seishi continued the fireball for several more seconds before letting it dissipate. Seishi leaned over sucking in air after expelling it for so long. He took deep breaths sucking in as much oxygen as possible to refill his lungs. After a few more breaths he finally stood back up and smiled. This task had been giving him trouble but he was happy to say that he'd gotten it down, at least somewhat as Seishi looked down and saw that he had sank a couple inches, proving to him that he needed to work on it more. Seishi put his hands together getting ready to try again when he felt a pressure on top of his head,
"Huh?" Was all Seishi was able to say before said pressure pushed him down and with a small shout he took a forced dive into the cool waters below. The pressure was relieved as soon as he went in, allowing Seishi to swim back up the to the surface, and by applying chakra to his forearms, stick to the water as if it was a ledge. He shook his head getting his wet bangs from over his eyes, only to see the culprit of his attack.
"Yo."
"Kakashi-san you jerk!" Seishi yelled to the white haired Jonin towering above him. Said Jonin gave him a smile that even crinkled his only open eye as he squatted down and gave a small wave to the now thoroughly wet child below him.
"Always be aware of your surroundings Seishi-kun. Let this be a lesson." The Jonin chided before chuckling and extending a hand to the boy. Seishi took the offered limb and was hoisted above the water's surface and with an application of chakra to his feet he stood on the surface as well. "I see you're taking my advice. Impressive how far you've come." Seishi grinned up at the man.
"Well I gotta get stronger, so anything an Elite Jonin tells me, I make sure to practice until it's mastered." Seishi replied to the man. Kakashi's words giving him a small bit of pride. Kakashi hummed in thought before asking the boy,
"Why do you want to get stronger?" Seishi gave kakashi a questioning glance wondering why Kakashi was asking that, before pondering it himself. After a few moments he gave Kakashi his answer,
"I want to make my family proud of me. Shisui and Dad were both incredible ninja, and I want to be as good if not better." After finishing his answer Seishi looked towards the waters surface and seeing his reflection. He looked so different and yet so alike his older brother it hurt to see. His memories of his family were still so vivid, he could pick out every detail about them, and it made those memories hurt even more. Before he could get too melancholy however, Kakashi broke him out of that train of thought by speaking.
"That's it?" Kakashi asked. Seishi looked back towards him again.
"Does there have to be more?" Seishi returned.
"I suppose not." Kakashi replied again. "Though some tend to have something about the village in their reasoning."
"Of course I care about the village," Seishi began, "But that isn't why I want to get stronger." Kakashi closed his eye and nodded at that. After a few moments he opened it again and smile at Seishi.
"Well the important thing is that you have a good reason." Kakashi told the boy.
"Why did you want to get stronger Kakashi-san?" Seishi asked the Jonin.
"Hmm." Kakashi hummed. "Well, I guess it's to protect everyone I can." Kakashi said after a few seconds of thought. Seishi smiled at Kakashi.
"That's a good reason too." Seishi said. Kakashi chuckled.
"I'd like to think so."
"So." Seishi began, "Did you come to give me some more tips?" Kakashi turned and began walking to the shore. Seishi began following him and when they both reached the shore, Kakashi spoke again.
"I don't have too much time today, but I can show you one thing." Kakashi replied. Seishi could feel himself getting excited as soon as he heard that. In his head he envisioned multiple situations of what Kakashi could be about to teach him, ranging from some awesome jutsu or…. another awesome jutsu.
"I'm going to impasse some parting wisdom." Seishi felt a little disappointment at not having some awesome jutsu from Kakashi, but he had not let him down before, so Seishi gave Kakashi his full attention.
"I have no doubt you're going to pass your graduation exam, so I want to give you a small gift." Seishi immediately got excited. A gift from a legendary ninja was not something to turn down. It could only be something of epic proportions that would kickstart his ninja career before it even began. Kakashi slowly reached into his vest, grabbed something and began removing his arm slowly. "I want you to have….. THIS!" Kakashi whipped out his hand, producing from his vest a small orange book with a man and woman on it with the title 'Icha Icha Paradise'.
"A book?" Seishi deadpanned. Kakashi's eyes went wide with shock.
"Not just any book young Seishi, but the greatest book in a series of greater books. I have several of this copy and I want to pass this treasure to you." Kakashi extended the book towards Seishi, his eye crinkling up again in his patented smile and giving a couple giggles. Seishi gave Kakashi a questioning look but accepted the book anyway.
Kakashi's smile widened when the book was fully in Seishi's grasp. "Well with that I must take my leave." Kakashi said. Kakashi reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, "Don't disappoint Seishi-kun. And take care of that book please." After shrugging off the offending hand of Kakashi, Seishi nodded to the man, giving his word that he'd take care of the book. With that final confirmation Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Seishi looked down to the book again. It didn't look all that great, but since it was a gift from Kakashi it had to be important. He thought about reading it now, but he decided to wait until tonight. Right now, he still needed practice with his control and focus, so after taking his off his still wet shirt, he went back to the water to practice some more.
Ino Yamanaka had not had the best morning so far. Her hair would not cooperate this morning, She had to promise her mother to help with their family's flower shop later, She had her seat taken next to Sasuke snatched by her from Sakura of all people, and her last and true best friend Seishi hadn't even showed up yet and today was graduation. Everything was NOT going as planned, and if things kept up, she was worried about her bad luck ruining her chances of graduating.
As she finished her thoughts in a huff however, her mood brightened as Seishi shuffled into the classroom. His hair was a little dishevelled and he had bags under his eyes, but he looked fine. Seeing him Ino stood up and waved to him to get his attention.
"Seishi-kun. Sit by me." She called out. Once his eyes met hers a huge blush swept over his face and he immediately looked away from her. Ino felt her heart pull as he looked for any other seat. Finally realizing that there wasn't one because Ino made sure no one sat next to her so he could sit there, he made his way over to her. Ino felt her chest tighten some more at being a last resort. Usually Seishi was always happy to sit by her but today he seemed like he didn't want to be anywhere near her. Ino was not going to let this stand. Seishi sat down in a hurry and quickly looked the other way from her. A tick mark formed on Ino's forehead as this went on. After a few moments Ino had already lost her patience,
"What's the matter with you?" Ino asked the boy. When she got no response she really lost all her patience. She put her hand on the boy's shoulder expecting to whip him around, but when her hand touched him he jumped so hard, a few people took notice and looked at him. Now Ino was slightly worried. Seishi always had his reasons for things and never did her wrong. She took a small breath to rid herself of her annoyance at him, and went into worry mode. "Seishi are you okay?" She asked him. All she got was a nod from him. "Seishi look at me." This time he shook his head. "I said look at me." Ino growled out. Slowly Seishi's head turned to her, and as soon as his eyes met hers, his face shot a deep red again.
Ino gave him a concerned look. She reached out and touched his forehead, and aside from a little dampness, there didn't seem to be a fever. Seishi's face was still beet red, in fact it looked more red from before. After some more examinations by Ino, Seishi finally spoke.
"Ino. Please stop." Seishi finally said. A brief look of hurt flashed over Ino's visage before it turned to anger.
"And why should I?" She asked.
"I just can't look at you right now." Seishi replied. A look of shock came over Ino as a new wave of hurt hit her.
"What did I do?" She said, a few tears coming up to her eyes. Seeing this Seishi panicked.
"No you didn't do anything wrong. It's me. I just.. You.. sorry." Seishi finally put his head in his hands. The tears slowly went away from Ino's eyes.
"You're not mad or hate me?" She asked. Seishi shook his head no. This left Ino confused. She went through several reasons why Seishi would be acting this way if he wasn't mad at her, until she finally came up with one that made sense. An evil smirk came over Ino's face. She leaned in super close to Seishi's ear and whispered,
"Is it possible my charm finally worked?" Seishi tensed up when he felt her hot breath hit him in the ear. "Are you jealous I like Sasuke-kun, and you wish it was you?" Seishi shot up his mouth wide open. He looked at Ino and could see the smug look on her face, and before he could tell her the actual reason, Iruka came in with a loud bang.
"Alright! We will now begin administering the final exams. You will have three portions to perform, and if you average well enough, you will earn an official Konoha Headband. Any questions?" Iruka waited a second to see if anyone did have any. After a moment of silence he spoke again, "Excellent. Let's begin with the written portion, followed by taijutsu."
The day went by rather quickly for Seishi. His thoughts kept distracting him so he didn't perform as well as he would have otherwise, but he was successful nonetheless. When he was told he had completed the Academy course and was presented with a myriad of headbands to choose from, he chose the black one. Not only was it the same color of the one Shisui had, but it also matched his outfit better. Frivolous, but he liked the color. Most of the class had passed easily, only a few had failed. One of them being Naruto Uzumaki. Seishi felt bad for him, but it wasn't like he didn't recognize that as a possibility. 'Poor guy.' Seishi thought. He definitely seemed like he had the stuff to be a ninja, he just didn't apply himself properly it seemed. It was out of Seishi's control now, so he just silently wished him luck and after Iruka's parting congratulatory words and him telling them when to be back for team assignments, he left the Academy with Sasuke after avoiding Ino and her friends.
He still felt bad for that, but he just couldn't look at her without his thoughts drifting into places they shouldn't. Seishi still couldn't believe what was in that book. He also didn't understand why it was so important and why Kakashi gave it to him. He read it all that night and could barely get any sleep because of it. When Seishi had gotten the book, he had assumed it would be full of information on how to better himself as a ninja, but it was full of… full of… Seishi still felt too embarrassed to even think about it. It was so detailed.
Sasuke finally broke him out of his musings when he spoke. "I'm glad you passed." Seishi smiled.
"Did you doubt me?" He asked. Sasuke shook his head in response.
"I'm just glad you didn't embarrass our clan." Sasuke said with a smirk. Seishi let out a laugh.
"As if. I'm the best in the clan now, I represent." Seishi claimed loudly. This got a small laugh out of Sasuke. Seeing Sasuke laugh made Seishi smile some more, it was a rare occurrence and one he appreciated. It meant his best friend wasn't totally boring.
"Everyone knows I'm the best." Sasuke rebutted. Before Seishi could retort however, Sasuke changed the topic. "Do you think we'll be on the same team?" Seishi took a moment to think on it.
"I hope so." He finally replied. "My dream team would be me, you, and Ino. But it's not like we can control it." Sasuke nodded at that.
"Well if anything, I hope my teammates are people that are competent and that I can stand." Sasuke said. Seishi nodded at that. He hoped that whoever he teamed with would be able to complement his skills and not hold him back. He was one of the best in the Academy, and he'd be damned if he didn't become one of the best ninja in this village. He was just excited to see who his Sensei would be.
A Few Days Later
"We have a small problem." The Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi said. He was an aged man that looked to be in his sixties or seventies. He wore the white and red Hokage robes and his hat sat upon his desk. Before the Hokage stood several Jonin, many in the standard uniform, some in more eccentric outfits. Three of said Jonin had guaranteed genin teams. Those Jonin happened to be his son Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuuhi, and the most recently arrived Kakashi Hatake. Behind them stood the other Jonin, including Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi of the T and I department, Aoba Yamashiro, Genma Shiranui, Gekko Hayate, Might Guy, and others. Hiruzen cleared his throat and began to speak,
"In just a few days the new Genin will meet their sensei's. As is customary we will have several Jonin test the new Genin and see who is ready for their new life as ninja." Hiruzen said to the occupants in the room, "We as always have a four man cell, which includes one Jonin, and three Genin, but this year the numbers are a little bit different. We usually have twenty-seven graduates to make out nine genin teams to try out. This year we have twenty-eight." All the jonin looked at Sarutobi intently, wondering what this had to do with them. "With the failure of young Naruto-kun, we had twenty-seven, but later that night with the Mizuki incident, he passed after a field evaluation by Iruka-kun when he learned the Shadow Clone jutsu and apprehended the traitor. Naruto was originally going to be put with Kakashi since Kakashi had requested him, but with his failure I was going to insert Seishi Uchiha in his place. With Naruto-kun passing, he was returned to his original selection with Kakashi. Kakashi also took Sasuke Uchiha, seeing as his mental state is more troublesome than Seishi-kuns, and with Kakashi's reverence of teamwork, we hope Kakashi and Naruto can forge bonds with Sasuke and ensure his loyalty to the village. With Kurenai and Asuma's teams also set in stone, I would like your opinions on this. Where do we put Seishi? Do we break tradition and have a five man cell, or would someone like to take him on as an apprentice? I would like the feedback of everyone that has an opinion on this matter." Hiruzen asked all the jonin present.
"Hokage-sama, if I may." Kakashi began. The aged Hokage gave Kakashi a small nod. "I believe I requested Seishi to be put on my team." The Hokage nodded.
"You did, but as I stated, we're putting Sasuke Uchiha on your team to minimize the chances of him leaving the village, as well as someone who can help him develop the most." The Hokage answered Kakashi. The white haired man's shoulders slumped just slightly before replying.
"I have no say in this?" He asked.
"No."
"Very well Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied, his voice neutral and unfeeling. The Hokage bit back a sigh. He knew about the small bond Kakashi had developed with young Seishi-kun, but this was for the good of the village. Didn't mean he still didn't feel slightly bad for it. Hiruzen coughed in his hands before returning his attention to the rest of the group.
"Now back to the matter at hand. Does anyone have any opinions they'd like to share?" The aged Sarutobi asked his small congregation.
All the Jonin looked towards another, some muttering softly. Sarutobi heard many opinions, and waited patiently until one was addressed to him. The first to do so was Kurenai,
"Maybe we should have him wait until an available team makes itself presentable. Even if he has to wait another year, it would give him time to mature before he became a shinobi." She said to the aged Hiruzen in front of her. Hiruzen nodded once but didn't give an answer, seeming to want more suggestions. Next to the Hokage, one of his elite bodyguards Raido Namiashi spoke up,
"Maybe I should take him on Hokage-sama. Teach him all of my assassination tricks, and groom him to take over my position when I am no longer able." Raido suggested to the Hokage, who hummed in thought before answering Raido,
"A good thought, but I need you by my side still Raido, especially with my age. Although your offer is tempting." Raido nodded and fell silent. Sarutobi patiently waited for any other opinions. After a while it was again Raido who spoke up,
"Well how about Anko?" At the mention of her name, Anko shot him a dirty look, being one of the youngest Jonin at twenty-two, she did not think she had to worry about students. Apparently she was wrong as her name was tossed up. Hiruzen smiled at the thought, thinking the brash Anko and the calculating Seishi could be a good mix, maybe giving Seishi the best of both personalities.
"I think that's an excellent idea Raido." Anko looked appalled at hearing Sarutobi agree with his bodyguard. She was quick to take up an argument,
"Hokage-sama you can't be serious. I'm the youngest here, surely there is someone more qualified than me, plus I'm working in the Torture and Interrogation squad, surely I can't leave there."
Hiruzen thought about Anko's points, seeing the merit in leaving her in T&I, but before he could speak, her superior Ibiki Morino spoke up,
"If I may Hokage-sama, I think this would be a good opportunity for Anko." He looked over to her and saw the betrayed look on her face, he smiled at her, but inside he was a whirlwind of thoughts. He knew Anko was good at what she did, but while she may be a natural, she was still young, and Ibiki didn't want someone as young as her stuck in T&I forever. There's a reason why that institution is full of battle hardened and older shinobi. He knew this would be good for her, even if she didn't like it.
"Then it's settled, unless someone else would rather apprentice him." The Hokage spoke. No one spoke up so after a few moments Hiruzen made it final. "Anko will be taking on an apprentice in the form of Seishi Uchiha. Everyone else may leave, Anko please stay so we can discuss things and get the paperwork filled out. Anko groaned and hung her head as everyone filed out, Kurenai gave Anko a couple taps on the shoulder as she past her. After everyone had filed out Sarutobi beckoned Anko to sit in the chair across from him. Which she ;aid across with a huff.
"Now I understand you may not like this, but I also think this would be good for you." Sarutobi said to the disgruntled young woman in front of him. Anko groaned before speaking,
"No offence Hokage-sama, but I don't have time to be dealing with brats. I still need to get stronger in case Orochimaru shows back up." She said to him. The Hokage leaned back in his chair before pulling out his pipe, lighting it, and taking a couple puffs.
"Maybe," Hiruzen began after a few puffs, "Revenge isn't the best way to get stronger. Maybe you should have something to protect, something to live for. Maybe that will help you truly get stronger." Anko choked out a laugh.
"Really? Like some brat is going to make me do that." Anko said sarcastically.
"Children work in mysterious ways. Maybe after a while you'd want to protect him and get stronger to do that." Hiruzen said to the girl. At this Anko sat straight in the chair. She gave the Hokage a very serious look.
"The only thing I want is to make Orochimaru pay for what he's done." Anko said in a low voice. Sarutobi looked upon her with sad eyes.
"And to what end would you go to accomplish this task?" Hiruzen asked. "Would you kill yourself just to make sure he went down with you? I know about that double suicide jutsu. I was there when he made it." Anko looked away in slight shame. In truth she was planning on doing exactly that next time she saw him. It would free both of her burdens, but hearing the Hokage call her out on it did not give her a good feeling.
"And what is it you want me to do with the boy?" She asked the man. Hiruzen smiled softly.
"Same thing I want from any other Jonin sensei. I want you to cultivate a young mind into being the best he can be, and I hope from this experience you can find something to live for besides revenge." The Hokage said. He leaned farther back in his chair and let Anko stew on his words.
"Can I fail him?" She asked. Hiruzen gave her a questioning glance.
"You would have the right as his Jonin instructor, but from all assessments we have gotten, it would seem he is more than ready." Hiruzen told the Kunoichi. "I only ask that you be fair in this assessment." Anko heaved a big sigh.
"I don't have a choice in this?" She asked, putting up one last defense. Hiruzen chuckled as he leaned forward.
"Not anymore." Sometimes it felt good being Hokage.
Seishi woke up the day of teams selection super excited. He was finally going to start his ninja missions and be super awesome as only he could be. He got dressed quickly, putting on his black high collar shirt with his clans symbol proudly blazed on the back, his black shorts, his sandals, and attaching his weapon holster to his belt loop which he made sure was full of tools he may need. He finished his ensemble by taping his hand, leaving his fingers exposed and taping up to mid forearm. Finally he grabbed his clean Konoha headband and put it on his forehead, tying it to make sure it wouldn't come off. He glanced at Shisui's sword which lay clean and polished near his windowsill, before moving past it and walking out. He checked in to see if Sasuke was in, and seeing that he wasn't, moved to the kitchen to make lunch for the both of them. He wasn't sure if they'd be eating together since today was team day, but it couldn't hurt to have.
After making something easy, Seishi proceeded to make his way to the Academy for (hopefully) the last time. Seishi was super excited about finally graduating so he essentially speedwalked making it to the Academy in record time. When he got there, he was surprised by how many people were would seem he wasn't the only one excited to be done. He looked for Sasuke so he could pass his lunch, but sitting next to Sasuke was someone he didn't expect to see. Seishi moved towards Sasuke and handed him his lunch, which the Uchiha gave a small 'Thanks' in return. Seishi then turned to the boy that peaked his curiosity. Seishi moved back into the walkway and looked at what really surprised him. Sitting next to Sasuke was Naruto Uzumaki, who he had thought had failed.
"Yo Naruto." Seishi said to the boy. Said orange-clad blond slowly raised his head to make eye contact with him. "I thought you failed, what are you doing here?" Seishi asked. The boy just pointed his thumb at his forehead, which sat a slightly worn official Konoha headband proving he was indeed a ninja. Seishi gave him a questioning glance, to which Naruto replied with just a smile. Seishi shook his head while laughing, 'Just another Naruto Thing.' Seishi shrugged and let the matter drop, taking a seat in almost the direct middle of the classroom. Looking back to the blond, he couldn't help but smile at the shit-eating grin present on the boys face. Not too long after the rest of the class started filing in. No one really spoke until Shikamaru noticed Naruto as well when he walked by him.
"What are you doing here Naruto? This place isn't for dropouts." The Nara said to the boy. "You can't be here unless you graduated." At this Naruto sat up, and again pointing his thumb to his new accessory retorted to Shikamaru.
"Oh yeah," He began "Do you see this? Do you see this? Open your eyes Shikamaru it's a regulation headband." Shikamaru sweatdropped at the boy, but he wasn't done. "We're going to be training together, how do you like that?" He asked. Shikamaru sighed getting annoyed, but the boy still wasn't done. "Let me put it to you this way, I look great in this headgear, like it was made for me. Believe it. Believe it." The boy finished with a laugh. Shikamaru sighed once more.
"Troublesome." The Nara said as he made his way to a front row seat. Not soon after a ruckus was heard coming from the hallway. What seemed to be a stampede was soon figured out to be Sakura and Ino as they both came flying into the doorway.
"I'm first!" They both yelled. Immediately after they both began panting for air. They had obviously been exerting themselves "I won again Sakura." Ino began gloating.
"Give it up." Sakura replied. "I had to look back to see you, my toe was at least a tenth-of-an-inch ahead of you."
"Have you always been this delusional." Ino retorted. After that comment they both began giving each other death stares. Sakura was the first to break the stare as she started scanning the classroom. As soon as she found what she was looking for she immediately took off. "Woah hey, where you going?" Ino asked. Seishi watched with interest as Sakura obviously made her way towards Sasuke. Naruto however was in her way, he stood up to greet her.
"Hey Sakura, what's up?" He asked the girl. To which she replied by elbowing in the side and pushing him out of the way.
"G-good morning Sasuke." Sakura said in a sweet voice. Sasuke turned his head towards her. "Mind if I sit with you?" Before anyone could answer a brunette girl with large pigtails walked over and said,
"Actually I was here before you. I'm sitting next to Sasuke." That caused several other girls to voice their desire to sit next to Sasuke. Seishi's eyebrow twitched at seeing this commotion over Sasuke. That was until he heard someone getting into the seat next to him. Seishi turned and saw Ino adjusting her hair in the seat over to him. He decided to turn his attention to her instead of getting jealous over Sasuke.
"Not going to join the circus this time?" Seishi asked. Ino giggled before answering.
"No, it's not worth it today." Ino said. Seishi raised quirked an eyebrow at hearing this. "Besides I sit next to you most of the time anyway. Why should today be any different?" Ino finished with a bright smile. Seishi grinned back at his other best friend. Before he could reply he heard a commotion behind him. Seishi turned around only to come face-to-face with something he never thought he'd see.
Locking lip with Sasuke was not Sakura or any of those girls, it was currently Naruto Uzumaki. Seishi looked at it with wide eyes, unable to look away. Naruto and Sasuke immediately broke apart immediately gagging and trying to rid themselves of any shared germs. Seishi just broke out laughing. This was too perfect. This was something he could use forever on Sasuke to make fun of him. He wished he had a camera right now, to capture this moment. Seishi turned back in his seat, turning towards Ino and seeing the annoyed look on her face.
"Well that's a shame." She said. Seishi laughter suppressed itself into giggles before he was finally able to speak.
"Oh no," He said, "You can't have the Uchiha's first kiss." Seishi said in a mock distressed voice. Ino gave him a sour look before yelling.
"I still can have one Uchiha's if I can't have the other." Seishi immediately stopped laughing and gave Ino a wide-eyed stare. Ino immediately covered her mouth before coughing and looking forward, a light blush on her cheeks. Seishi felt heat rise to his as well before he too faced the front. Finally things started to calm down after those fiascos.
As all the new Genin waited, the door was opened and in walked Iruka. He walked in with a proud smile and a clipboard in hand. He spoke when he got to the forefront of the room
"Welcome to Team Assignments, brand new Genin of the Hidden Leaf Village. As a teacher I am proud to have taught such excellent minds with tremendous potential." Iruka said to the class, many smiling back at him, relishing in the praise. "As of today, you are no longer my students, you will be the students of Jonin, Elite Ninja, who will cultivate you into even finer shinobi that this village will be proud to call their own. We've balanced each squad on their abilities and scores throughout the Academy. Now onto Team Assignments, Team One…" Iruka started calling out names of mostly civilian children, until he got to number seven.
"Team Seven shall consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno," At this the blonde became elated and the pinkette sullen, " and Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka called out. At this their roles became reversed, with Sakura elated and Naruto sullen. "Team Eight will consist of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba whooped and high fived his puppy Akamaru. "And finally Team Ten shall consist of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akimichi" Iruka finished. However a groan was heard by the female Yamanaka. Ino put her head in her hands and silently fumed as she paired with who she thought was the worst. Waiting for Iruka to continue, Seishi sat there patiently. He and Sasuke shared confused glances before raising his hand and speaking,
"Excuse me Iruka-sensei, but you didn't tell me what team I am on." Seishi said to his former teacher. Iruka smiled at Seishi before speaking,
"Well Seishi, someone has decided to take you on as an apprentice. You will meet with her when she arrives with all the other Jonin." Iruka explained to him. Seishi grinned at that. Someone saw his amazing potential and obviously wanted to make him the best. 'Sasuke can eat his heart out.' Seishi boasted in his mind. "And those are all the squads." Iruka finished. Before Iruka could say anything further, Naruto stood up and burst out,
"Iruka-sensei! Why does an awesome ninja like me have to be put with a slug like Sasuke?" Naruto said while pointing at said Sasuke.
"Well Naruto," Iruka started, "Sasuke had the best score of all the graduating class. You had the worst." At this the entire class started laughing, even Seishi couldn't hold back a few chuckles. "To create a balanced team," Iruka continued, "We paired the best student with the worst student." Iruka finished.
"Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser." Sasuke said to him. Naruto started shaking in anger.
"What did you say?" He asked Sasuke.
"Hard of hearing?" The raven haired boy retorted. Before this could escalate, Iruka cleared his throat, getting the attention of the entire class.
"You will all meet your Jonin-sensei after lunch. Until then class dismissed." Iruka said. As soon as he finished that sentence, everyone started filing out rather quickly. Seishi was again one of the first out, and waited for Sasuke to emerge. Sasuke was out right after Seishi, which surprised him, but he struck up a conversation with him.
"Hey Sasuke, wanna eat lunch together and talk?" Seishi asked him. Sasuke just grunted and walked past him. Seishi gave Sasuke a confused look. "Hey, what's up Sasuke?"
"Why doe someone want to apprentice you and not me?" Sasuke whirled on him and asked. Seishi just got even more confused.
"I don't know." Seishi said. "But I'm not complaining." Sasuke gave him a sour look.
"Being on this team is only going to slow me down." Sasuke said in a rather heated but hushed voice. "I need to get stronger ASAP, and now I'm stuck with the dead-last and a fangirl, while you get one-on-one training with an elite." Sasuke fumed. "It doesn't make sense and it isn't fair." He finished.
"Well I didn't choose it Sasuke. Give Naruto a chance, he's already impressed us in sparring." Seishi began trying to placate his clansmen, "Maybe with your help, he can become a good ninja just like we plan to be." Sasuke looked at Seishi with a steely gaze for a little bit longer before sighing.
"Maybe you're right. We'll see." Sasuke said as he resigned himself to his fate.
"So lunch?" Seishi asked.
"No. I need some space to think." Sasuke said. Seishi sighed and shrugged.
"Suit yourself Sasuke." With that he turned to head back to the classroom and eat his lunch in there and patiently wait. When Seishi arrived back to the classroom it was empty. He sighed, he had hoped at least Ino would be there so he could piggyback with her, but it was not meant to be. 'I wonder who wants to make me their apprentice.' Seishi thought. 'I would like it to be Kakashi-san, but Iruka-sensei said 'her'. Who could it be?' a few minutes later Iruka walked back in.
"Seishi? I thought you'd be out to lunch with your friends on your last day here." Iruka said. Seishi rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and replied,
"Well they're nowhere to be seen and since I don't have a team to hang with, I figured I'd just come back and wait." Seishi replied to the man. Iruka nodded and began to speak.
"Well I'm sure you'll be excited about your teacher. She's very strong, though I was surprised she wanted to take on-" As Iruka was talking a cloth ball came flying through the glass, shattering it on impact. As the cloth ball unfurled two kunai shot out and pinned the cloth to the edges. The cloth unfurled to reveal a rather scantily clad Kunoichi, and behind her the cloth had written on it,
'THE AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL ANKO MITARASHI'
"I'm looking for Seishi Uchiha, the kid I'll make feared in all the Elemental Nations." The woman's large grin faded as she noticed the near empty room. Her eyes soon met Seishi's, "Who are you?" She asked. Seishi could only stare slack jawed at the woman. She was wearing mesh clothing from her neck to her thighs, with an orange skirt and trench coat covering her important bits. She also wore shin guards over her sandals and a fang necklace.
"ANKO! What do you think you're doing? You're early!" Iruka yelled as he pulled himself from behind the cloth wall. The newly arrived Anko laughed sheepishly and rubbed her neck.
"Just looking for my new brat." She replied to the enraged man.
"And you had to come through the window for that?!" Iruka yelled at her. Anko stuck her tongue out at him and just asked him.
"So where is my prized pupil?" She asked the teacher. Iruka angrily gestured to Seishi who still sat in his seat with his eyes as wide as saucers. "Seriously?" She asked aloud. She then sauntered over to Seishi, who did his hardest not to peek at anything that might lead to an early death. "You don't look like much." she said flatly. At this Seishi's attitude changed completely.
"Excuse me? Who do you think you are?" Seishi yelled at her. Anko grinned at him before gesturing to the cloth sign behind her.
"Can't you read?" She asked him.
"Also how did you not know who I was? You chose me as your apprentice right?" Seishi asked her. Anko put a finger to her chin as if in contemplation before replying,
"Well chose and forced-upon are two very different things." Seishi's eye twitched at that. "Well for now I'm your Jonin-sensei. My first task is be at training ground three in five minutes or I'll make sure you're never a ninja." Anko said to Seishi as she gave him a sickly-sweet smile. Seishi leaned back, looking towards Iruka for help, who was currently taking down the sign. Looking back at Anko her smile turned sinister as she tapped her wrist. "Clocks ticking." She said in a flat voice. And with that she leapt back out the window where she entered. Seishi looked at Iruka again, who turned back to Seishi.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Iruka told him. "I have a mess to clean up." With those words Seishi scrambled out of his chair and through the door, starting to sprint his way to training ground three.