Author's Note: Hey everyone I just made this post to say that on 7/17/21 I updated Chapter 1. Enjoy!
Last time on TNBT:
"LISTEN UP EVERYONE! THE MATCH BETWEEN UCHIHA ITACHI AND NAMIKAZE-UZUMAKI NARUTO TO DETERMINE WHO THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! ARE BOTH FIGHTERS READY?!" At this he received nods from both Naruto and Itachi. "THEN... BEGIN!"
Immediately both fighters jumped back.
Just when Naruto was about to tense Itachi did something that shocked everyone, "Sensei, I forfeit."
(Present Time)
"NANI!" yelled Naruto who was in disbelief.
He was not the only one who was in disarray many in the classroom were wide-eyed, sweat-dropping and left with gaping mouths.
"...Excuse me," said the instructor who was in a similar state to the other students. "Could you repeat what you said?"
Everyone went quiet.
"I forfeit," was Itachi's calm response which immediately sent the classroom into round 2 of disarray.
"Bullshit."
"Come one man really?"
"Itachi-kun why would you let me down by doing such a thing."
"Yeah Itachi knew what was up he didn't want the smoke."
Itachi could not help but sweat-drop at the last two.
The instructor regaining his bearing said, "Ok then... if-if you forfeit then that means that THE NEW ROOKIE OF THE YEAR IS NARUTO NAMIKAZE UZUMAKI!"
At first there was no response but eventually the fan girls started cheering and soon everyone joined in.
Evetually after everyone regained their composure the students were escourted back to the classrooms. On the way back Naruto was congratulated by many for becoming the rookie of the year but Naruto was quiet and unresponsive.
"Well that will be all for today. Everyone who passed report back to the academy in a weeks time where you will meet your sensei and go on from there. I wish you all luck on your shinobi journey, have a great day and class is dismissed."
On the way out Itachi had caught up to Naruto and initiated a conversation. "You look like you've seen a ghost," said a grinning Itachi.
"Not going to say anything?"
"..."
"Ok I guess the silent treatment it is."
Right when they exited the building Naruto jumped on Itachi and put him in a headlock. "You bastard! Hyping me up just to leave me dry." They started rolling around until they rolled into a tree trunk.
"Hehe relax, I have no idea what you are talking about."
They would have continued rolling if they were not greeted by a newcomer.
"Will you two dorks stop rolling around." Anko stated more than asked. "I can't believe that in a week we're going to be working as a team."
"Hey who you calling a dork, pineapple head!"
A tick mark appeared on Anko's face, "Who are you calling a pineapple head you stupid blonde twerp!"
"Who are you calling a twerp you-" Naruto looked up immediately and saw a strange looking man staring down at them.
When Naruto stopped both Itachi and Anko looked to see what had happened and followed his line of sight. They were all greeted with the sight of a pale man with long hair and yellow snake-like eyes, who was wearing the standard leaf Jonin outfit.
"So you all finally stopped bickering like kids and noticed my presence. If I would've been an enemy you all would have been dead," said the man as his yellow eyes seemed to glow.
"Yeah, and who the hell are you?!" Asked Naruto and Anko in unison before they started bickering again. Itachi on the other hand had been quiet the enitre time, this strange man was giving off a weird vibe and he did not like it one bit.
"Settle down children," Naruto and Anko looked at him and quickly dismissed him before going back to their bickering. Seconds later an overpowering sensation took over the small area they were in. "I am Orochimaru of the great Sannin and I have been assigned as your squad leader," he said with a dangerous edge.
The sensation had been enough to freeze all 3 kids in place and stop the arguing between Naruto and Anko. They were dead silent until Itachi, with a shaky voice was able to speak.
Bowing he spoke"P-pardon my teammates for their rude behavior Orochimaru-sensei."
Glancing at them almost like a predator would glance at his meal Orochimaru dropped from the tree and slowly started walking forward. He looked at Naruto, "A prideful show-off," then at Anko, "a potential risk to the team, and... " he finally looked at Itachi, "A reserved Uchiha. A very Interesting combination that I have been given." This whole time he had slowly been increasing the intensity of the sensation that the Gennin still had no idea what it was. "Very interesting indeed."
"Oro-orochimaru-sensei w-what is that sensation." Asked Anko who was sweating at this point.
"Hm? Oh that would happen to be my killing intent. Is it bothering you lot?"
"Y-yes," Naruto was the first to reply.
"Well we can't have that now can we?" The intensity of the killing intent started to dull down a little bit before it came back stronger. "Listen up if I tell you to jump you say how high and how far nothing less, nothing more. Are we clear?"
Three nods was all he received. "Good," Immediately the pressure was released and although the three were a bit shaken they were slowly recovering.
"Normally I would be expected to test you three in a test that would get a drift of how well you three work together but from my own observations I can tell that Naruto and Itachi are already well accustomed to teamwork. The only problem I can see as far as teamwork goes would be Anko. Instead I will take you all on a C-rank mission and if you fail the mission you will be sent back to the academy."
Different thoughts were racing through everyone's mind at this. Naruto was excited to being able to go on more advanced missions so quick, Itachi appeared to be calm but if you looked close enough you could see a small grin on his face and Anko was confused.
"But sensei I thought that fresh gennin were tasked with D-ranked missions to build teamwork and you called me a potential risk and said that the team dynamic might not include me seeing as my chemistry with these two is not good so why are we going on a C-rank so soon?"
Naruto and Itachi's mind's raced back to Orichimaru's description of each of them and they remembered what he said about Anko.
Naruto not knowing the little stunt that Anko pulled back in the training exercise was the only one who was confused by the accusation."Orochimaru-sensei what do you mean Anko is a potential risk."
"Don't worry about that Naruto, as for you Anko these D-ranks do not help you at all, that teamwork nonsense promoted by village is all a hoax, it will improve your relationship seeing as you would all be together and this would lead to gennins being more willing to work with one another now that they're friends but I do not have the time or the patience to baby you and waste your potential. My team built unbreakable bonds in the battlefield and with time yours will too," He then glanced at Anko, "hopefully."
"But what if we aren't ready, we just graduated the academy."
"Anko you were all put into mini war games and were taught more than previous generations before you. You all have much more experience than my team did."
Itachi spoke up, "Orochimaru-sensei I have to agree with Anko, we may not be prepared enough to leave the village." Orochimaru had been taken aback by this. Normally if an Uchiha had been the given the chance that he had just given Itachi they would jump for joy being the prideful clan that everyone knows them as so when Itachi turned him down he was caught off guard, Naruto however was not.
"What the hell guys we're kick ass ninjas, we can handle any mission thrown our way. I didn't know you were a coward Itachi, then again I should have guessed that the moment you backed out of our fight."
"I see that the majority of you are being precautious so I shall grant you all a week to train yourselves."
"Aww come on I want a mission." Whined Naruto
"I will be giving you all a C-rank training mission that will be a week long."
"Well it's better than nothing."
All three gennin gave nods of approval to this.
"All three of you may go home and rest, we start tomorrow." With that said Orochimaru disappeared.
"Awesome now we'll have two C-rank missions guaranteed and we don't even have a day out of the academy yet."
"Naruto I swear sometimes I feel like you are an Uchiha with your pride and thirst for combat."
"Oh yeah well sometimes I feel like you're a girl with how you chicken out out of everything."
"What's that supposed to mean little twerp aren't boys supposed to be taller than girls? You two are so small you qualify as baby girls."
Itachi just sweat-dropped at the awful insult and brushed it off knowing that he would grow in due time.
Naruto on the other hand was fuming with rage. "You want to go woman?!"
Smirking she replied, "Sorry but I don't feel comfortable fighting with a baby girl."
By this point Naruto had smoke coming out of his ears and seemed to resemble a bull that was ready to charge at the person weaving the red rag in front of him.
"Itachi quickly grabbed Naruto while Anko ran off."
"LET ME GO!"
"Naruto... let's go eat some ramen"
Naruto promptly straightened up and lost all his anger in seconds. Itachi once again sweat-dropped and shook his head before smiling.
"I'll never understand your obsession with ramen."
"Pocky sucks."
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
Naruto just gave Itachi a cheeky grin.
"Touché," was Itachi's response before they started walking towards the ramen stand.
Realizing they were forgetting someone Naruto turned around, "You coming or what?"
Anko who was walking in a direction opposite of them turned around before shrugging her shoulders and turning towards them to head to the ramen stand.
The walk to the stand was quiet and when they finally arrived Naruto rushed to the counter to great the old man before ordering his usual. Itachi and Anko came shortly and ordered as well.
A few minutes later their orders were served. Immediately Naruto dug into his food with much delight which prompted Anko to look at him in disgust. "Is this normal?"
"Yes."
Anko shuddered wondering where this little girly looking boy got the stomach to inhale all of the food. Shrugging Anko took a sip of the broth and was pleasantly surprised at the taste. The next few minutes were spent eating. Naruto ordered seconds and then thirds before they finished and paid the bill.
"I swear if your father was not the Hokage and your mother was not the sole inheritor of the Uzumaki account then you would not be able to afford your ramen."
At this Naruto shrugged and looked at Itachi, "If that was the case I'm sure that my best buddy would be more than happy to provide me with some of cash to eat."
"The food was good and all but now what are we going to do?"
"Why not head out to the training grounds and work on the team chemistry?"
Anko looked at them, "Maybe some other time."
Naruto and Itachi just looked at each other before deciding to go to the training grounds regardless.
They spent a few hours training and by the end of it they were both dirty and tired. They were just about to walk home when they heard clapping and a voice Naruto knew too well speak.
"I see that you two have made a lot of progress," said a white haired man.
"Pervy-sage!" Naruto tackled the man and gave him a hug. "How are you doing?"
Jiraiya blanched at the name but responded, "Naruto look how big and strong you have gotten. If you keep growing you won't be able to tackle me like this anymore. I'm doing fine, how about you two?" He said glancing at Itachi.
Itachi was the one who responded this time, " We're doing fine Jiraiya-sama, we were just training."
"Great and since we are all here Imwould like to congratulate you kids on passing the academy so as a reward I, the super awesome, legendary ninja, destroyer of men and women, if you know what I mean on that last part," he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "the SUPER PEVERT, will teach you each one of my many super awesome techniques.
Naruto gave Jiraiya a dirty look and was about to comment on the super pervert part until it registered in his mind what Jiraiya said. "Awesome! So what are you going to show us?" He asked enthusiastically.
"For the best friend of my godson I am going to show you the Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique." He then gestured Itachi to come over and then started doing the hand-signs at a good pace. "And for my eldest godson I will give you the honor of signing the toad contract."
At the mention of the toad contract Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement. Jiraiya took the scroll from his back and opened it up. " Here Naruto, bite your thumb and write your name with the blood that comes from your thumb. Naruto immediately followed the instructions given to him by Jiraiya. When he finished he saw the blood dry up and turn black.
"All right Naruto now repeat after me." Jiraiya started by biting his thumb and then performed the hand-signs; bird, boar, dog, dragon, hare, horse, monkey, ox, ram, rat, serpent, tiger. "Summoning Jutsu" Naruto who was following along stopped for a second in awe at the humongous toad that was summoned. "Woah."
"Jiraiya why have you summoned me?" The huge toad looked down that them.
"Gamabunta I just allowed Naruto to sign the contract and I am showing him how to summon toads.
Gamabunta just stared at Naruto for a few seconds before speaking. "Son of the Fourth it is good to meet you at long last."
"Uh... likewise?" Naruto said not really knowing what to tell the huge toad.
"This might take a while so could you please let the others know the situation, I do not want them to think they are being summoned to fight?"
"Very well I will leave you two to it." He then disappeared in smoke.
"Alright kid you saw the hand-signs now you give it a try."
Naruto nodded and did the hand-signs. Smoke appeared and Naruto was waiting at the edge of his seat to see the awesome toad he summoned. When the smoke cleared up he was confused due to there being nothing. Jiraiya was too until he looked down and saw what appeared to be a tadpole. This led him go into a laughing fit. Itachi who had been keeping to himself attempting the jutsu Jiraiya gave him couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
Naruto was red with anger and embarrassment. He tried again only to get the same result. This time Jiraiya and Itachi laughed even harder as a result. Naruto was about to give it another attempt before Jiraiya stopped him. "Naruto try focusing a little more and keep a clear head. This technique requires a decent amount of chakra control and you have so much chakra that control becomes and issue."
Naruto tried again and this time he was able to summon bigger orange toad. "Awesome," he exclaimed.
Hey there dude, my name is Gamakichi, are you the new summoner dad told us about and by any chance do you have snacks?"
"Damn right I am and sorry I do not have any food on me. Oh and my name is Naruto"
"Nice to meet you Naruto and it's all good. Is there anything you need or can I go back home?"
"You may leave Gamakichi, see you around."
"See you Naruto."
Naruto was about to try his luck again when Jiraiya stopped him, "Kid it's getting kind of late I think you boys should head out for the day."
"But I want to summon more toads."
"He's right Naruto, we should leave."
Naruto finally relented and they said their goodbyes before both parties went their separate ways.
"I don't know about you but I can't wait to master this jutsu Itachi."
"Yeah I feel the same." The rest of the walk to the Uchiha compound was silent. When they arrived they both greeted Itachi's parents before going to their rooms and passing out from the exhaustion.
Authors Note: Man it's been a while since I update, but better late than never I guess. I kind of got bored at the end so I kind of rushed it, anyways I hope you guys enjoy.
