History As We Know It


"I am no prodigy in iryō-ninjutsu. I was raised around iryō-ninjutsu, it is all I know of for the most part of growing up. I counted not apples nor kunais, but tenketsu points. I memorised not hiragana nor kanji, but human anatomies. By the time I began to understand, I was already on my way as an iryō-nin."

—Aburame Koumi


Chapter 3: First impressions


Disclaimer: I own only the OCs.


While the newly-minted genins are excitedly waiting for their jōnin-sensei who will train him to be the strongest shinobi ever, several of the jōnin-sensei are already present in the Academy, observing their potential students from the shadows. For one certain team's jōnin-sensei, the Sandaime Hokage even took him on a trip for three house visits of his soon-to-be three minions. After all, this certain jōnin-sensei needs some persuasion.

Their first house visitis the apartment of one Uzumaki Naruto. The building is located in the older part of the village and like the other buildings around it, it appears worn with age. One glance is enough to know that the this particular genin isn't very well-off financially.

No one is inside the one-bedroom apartment as the sole boarder is an orphan with no relatives to speak of. It's easy to see that little maintenance has been done in the property, a stack of dirty bowls on the table, as well as a stack of empty cup noodles with a pair of chopsticks still inside. Most importantly is the left-opened carton of milk that has long expired. Strewn of dirty dishes resting on the kitchen sink, an unwashed pot on top of a stained portable stove, even a fallen cup of water on the tabletop. A bag of garbages not yet thrown away on the side. In short, it's a mess.

Kakashi has a hard time believing, the son of the man he holds in high regards, the legacy of the Yondaime, is living his life without proper care even from himself. Namikaze Minato is well-known to be a meticulous man, even when he was a child, his things are never strewn about and his mind is just as neat. Then again... who is there to teach Naruto things like housekeeping?

Minato-sensei... Kushina-san...

The next house visit is the apartment of Uchiha Sasuke, whose establishment is located in the better part of the village, where newer buildings and the wealthier citizens lived in. The very same ground where the Uchiha District used to stand before their ultimate demise at the hand of one of their own. Considering how Sasuke is the sole inheritor to the wealth of the Uchiha Clan, it's no wonder he can afford the rent if not owned the property.

Contrary to Naruto's one-bedroom apartment featuring sparse, worn furnitures, the one-bedroom apartment Sasuke lives in is clearly better in all aspects. Not to mention, the boy himself keeps everything tidy, no such things as dirty dishes on the kitchen sink. The bedroom even comes with a spacious balcony offering a beautiful view of Konohagakure. One thing of note, is that unlike Naruto's, Sasuke's have plenty of books and scrolls in his bookshelf.

The Sandaime notes how Sasuke's father, Uchiha Fugaku, is quite the stern man. There's no doubt he educates his son to emulate his own discipline, such as tidying his stuffs. This in turns, caused Kakashi to recall the boy's aniki, is not that far off in terms of tidiness. It's a real shame how things have turned out for the man who was once his subordinate. With how things are in the village, he is now the only one able to teach the Last Uchiha how to utilise his Sharingan despite him not being an Uchiha in the first place.

Obito... this eye, is this eye really worth the sufferings?

The last house visit is the kunoichi of Team 7, Aburame Koumi, who lives in the Aburame Clan's compound with her grandmother. As he is with the Sandaime Hokage, obtaining access is easy enough. The one to greet them for the young kunoichi is the girl's grandmother, the world-renown, second best iryō-nin only to Tsunade. This girl, is thus moulded into an accomplished iryō-nin even with her young age.

For a girl, there's nothing to nitpick about the kunoichi's living habits. As she is an iryō-nin in-training herself, Koumi knows best how to take care of her health and she does it well. Her room is clean and tidy, there are even more books in her bookshelf than there is in Sasuke's. Scrolls on iryō-ninjutsu are also aplenty. Knowledge isn't something she is lacking, nor is wealth. Yet like the bedroom of the other two children, it's easy to see that the seemingly complete bedroom, indeed lacks one important point he can see in the bedroom of his past charges that he failed.

Not a visit to Naruto's, nor is it Sasuke's that shook Hatake Kakashi most. It is unexpectedly, the visit to Aburame Koumi's house. A caramel-brown haired kunoichi pursuing the path of an iryō-nin. If not because the stern welcoming of the girl's grandmother, Kakashi was afraid he would have lost himself in his memories.

A clumsy fool, an elite rookie and a clever kunoichi...

Obito, he and Rin...

Kakashi finds himself asking the Sandaime why, why is the team of his deceased sensei's son is constructed just like his genin team, for him to lead as the jōnin-sensei?

Why? Isn't it enough for him already? Is there a need to remind his failures every single day? Of the people he failed?

The Sandaime is firm in his decision and in his beliefs in him, when Kakashi doesn't even believe in himself. Is the Hokage giving him a second chance to redeem himself? With his mind still in confusion, he finds himself standing before the Memorial Stone after parting with the Sandaime and sending a kagebunshin of himself to observe the three genins in the Academy. Hours passed just like that, it wasn't until his kōhai, Tenzo, called out to him that he decided he had made his team wait enough for the day.

The moment his kagebunshin dispels itself, Kakashi gets his mind flooded by series of informations. Of events happening surrounding his three new genins. Naruto who is like Obito, with his sunny grins and foolish, honest actions. Sasuke who is like him, a cold front and dismissive of everyone else but himself. Then there is Koumi... Koumi, she is like Rin. The way she smiles warmly, kindly offering lunches to both Naruto and Sasuke who brushed her off when she invites them, how she tries to get them to be a team by offering her information first. And it hurts.

Because...

"You are weak."

Sasuke told Koumi she is weak. He had done the same to Rin.

"Take that back, Sasuke-teme! Koumi is not weak!"

Naruto gets mad on her behalf. Obito had done the same for Rin.

Too many similarities. Too much familiarities. Is history doomed to repeat itself for this Team 7?

(O)

It's been at least two hours since the last team, Team 8, is taken away by their jōnin-sensei. As of now, only the members of Team 7 are left in the classroom. The long wait is inevitably becoming very boring and frustrating quick, even the tolerant kunoichi of the team can't deny her vexation regarding their overly-late jōnin-sensei. It's unlikely, but it is possible that there may be some kind of emergency for the jōnin to attend to, thus his tardiness.

This thought is what keeping Koumi from exploding much like Naruto is doing, and brooding like Sasuke does most of the time. It's hard enough to keep Naruto calmly seated on a daily basis since the boy is brimming with energy, now that the blonde is agitated, she can only hope those energies are channelled somewhere beneficial. Even Sasuke appears gloomier than ever.

One thing for sure, this jōnin-sensei fails his or her first impression.

"Why is our sensei the only one late?! Two hours! It's been more than two hours! What the hell is he doing?!" Naruto rants about, his anger spilling out as he yells at the empty space.

One hour and fifteen minutes ago, she would have tried to console him, saying things like, "Maybe he is already here, testing our patience as a shinobi in mission," or, "Perhaps there's an emergency that needs his immediate attention?" even, "Could he has forgotten some previous paperworks? I was told that some jōnins tend to do that and they are banned from more responsibilities before completing them." As of now, Koumi has given up. The jōnin-sensei can show up and explain himself when he did.

Just as Koumi laments not bringing a book or a scroll to read, the ever-active blonde has already perched himself on top of a wooden stool with a blackboard eraser on his hand. It isn't hard to guess what he intends to do, what she doubts is if he is fully aware of the consequence that may comes from his actions.

"Naruto-kun, I know you are irritated with our sensei, but you might make him mad if you pranked him on day one..." Koumi tries to persuade him to give up his mischiefs, the boy did pause in his action, but he doesn't look like he will listen to reason.

Naruto pouts, "It's his fault for being late, Koumi! Aren't you angry at him too? Even Iruka-sensei had gone home!"

Right... at this time, the three of them are probably the only people left in the Academy. Their sensei is running late, rather than running, it may as well be a Shunshin or a Hiraishin. He is that late. Naruto's action is both understandable and unreasonable, but what can she say about it?

"...Is there no way I can convince you to stop this?" Koumi sounds resigned, her pleading golden-yellow eyes gazing up at his determined ocean-blues.

Naruto grins, not at all deterred as he clearly mouths, "Nope!"

No surprise there... Really, seems like a team with Naruto will have its share of headaches. Now that it has reached this point, she may as well lend him a hand. It's not fair if only the blonde gets in trouble when in fact, he is venting the frustrations of all three of them at their tardy sensei.

"In that case, please sprinkle this powder on the eraser, Naruto-kun," Koumi summons a container the size of half her hand from the scroll in her pocket and offers it to the blonde.

This container attracts not only Naruto's, but also Sasuke's attention. The Uchiha has been silently keeping to himself before this, now his focus is on his teammates. He can't help but be interested when the good-girl actually decided to participate in this farce.

"What's this?" Naruto takes the container, an eyebrow raised in confusion as he shakes the round thing to guess what's inside.

She hopes this is not going too far, but she has the antidote at the ready anyway and they are officially shinobi from today onwards, thus prank such as this is a harmless one! At least... that's how she convinces herself.

"It's a hallucinogenic powder. I have the antidote with me and it's nothing dangerous. A slight hallucination at most?" Koumi smiles sheepishly, appearing guilty for scheming against their sensei.

For one Uzumaki Naruto, powders are nothing new when he designs his pranks. It's his first time hearing this hal-what powder though. The effect seems interesting enough. Hallucination is something like genjutsu, right?

"Better than chalk powders! Thanks, Koumi! I'll get this done!" the blonde chirps as he hurriedly screws opens the container and dumps them all on the eraser. Then he coughs on them because they form cloud dusts due to how he directly flipped over the container.

"Gack!" Naruto screams, fearing for his safety as he quickly pushes his hand holding the eraser as far as his reach, away from his person.

Below, Koumi has her eyes wide open as she can't believe this infamous prankster actually make such a beginner's mistake of inhaling the powder! "Don't breathe it in, Naruto-kun! Just stop moving for a bit, it will settle soon!"

While she is telling him these, obviously, she has ensured she didn't breathe in the powders. Even Sasuke on the far side of the classroom is inconspicuously covering his own nose. Thankfully, Naruto is experienced and the dust soon settled with no traces left. Koumi refines those powders herself and she makes them to saturate easily in the air unless it's in contact with certain solid or any liquid medium within three seconds after exposing it to the air. A blackboard eraser is effective as it's made of a fabric which are constructed by minuscule nets that can trap those powders.

"Koumi... the antidote..." Naruto whines as soon as he can speak. He is feeling light-headed now. This powder works too quickly!

Without needing to be told, Koumi has already summoned the antidote from the same scroll containing the powder. There are five small bottles, made of glass and with visibly pale-green liquids in them.

"Here, Naruto-kun. Drinks them in one go!" Koumi quickly hands him one, tip-toeing. If she was to throw it, he may be unable to catch it in his condition. Better be safe than sorry.

Feeling his view beginning to distort to something different, Naruto quickly unscrews the bottle and chucks down the liquid. His tastebud only registering the awfully sour taste of it five seconds after he gulped them down.

"Sour!" Naruto grimaces, looking as if he has swallowed an entire lemon, or maybe three lemons at once.

His suffering is totally felt by the brunette. As the one to concoct both the powders and the antidotes, she has first tried them on herself, so she knows how sour the antidote is. Koumi has yet to succeed in stabilising the taste while not messing the intended effects.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. It's a work-in-progress..." she apologises for now. "I have... candies?"

Wiping out his mouth as he tries to get rid of that lemon-like taste, Naruto quickly wedges in the eraser and jumps down the stool, return it back where it was and runs to the brunette with his hand extended, asking for that candies she promised him just now.

Fruits-flavoured candies are summoned from the same scroll, and three of them are now in the mouth of Naruto. The blonde doesn't even care he is eating strawberry, grape and pineapple-flavoured candies together. Wonder what it tasted like all mixed up?

"As if a jōnin would fall for that kind of stupid trick," Sasuke tsked with clear disdains. With how he voices out his dissatisfaction, he may as well told them straight away he thinks they are idiots.

Needless to say, he ticked off his longtime rival who designs the apparently 'stupid trick'. Before the blonde can retort at the slight on his awesome prank, the kunoichi of the team speaks of before the two boys begin fighting.

"Do you have a better idea, Sasuke-kun?" Koumi turns around to face the raven-haired boy, her tone filled with curiosity. She isn't deterred by his silence nor the blonde's pouting.

It's obvious that the long wait is grating on their nerves, all three of them. And even when Sasuke is usually disagreeable, when the situation places them together in a disadvantage such as this one, there's little reason why he won't help with a bit of prodding. That's why Koumi knows she can get him to help them with a bit more urging.

"You're unhappy with our sensei too, right, Sasuke-kun? Don't you want to help us succeed?" Koumi stays where she is standing, but her golden-yellow eyes seek his onyx eyes. She can see the interest he is trying to hide there, so she knows it won't take long for him to succumb to the invitation.

"...Hn," the Uchiha grunts as he stands up from his seat, causing the blonde to back-steps in wariness.

The moment he begins to move, Koumi knows they successfully get the assistance of their third teammate. The two of them watch as Sasuke easily retrieved the jammed eraser with a jump, stopping his breathing as he did so. He takes out a ninja string, loops it around the eraser, tests its hold, then he places the now stringed blackboard eraser on the ledge above the sliding doors instead of between the opening gap between the door and the wooden frame. Not yet finished, he ties the other end of the string connected to the eraser around the sliding door in a way that when the door is moving, the eraser is set to drop from its concealed height.

While this booby trap can be considered classic, they are depending on the lax guard of their sensei who may not be expecting the prank since it is too simple. Due to Sasuke's improvement, even the eraser can't be spotted until he enters the room. The ninja string is thin, hardly noticeable to unassuming eyes. Thus, this prank may as well be a success already!

"That's better! Otsukare, Sasuke-kun," Koumi grins at him, for the first time, her pearly teeth are all out in the open, a tinge of mischief colouring her expression. (1)

"Hn," as always, the Uchiha replies with a wordless grunt as he heads back to his seat.

This kind of attitude is the one Naruto hates most from Sasuke, "Che," the blonde grumbles, but says nothing more.

As a certified prankster, he approves of the boy's improvements because he can see the effects of adding a ninja string and using the door as a trigger through that string while placing the eraser somewhere not directly visible upon entering. This is to be done to lull their target into a false sense of security. And this kind of setting is also good as a base trap before following it more traps. Sadly, Naruto doesn't have his pranking kit at the moment, so the powdered eraser alone will do.

For Koumi, she is just happy that even if it is due to their shared frustrations towards their sensei, they are able to work as a team. Clearly, there are tons of improvements to be made if they are truly to be called a team. But for now, this is enough.

It's not long after Sasuke returns to his seat that the door slides open, revealing a shocking silver hair and a barely visible face. The green vest he is wearing and the hitai-ate worn in a way to cover his left-eye suggests that this person is the sensei they are waiting for. His appearance aside, the prank is a success!

"He fell for it! He fell for it!" Naruto chants happily, his index finger pointing at the jōnin in ridicule.

I wonder if he can actually inhale the hallucinogenic powder? All those coverings... coverings? Hitai-ate over his left-eye, a face that is hardly visible... could he be...?

"...I'm sorry, sensei. I was asking Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun a way to incorporate hallucinogenic powder that I refined into a trap for possible enemies, and you just happened to walk in after we finished setting it up," Koumi explains eloquently, lying as how she is taught back in kunoichi classes. He is a veteran, so it may be obvious. But the number one rule when you got caught is: deny, deny and deny.

Naruto is indignant though, he wants their sensei to know that he is the one to instigate this prank, out of his need for recognition more than anything else. Somehow getting the clue of this, Koumi is quick to confront her blonde teammate with a kind yet forceful smile, one that is visible only to her two teammates as their sensei can only see her back from his position.

"Right? Na-ru-to-kun?" Koumi enunciates his name, pronouncing it in a way that sends shivers down his spine, his rebuttal forgotten.

Naruto may not be the sharpest kunai in the holster, but even he knows danger when he sees one.

"Right," he agrees eagerly, nodding his head along like a woodpecker.

Sasuke on the other hand, doesn't look impressed despite being the one behind the improvements of the previously 'stupid trick'. He has expected more from the jōnin who will be his sensei.

"Are you really a jōnin?" he questions, derision clear in his voice.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Koumi is affronted, a harmless prank is one thing, since their sensei kind of deserved it for making them wait this long, but actually questioning his abilities? That's a huge 'NO'! As soon as those words left his mouth, Sasuke finds himself on the receiving end of a pair of persistent golden-yellow eyes boring into his, clearly, she is telling him to stop offending their sensei who has yet to speak a word since his entrance.

Sasuke might have escaped from the misfortune of being in a team with one of his devoted fangirls, but he can't seem to evade this annoyingly persistent kunoichi despite her meek appearance. It's as if he can see already how he will caved in to the girl's harmless directions in the future.

At the moment, Sasuke only tsked, turning his head away from her.

Sighing, the mantle then falls to her again. Koumi bows as she apologises, "I'm really sorry, sensei. And, uh... did you... breathe in the powders?" she hesitates.

Fumbling slightly, she produces the scroll with the antidotes, summoning one and holding it in her hand as she fidgets about, "This, uh... the antidote."

Despite the tense situation in the room, the silver-haired jōninhums unhurriedly as he crouches down to pick up the fallen eraser, eyes it a bit, then brought it down along with his hand as he seems to ponder over something, or rather, someones for a while as he stares into his new charges.

"Hm, hallucinogenic powder, eh? How should I say this... My first impressions of you three are..."

Ah... With the prank and Sasuke-kun's questioning of his abilities, I don't think it's going to be anything good...

"I hate you."

...As expected.

To be fair, our first impression of you is an irresponsible shinobi who left us waiting for hours on end without so much as a notice.

"...In the meantime, do take this antidote as precaution. A candy, for your convenience," she sighs.

Team 7... will it really be fine?


(1) Otsukare: Thanks (e.g. for coming, helping, etc.)


So yeah, how is it?

Reviews are very much appreciated!

Next time: Introductions and Hatake Kakashi!

Thank you!