DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.
Thinking (or flashbacks, etc.)
Emphasis
Biju, etc. speaking
Biju, etc. thinking
"You know, if you don't see a medic soon, you're not going to pass the graduation exam," Kakashi told his weird, unusually strong female classmate.
"I heal really fast, Kakashi-kun," Naruto said as she attempted to brush her tangled hair off of her shoulder. The bandages on her hands were making it really hard to actually brush her long wavy hair each morning. She wasn't even bothering to do it at night now. Late every evening she came home so exhausted with chakra burns on her hands that she hadn't even thought of doing it before.
"If you heal so fast, why do you need bandages? It's foolish not to seek a medic-nin."
"Oh really?" Naruto snarked at her blunt pseudo-friend/former pseudo-sensei. "I wonder if that's what you'll be saying when you're told to go to the hospital one day." Naruto clearly remembered Kakashi-sensei trying to dart out of the hospital - a place he was forced into a LOT - even when the man could barely stand upright. "And anyway, don't worry about it, unless..." Should she ask him? His father's the White Fang, after all, and is probably the most respected active-duty Jonin in the village. "Do you have access to any scrolls with A-ranked jutsus?"
Kakashi's deadpan stare proved to be as unnerving as it ever was, and Naruto shuffled a bit in her seat as the silver-haired chibi continued to stare at her. "What? Cat got your tongue? Or a dog, I guess?"
"No. I just didn't realize that you were a complete idiot."
"Takes one to know one, I guess," Naruto chirped right back.
"Keh." Kakashi wondered why he even tried. He's been following Naruto's bright chakra around whenever his father has to go into town at night and has no idea of what she's doing in the forest. At first, he'd seen her popping water balloons left and right, and just last night he saw her playing with rubber balls. When she turned to him and began juggling them, asking for either applause or ryo - like some street performer - Kakashi had just turned and walked away. Each time he found her, her hands were fine, but in the mornings they were bandaged and obviously causing her pain. Her writing was terrible now, and although she could perform the three required jutsus to graduate, she was also failing to win taijutsu spars, a task she previously almost never lost. Her weapons' handling was pathetic now, too.
An A-ranked jutsu? He wondered whether or not she was out of her mind for wanting to attempt such a thing. He and Naruto are the same age, and he's just started working on a B-ranked lightning jutsu and it was incredibly difficult and slow going. (If his father finds out he's even attempting it, he's going to get scolded and probably forced to do more chores.)
Surely it's not about that stupid bet...
Rumors around the Academy were that Naruto and Tsunade-hime made some kind of bet that a lot of the girls are excited about. He'll give her this: once Naruto came back from her little vacation with Tsunade-hime, she somehow influenced the girls to get a lot more serious about their future careers as kunoichi. A couple of the older girls in class dropped out, and he's been especially pleased that he's not being followed around as much. Sure, he sees a few of them every now and then staring at him, but at least they have the decency to look away when he's caught their eyes. Annoying girls.
...Then there's Naruto and Anko who are annoying in a whole different way. Maybe he should talk to Anko about Naruto's stupidity before he speaks to his father. A shinobi must always be prepared, and Naruto isn't at all prepared, considering that she can barely fight.
It was right at that moment that Anko sunshinned into the room, ramming straight into Ibiki. Rather than apologizing, the rude girl told Ibiki to get out of her way. Watching the two argue was only slightly entertaining, so Kakashi took out his father's book on lightning chakra theory and began to re-read it. Their sensei was late, setting a terrible example for his students and possibly proving that she isn't a serious kunoichi. He eventually looked back at Naruto again and discovered that she has a similar book on the wind element, which was surprising.
He'd always thought he was good at predicting human behavior, but when it comes to Naruto, he never knows what's going to happen.
Naruto misses her godfather-turned-father very much. He was supposed to be back last week, according to Minato-san, but he's been delayed doing Kami only knows what. She doubts that he'll be back in time for the Academy Graduation ceremony, which is fine... It's just that she's once again in a position where she sees nearly all the kids in her class at least occasionally get picked up by a parent or some other adult. Honestly, it was a little easier when Kakashi was missing his father, too. That's pathetic, Naruto.
"It's part of being human."
"Eek! You! You've been super quiet lately!" Kurama rolls his eyes at the rudely pointing girl. "What's your deal, dattebayo?"
"Tch. Healing your repeated injuries is a headache. You should be down on your hands and knees, worshipping and thanking me that you even have hands at this point." The way the kit looks at him like he's not being serious irks the great Kyuubi. "Brat."
"Can you teach me another jutsu that I can use in place of the Rasengan then?" She pouts at seeing the way Kurama looks at her like she's a moron. "I knew it was going to be hard - and as much as I hate to say it, Bakakashi is right. If only Man-Kakashi had thought to teach me something that wasn't Rasengan-oriented as my old perverted sensei, I'd have some idea of what to do."
"No. If I were to teach you something, you would be ill-equipped to explain how you learned the technique. You have time, Naruto. There's no need to push yourself as you have been for the past week. Your little female friends are improving, too." He was aggravated that the brat didn't see things his way. "If you don't back off this ridiculous training, I'll refuse to further speed up your healing." Seeing the not even snack-sized kit gawk at him for that promise, he closed his eyes again. "Focus on graduating. Go back to training with the odd green one. Perhaps your assigned sensei will be able to teach you a jutsu that you can perform at your age."
"Don't treat me like a 5-year-old, Kurama!"
"You ARE a five-year-old. Now go away."
A restless pain-filled night later made Naruto realize that her furry menace was telling the truth, making her stop her Rasengan training at least until she graduated. She wondered who her sensei would be.
"You, too, huh?" Choza asked his teammate - the one that was awake - as he sat down next to him in the Hokage's office.
"Yeah. I don't know what Hokage-sama is thinking," Inoichi said in just over a whisper. "Well I guess it could be worse: surely they won't put Troublesome here in charge of a team," he said as his third teammate groaned and rolled away from them on the couch he was sleeping on. "We just need to test and fail them, huh?
"C'mon now! What if sensei had done that to us?"
"Hideki-sensei didn't have a choice," Inoichi refuted the big man sagely. "We were the 15th generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and knew we were going to be a team from when we were toddlers, ne? Oh, hey Minato," he said, greeting the man who had just teleported in. Really? Does he always have to be so flashy?
Minato warmly greeted the men in the room and nudged Shikaku with his knee. "Wake up man! This is important!"
"Urgh… Troublesome."
"No! It's going to be great!" Minato nearly cheered. He was really looking forward to taking on Kakashi as an apprentice. All of the Jonin stood as Hiruzen walked into the room. He was followed by Sakumo Hatake who grinned and waved at those in the room before standing next to and whispering to Orochimaru, who clearly wasn't impressed by whatever the ponytailed man had just said to him with a sly grin. Maito Dai then came into the room, offering everyone a hearty hello and his thoughts on the day's "youthfulness."
Orochimaru was still giving Sakumo a dirty look before redirecting his attention to the Hokage. "I'm needed back at the lab, sensei," the snake Sannin said sharply. "I'm NOT taking on a team this year."
"Yes, yes; I know Orochi-kun," Hiruzen said as he lit up his pipe from behind his desk with a jutsu. "You're much too busy and important a figure, unlike all of the others who've gathered here."
Sakumo wasn't the only one to chuckle at the Hokage's sarcastic remarks and the warning glare the intense snake summoner gave him in return, but he was the only one to smack Orochimaru's back for saying something bratty.
"As you all know, it's that time of year to place our Academy graduates on teams. First, though, I have an announcement to make!" Hiruzen stood up and placed his pipe on his desk and pulled a scroll from his top center drawer. "Maito Dai," he said in a commanding voice. Dai shuffled forward and leaned down on one knee before his leader, looking clearly bewildered. "You have been volunteering your free time to teach Academy students taijutsu, ne?"
"Hai," the so-called Eternal Genin said in what was, for him, a slightly subdued voice. "Originally my youthful son, Gai, brought over a lovely blossom brimming with youth who is training to be a kunoichi! Her taijutsu is unpredictable and strong," he commented while dramatically bringing his hands into fists that were absolutely shaking in pride. "Naruto-chan brought her friend, Anko-chan, and then they brought more friends to learn and spar. Truly, these youth, so budding in diligence and strength, will benefit the village greatly when placed under your command, Hokage-sama!" Furrowing his giant eyebrows, he said in a lower voice, "The fault is mine for not informing you of this, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen chuckled and took a drag from his pipe. "Not at all, Dai-san. I am pleased that the village's best Genin has taken the incentive to provide training to the shinobi of tomorrow." Dai's chest visibly expanded with pride at the praise, and Hiruzen quickly continued before Dai burst into tears; he knew the man too well. "And your excellent instruction has dramatically increased the scores of the kunoichi under your tutelage, which in turn, will help them and their teams survive. I would like you to continue teaching our future shinobi at the Academy, Dai-san."
Dai burst into manly tears. "Hokage-sama!"
"Yes, yes," Hiruzen said as most of the Jonin in the room applauded for the Green Beast, but stopped quickly, guessing at what was coming. "Of course you need the rank of Chunin in order to be a sensei," Hiruzen pulled his hat down at seeing Dai's momentarily tamed expression. "Thus, I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, grant you, Maito Dai, promotion to Chunin. Here is your vest." More applause and whoops were shouted in appreciation of the village's best taijutsu practitioner. "And your tags," Hiruzen spoke more loudly to get his voice heard over his rowdy Jonin and Dai's weeping thanks so that he could give him his dog tags. "Do the village and your students proud, Dai-san. May your Will of Fire forever burn brightly."
With that, Dai was excused with several of the remaining Jonin promising to take him out for congratulatory drinks later.
"Now, now," Hiruzen said, eventually bringing the Jonin's attention back to him after allowing them all to sit down. "As youthful as that was, we have more to discuss. I've reviewed this with some of you more than others... As we have an odd number of probable graduates this year, I've had to change my earlier plans." Hiruzen's glance around the room focused on Minato a little longer than the others, making the blonde wary of what the Hokage would say next. "After speaking with Sakumo-kun, I believe I've come up with a solution." Sakumo began handing out packages of files to everyone there.
Hizashi Hyuuga would've ideally liked to have had the rookie and kunoichi of the year, whose scores had been tied up until recently when the Hatake had overtaken the Uzumaki. Knowing how young both of them were, he knew that they wouldn't be sent out on missions outside the village until they were both older and could handle not only the stress of their chosen occupations but also live up to their surnames, for which Hizashi believed they would be targeted. His teammate, Kushina, had been kidnapped for her bloodline by Kumo only a few years ago, and he deeply hoped that the other Uzumaki in the village wouldn't have to go through something like that.
Five years old, though. The thought made him a little ill.
Taking a Genin team would allow Hizashi to accomplish something important on his own. Looking over the composite files on those he would need to test, Hizashi felt that they had the makings of a good team, as long as his kunoichi could find a way to get along better with Ibiki-kun. Anko-chan was a savvy little spitfire, and she was already friends with Raido-kun, who was on friendly terms with Ibiki. Yes, they'd find a way to make it work: he was sure of it.
Team 10: Shirunai Genma, Sarutobi Asuma, and Yuhi Kurenai. Chouza knew the three were friends and had been taught the value of teamwork by their parents. Now he just had to think of a way to test the three that he already planned to keep.
Shikaku yawned but sat up straight at seeing the troublesome children he was getting. And by children, he meant CHILDREN: two five-year-olds! You've gotta be shitting me. Kami-sama! He knew that no matter what he threw at the brats, they'd survive his team challenge from what he'd heard of them.
What a drag! He was going to have to keep the little shits alive! Knowing their frightening fathers as well as Shikaku did, he knew they'd be little brats - talented little brats at that! This was a nightmare.
Minato didn't understand. Yes, he had Kakashi's file, but he also had little Naruto's. It wasn't a full team, and the supervising sensei was Nara, not him. He wasn't going to be given a team this year? Why was he brought in then?
Just as he raised his hand and waited for the Hokage's attention, (Orochimaru was complaining about the children he'd been tasked with at the moment,) he read little Naruto's file more closely since he knew Kakashi-kun very well. His breath caught in his throat as he lowered his hand. What did this mean, under "Known Relatives?" I - I have a... little sister?