Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
"Yo man, I tore that place up. Me and some kid named Kiba were definitely the best two there. I'm expecting my jersey any minute now." Naruto exclaimed, as he and Kabuto walked to the cafeteria for breakfast. He was still excited about how he did at last night's try out.
"If I were you I wouldn't wait until the end of the week. That's when Orochimaru usually posts the results." Kabuto replied.
"What? But Kankuro was passed immediately, Orochimaru didn't take long then,"
"I said if I were you, not Kankuro."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly as it sounded. Kankuro has some high connections; I would be appalled if he did not make it."
"Just how high are these connections?"
"The father of the Sand Siblings is the Kazekage." Seeing Naruto's blank look, Kabuto explained. "You know what the Hokage is right?"
"Yeah, the leader of the Land of Fire," Naruto said as he grabbed a tray and began helping himself to danishes.
"Correct. The Hokage is based here in the Land of Fire's Capitol, Konoha. The Kazekage rules over another city in the Land of Fire, Suna. In essence, Kankuro's father is considered second in command, since Suna is the second largest city."
"Why do his kids go here if their dad is in Suna?"
"Unfortunately, no one is one-hundred percent sure. Some say that their dad went crazy and tried to kill the youngest, Gaara, but since the Kazekage had so much political power only a secret restraining order was set. Others say that they come here because this is the best school in the nation. You figure out the real reason, and you'll be famous around here."
Once the two had their food, Kabuto led him to a sparsely populated table. "Hey guys," Kabuto greeted as he sat down. "Where is everyone?"
"Football meeting," one of them replied cheerily.
Kabuto blinked in surprise. "Well, then I better go. What are you still doing here? You're are star running back after all."
"Wait. You play football, Kabuto?" Naruto asked, shocked.
"Yup. I'm a cornerback, but I'm not very good. My dad won a Heismann in college, so I must uphold the family's football legacy."
"Oh, and you play too?" Naruto asked the other boy, Haku.
"Yes, I do. I'm not at the meeting because Zabuza gave me permission to not come. It is supposedly a boring meeting about who should make it on the team."
"Please, call him Coach Momochi. It's disconcerting to think he is nice to anyone, and of all people it's you. Strange." Kabuto said, as he shook his head and strolled away.
"Are you new here?" Haku asked Naruto.
"Yeah. I'm Naruto Uzumaki."
"I am pleased to meet you. I am Haku Momochi."
Naruto spit the milk he had been drinking, and sputtered, trying to stop his coughing fit.
Haku hit Naruto's back and asked concernedly if he was all right.
Ignoring the question, Naruto asked, "Your last name is Momochi? As in Zabuza Momochi?"
"Yes, that is correct." Haku replied, cheery again, dawning a huge grin.
"He is your dad?"
"Well…sort of. He adopted me around ten years ago, while I was traveling the streets."
"Wow. That must've been tough. Sorry to bring it up."
"Oh, I don't mind talking about it. I feel there should be no secrets between friends."
Haku's smile was so contagious, Naruto found himself grinning as well. Maybe this school would not be so bad.
Shikamaru hated gym. In gym class, the teachers always made the students do stuff, and Shikamaru hated doing stuff.
Sighing, Shikamaru ran the last warm-up lap and waited for the few kids slower than him to finish. Shikamaru was not out of shape—far from it, in his opinion—but he just did not feel like running—not now, not ever. To him it was a cruel and unusual punishment inflicted upon him daily, and he could never understand some kids could not only tolerate running, but like it.
Finally, Shikamaru's friend Chouji completed his laps, practically rolling the last few feet.
"I…made…it." Chouji panted, as he lay on the finish line.
Extending a hand to his friend Shikamaru tried to help him up. Unfortunately, Chouji weighed far too much for Shikamaru to make a difference. Chouji eventually recovered enough to rise on his own.
"Now, my youthful students, listen up. I have great news! Our class is going to be playing dodge ball tomorrow against the class of my eternal rival, Kakashi! So today we must prepare, so that tomorrow we will be in our Springtime of Youth!"
Shikamaru lazily raised his hand, at the same time Sakura's hand darted into the air. Gai called on Sakura. Big surprise, he thought.
"Sir, doesn't Kakashi only teach Konoha's elite students in one on one sessions? How would that work, since he does not really have one large class, like we do?"
"Yes, Sakura, you are right. Good thing you caught that, because I don't think any of these other slackers would have." Gai responded enthusiastically. Shikamaru sighed, How troublesome. "Each student Kakashi teaches individually will be here."
"ALL of them?! Sir, that would be more than twenty students, compared to our eleven kids," Chouji gasped.
"Not every single student he teaches, half-wit, only the other sophomores that he instructs." Gai replied.
"Which ones are coming?" Sakura asked curiously. Sakura truly only cared if one particular student was coming. "He's only bringing five students. That arrogant rival of mine, thinking he's so cool; he's going to try and make me lose when he has a handicap."
Noticing that the older man's muttering was about to transform into one of his rants, Sakura intervened. "Isn't he only teaching five at the moment?"
Gai calmed himself, breaking out into a huge smile. "Once again you're right Sakura. Good thing you caught that, because I don't think any of these other slackers would have." Shikamaru thought to himself how troublesome, again. "Let's see. Who's he bringing, again?" Gai thought aloud to himself. "Oh, right! Two juniors, Temari and Neji, are coming, as are three juniors, Sasuke, Haku and Gaara." Collective groans sounded from Gai's gym class.
"Gaara's just gonna kill us, man." Kiba yelled from the back of the crowd. "And around than half of those guys are a year older than us."
"Settle down, class. This may seem to be a bleak situation, but I have faith in you. Besides, you outnumber them two to one."
"That didn't help us last time they beat us," Tenten muttered.
"Now, today, we're going to practice, so be sure to be extra youthful!" Gai said as he picked up one of the rubber balls from next to his feet where he had left it.
"Bombardment!" Gai yelled as he threw a ball at the nearest kid.
"I bet I can nail him."
"No way, dude. Five bucks says you can't."
"Watch me…after you show me the money."
"Look, man, I got it, so don't worry."
"Show me it, then."
"…" Was all that answered the boy.
"Oh." A brown-haired boy said. "Sorry, Zaku. I forgot."
"It's okay, man." Zaku responded, waving a hand, dismissing the matter. "Who cares if I can't afford it; the point is you can't hit Sasuke with that water balloon from here. Besides you couldn't afford it either, man."
Kiba ignored the last comment, and grinned on anticipation of proving his buddy wrong. "Watch me." With those words, Kiba wound up and chucked a water balloon off the school roof toward Sasuke Uchiha.
Shikamaru walked onto the roof then, hoping to watch the clouds in peace. Seeing two kids already up here, he sighed. Something tells me I should leave, right now, Shikamaru thought, but curiosity about what these two troublemakers were doing compelled him to stay.
Grinning in anticipation as Kiba watched its flight, he muttered to Zaku, "This'll show him for all the times he's made fun of us." Zaku began chuckling along with the dog-lover.
Sasuke looked up casually and hopped a few feet away from the water balloon lobbed at him. Ignoring the two delinquents that he knew were on top of the school, he continued to walk towards his session with Kakashi.
Groaning at seeing the balloon miss, both boys stood up to go inside, when something caught their eye. Two girls had just exited the school and were heading straight toward where the balloon was going to land.
A scream startled, Shikamaru. Wondering what was wrong he ran over to the edge and looked over to see two dripping wet girls and the remains of a red water balloon on the ground next to them.
"Shikamaru," Ino began slowly, as she made eye contact with the spiky-haired boy. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Running back inside, the lazy boy sped toward safety, also known as Iruka's history class.
Kiba and Zaku cackled on the ground at the boy's misfortune, glad that Sakura had not seen him, as well.
"That was great. Pegging the blame on that loser: Priceless." Zaku laughed.
"It wasn't that great. Sure it was funny, but not really satisfying."
"What are you talking about man?" Zaku replied, as he stopped laughing.
"Think about it. Shikamaru isn't that bad, and we missed our target, Sasuke, and hit two innocents."
"Innocents? Ino and Kin are anything but innocent. You should rephrase that last part. You're not laughing 'cause you hit your little crush. Ino is not going to look at you dude, or Chouji, or Shino, or any of the other guys who 'love' her. You gotta be smart like me; lower your standards and you'll get plenty of ladies. Why not Hinata or Tenten? They should be pretty desperate by now.
Kiba grimaced in disgust. "No way man. I ain't ever going after girls like those. Besides I ain't that bad. I'm sure I can get any girl here if I put enough effort into it."
"Ten bucks says you can't."
"…"
"Oh. Right. Neither of us can afford that."
"And that is positively disgusting." A voice called out from behind the two boys. Kiba and Zaku turned to find one of the Preps. "It shall forever remain a mystery how two pathetic ghetto hounds as yourselves were accepted into this school." The other boy continued, his nose upturned, as he looked down at the two other boys arrogantly. "However, If you do a little something for me, I can make it so you could actually afford your gambling problems."
Kiba and Zaku looked at each other. While they did hate this prep's guts, they were known for doing...anything...as long as enough money was provided.
"How much?"
Gaara stalked down the school hallways. He had tested out of history, so he currently had a free period. After the boring football meeting, Gaara had tried to find solace anywhere he could.
Most people would be bored if they had to sit and think for hours at a time, but that is what Gaara spent of his time doing. He was an insomniac, getting fewer that ten hours of sleep a week—oftentimes less. He got so little sleep many doctors had thought he wasn't even human.
In fact, few people thought he was human. Many people mistook the dark circles under his eyes as face-paint, but they were scars. Scars of a dark time when he had felt emotions. Back when could actually feel.
No one could possibly understand him. He was hated and feared, and reveled in it. He needed to feel alive-any way possible. And if the only way to feel was to hurt others, he had no problem. He was more important then them anyway. He deserved to feel so much more than them. He needed BLOOD!
Gaara stopped walking and clutched his head. He had spells of…madness at times. A part of him needed blood, but the rest of him was perfectly content to leave everyone else so long as they did not bother him. Doctors told him he had Dissociative identity disorder, but these were the same doctors that called him a freak of nature, a demon.
Gaara walked into the cafeteria for lunch. He grabbed a tray, but barely remarked how most of the students leapt out of his way—even the seniors. Once he had his food, he walked over to where his 'friends' were.
In truth, Gaara did not have any friends. He did not want or need them, but he needed a place to sit, and decided that sitting with people was familiar with was better than total strangers.
Others, he had heard, called this the Jock/Prep table. The rich kids and members of football and cheerleading sat here.
A new face sat there: A blonde kid speaking with the longhaired kid on the football team. Neji? No that one had freaky eyes. It was…Haku. That was it, Haku.
Eating silently, Gaara took his time, savoring his food. He did not have much to savor except his quiet and his food.
Naruto watched as a freaky red head sat down at the far end of the table, before he went back to talking with Haku about football.
"Do you think I'll make the team?"
"I don't know we only have a limited number of spaces available and that Kiba kid was much faster and stronger than you." Haku replied truthfully.
"I'm just a little out of shape; that's all. Some training in the weight room and I'll be good as new." Naruto beamed and gave Haku a thumbs up. Glancing down at his plate he realized it was empty. "I'm going to go get some more of this Ramen stuff; it's really good. I can't believe I've never heard of this stuff before."
Hopping up and grabbing a fresh tray, he loaded scoopfuls of noodles onto his plate. Naruto hummed as he did so. I need to make a Ramen song; that would be so cool.
Tenten watched the new kid angrily. She had heard all about how he had made fun of her friend Chouji. This'll teach him, she though to herself, smirking evilly. Attaching some wire to a knife she threw it to a post that Naruto would need to pass to go back to his seat.
As Naruto practically skipped back to his table, he was precariously balancing his precious Ramen. Eyes staring at the top of the mound to make sure none fell, he did not see it.
A thin, almost transparent had miraculously appeared across his path, tripping him up.
Ramen flew everywhere, as Naruto collided with the ground on his chin, dazing him. He was aware enough, however, to notice the noodle slop land on that red headed boy's head.
Oops, Tenten thought as she watched event unfold. I wanted to embarrass him, not kill him. Uh…I should probably leave now.
Naruto stared straight into the bright green eyes of the boy. Even with noodles dripping from the top of his head, Naruto was scared shitless at the intensity of the gaze. Gulping, Naruto hoisted himself to his feet. Maybe this school will be that bad, he thought.
This is my second story. My first, Generation Now, is a story about a the next group of ninja if you want to check that out. There are no Mary-Sue's if you are wondering; and if you don't believe me see for yourself.
I was struck with a reasonably brilliant idea today. I am the only one to my knowledge to have Zaku and Kiba friends. (I'm probably dead wrong and there are millions of those out there). They seemed a lot alike in this fic to me. Both were poor, brash and crass, so it was perfect.
I'm going to slowly introduce all of the characters in this story over the next few chapters, Hinata will show up next chapter if any of you are curious.
Tell me if anyone was too OOC. I've decided that during football season, I will use NFL teams as other high school teams. I'm sorry if your favorite team loses. If you don't watch NFL, I might use college. If you don't watch football, tell me and we can work something out.