Last time! Aiko failed her genin exam and ended up in the same class as Naruto and the crew. On the first day in her new class she overheard Iruka talking about protecting Naruto. Being an Inuzuka she decided to try and dig up this secret, driven by the fact that she recognises the blonde for some reason. In an attempt to find out his past she aids him in his training and is soon joined by Iruka, together the two improve his skills to the point where it looks like he will pass the genin exam. This forces Mizuki's hand, making him approach Naruto a lot sooner regarding the Hokages scroll.
Ω
Naruto landed heavily on a branch, kicking up a thin haze of sawdust from the splintered bark. His eyes wide as he stared forward at his target… the Hokage's tower, he'd always thought about playing a prank within those walls. But he had never gone through with it, it always seemed impenetrable. ANBU guards stationed at several points, and these weren't the nice ANBU that would let you off with a warning… these guys meant business.
He took a shallow breath and retrieved a blunted kunai from his pouch, digging it into the trunk of his tree, creating a small step. He lowered his weight onto the knife tenderly before tying a strand of wire through the iron loop on the handle. Slowly he scaled down the tree using the wire, he hadn't seen any ANBU tonight though… was it because of the test? They couldn't make it too hard, he was only in the academy after all. He kept to the shadows of the trees and quietly made his way to the large wall that surrounded the compound, one chance is all he would get… He closed his eyes for a second in silent prayer before launching a kunai over the wall, the wire trailing behind it, a few seconds passed before a loud smash sounded, he cringed at the volume but wasted no time in attaching the other end of the wire to a large tree root and then scaling the wall using the wire. Silently he ran along the wall until he saw his target, the library.
He scanned the building for possible entry… "skylight" he muttered under his breath then continued running along the wall, a few seconds passed before he slowed his run, he came to a halt and gingerly looked down from the top of the wall… a good 16 foot drop. It'd definitely hurt if he fell… maybe even break something… it was only a 6 foot jump to the side of the library… if he could grab the thick ivy clinging to the building side he'd be able to scale it to the roof, then to the skylight. He shook any doubt from his head and leapt.
It was annoyingly loud when he hit the building… he hadn't realised it was metal. A very loud clang was currently ringing throughout the building, he cringed hard and began to scale the ivy to the roof. Once there he saw the skylight, originally a lot smaller than he thought… but it'd do, he peered through the glass and smiled… directly below him was a scroll on a large pedestal. 'That must be it'
Seconds later the blonde was free falling, a startled look on his face… it seemed the skylight hadn't been reinforced, and couldn't take his weight. The sound of glass shattering against the oak floor was deafening, Naruto waited in silence for the ANBU to arrive and take him away, they never came though. Silently he raised his head to see the scroll, still on the pedestal, no ANBU and no Hokage… He quickly thanked the nine and grabbed the scroll, fastening it across his back. Then he was gone, running through the library to the large window he'd spotted earlier, if his kunai earlier had been accurate, it should be around here… 'There!'
Sure enough, it was, imbedded deep into the wood of a large pillar the wire trailing behind it to the compound wall, where the other end of the wire was tied to the tree root. He allowed himself a smile as he ran along the wire, leaping from the wall and then dashing into the forest. The entire event was over within two minutes… this was the first time he had actually felt like a ninja, and he was proud.
Ω
"Shadow clone jutsu…" the blonde felt himself smile, he had no idea that the scroll contained jutsu,
"I'll be damned if I pass this opportunity up" he quickly climbed to his feet and laid the scroll at his feet, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to focus…
"One hand sign…" he pushed a small amount of chakra into the technique and screamed the name
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" small plume exploded around him to reveal a very sickly looking clone, the blonde sighed and glanced at the scroll… 'what did I do wrong…' he re-read the explanation then returned his gaze to the clone, 'not enough chakra huh?' as if on cue the clone slumped backward clinging heavily to a tree trunk… a few seconds passed before Naruto noticed…
"Y-you just… grabbed that tree" the clone looked back with a queasy facial expression,
"I-I don't feel very good…" as if speaking was too much pain for the clone to bare it then burst into a small sachet of steam, Naruto's grin returned fully,
"Solid clones huh… I bet they'll come in useful"
Ω
"Naruto!"
"Naruto where are you!" Iruka growled in frustration, it had been over an hour since Naruto was supposed to have met Mizuki at the drop point, what was going on? He hated the idea of using Naruto as bait to lure of traitors… But he could see the Hokage had good intentions, even if he didn't agree with his methods.
"Naruto!" Out of the corner of his eye Iruka saw a flash of yellow, his heart beat soared as he dashed towards it, flaring his chakra as a signal for the ANBU to follow. Seconds passed agonisingly slowly as he made his way to a clearing, in the centre was the blonde he had been looking for, next to him was Mizuki…
Ω
"Well done Naruto, I'm impressed" The blonde snapped his head to glance at his instructor entering the clearing, a warm smile on his face,
"Not only did you collect the scroll, but you also learned from it, seriously well done" the boy smiled at the praise
"Thanks sensei! Does that mean I passed?" the man looked to be in thought for a few seconds before nodding with a grin, "Congratulations Naruto, just give me the scroll and we can make it official" the man held out his hand with a sickeningly sweet smile, Naruto flinched for a single second before rising to his feet.
"Naruto?" the blonde narrowed his eyes, but it was already too late. A pair of arms wrapped around his waist, gripping tightly. The blonde turned as much as he could to see Mizuki was behind him, a large shuriken fastened to his back, he whipped his head forward to the Mizuki he had been talking to, just to see it disappear. 'shit! Bunshin!'
A second later, Naruto was sailing through the air before cracking heavily against a tree trunk, another second he was forced face down into the dirt, Mizuki was already upon him, a kunai at his neck.
"Well well, here we are Naruto-Kun" the man spat out the honorific as he stared down distastefully at the blonde, he lowered his head to whisper in the blondes ear.
"You're going to die tonight Naruto" he took glee in the small gasp that escaped the boys mouth before gripping the back of his jumpsuit tightly and flinging him across the clearing, into the centre. The blonde didn't seem to be fighting back, he was pale, and shaking… 'He must've gone into shock' a few seconds passed before the man tossed a kunai, embedding it into the blondes shoulder, pinning him to the ground. The boys yell erupted signalling that the injury had awoken him from shock, seconds later a dozen kunai and shuriken shot out of the forest to the spot where Mizuki stood, the man dodged back and glanced into the darkness to see Iruka, running toward him, as fast as he could.
Another kunai forced Mizuki to dodge yet further back, giving Iruka enough time to place himself between the blonde and Mizuki,
"What is this Mizuki!" the silver haired man stood silently for a few seconds before speaking,
"Naruto. You can hear me right?" Iruka spared a glance over his shoulder to see the blonde clutching the kunai handle protruding from his collar, staring violently at Mizuki. The silver haired man seemed to enjoy the glare as a small smile appeared,
"You still don't know, do you?" Iruka's eyes widened, "No! Mizuki don't do it!" the blonde switched his glance from the traitor to the man now standing in front of him, slight confusion in his pained expression.
"Why everyone hates you, I mean" Iruka fired off a few shuriken and jumped forward only to be forced back by Mizuki's larger shuriken cutting a path through the thick grass toward him,
"Why the whole village would prefer to have you dead!"
"Mizuki! It's forbidden!" Iruka managed to knock the shuriken off course with a swift swipe from one of his denser kunai,
"It's because the nine tailed fox spirit is within you! The beast that attacked our village 12 years ago dwells within your gut!" Iruka threw his kunai at the man, hoping to end his sentence, Mizuki only ducked under it, with an evil glint in his eye.
"You ARE the nine tailed fox!" Naruto stared forward in silence, his eyes wide and brimming with unshed tears, Iruka spared a glance at the boy and felt his heart drop.
"He's wrong Naruto," the blonde switched his view to focus on the brunette man
"It is true that you hold the spirit of the nine tailed fox" the blonde's facial expression twisted into one of grief,
"But every day you hold it, is another day you save our village from destruction" Naruto blinked to himself…
"You are the hero that protects us from the beast Naruto, and you won't fall tonight!" a few second passed before Mizuki laughed,
"Iruka, do you really believe that?" Naruto glanced at the brunette hopefully, without a seconds hesitation the man spoke again
"I do, you were wrong Mizuki, right from the start" the man only sighed and patted the scroll that was now strapped across his back, "Whatever Iruka, I'm leaving now anyway" he smirked "ja-ne"
"You're not leaving" Mizuki's eyes shrank to pin heads at the voice, he quickly turned as several kunai exploded from the darkness of the forest thick chains trailing behind them, each kunai wrapping around a limb before planting themselves in the dirt.
"You're coming with me" Naruto saw Iruka's stance relax as a tall man wearing a trench coat entered the clearing,
"Ibiki-san… It's about time" the man raised an eyebrow at Iruka,
"What was that runt?" Iruka had the decency to look sheepish as several ANBU entered the clearing
"We were told to let the events play out Iruka, I hope the Hokage isn't too annoyed with you" the brunette sighed and nodded, before glancing back at Naruto.
"Do you have a medic?" Ibiki shook his head and nodded in the direction of two ANBU, the two then stalked toward Naruto, quickly removing the Kunai then disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
"He's been taken to Konoha general, the Hokage is probably already there" Iruka nodded and allowed a final look at Mizuki before turning toward the city.
Ω
Sarutobi stood with a stony expression on his face, he removed his pipe from his mouth and released a thin stream of smoke, all the while his eyes staring at the blonde laid out on the hospital bed before him… this was not a situation he had foreseen, he never meant for Naruto to discover the fox from anyone but himself, this would make him less trustworthy in the blondes eyes and he knew it. His eyes narrowed slightly as he returned the pipe to his mouth, he needed to handle this delicately… a rogue Jinjuriki was the last thing he, or the village needed right now.
As if on cue Naruto shifted in his sleep and began to raise his head, blinking repeatedly in an obvious attempt to focus his eyes, Sarutobi stubbed out his pipe and waited for Naruto to acknowledge him.
"O-old man?" Sarutobi nodded
"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?" the boy raised is palms and stared at his fingers for a few seconds
"Everything a bit blurry" he sounded as if he was still half asleep,
"You lost a lot of blood, you will feel better by tomorrow" the blonde seemed satisfied as he let his head flop back down onto the pillow. Silence reigned for almost twenty minutes before the blonde mustered his courage.
"Why… didn't you tell-"
"Would it have changed anything?" the man cut him off, the blonde looked thoughtful for a second before closing his eyes
"Yes, at least I would have known" the boy whispered so quietly the old man wasn't sure if he was supposed to have heard it, he sighed and glanced out the window. It was necessary to hide it from Naruto… if he had known, then he would probably have tried to tap into it's power to get revenge, he was only a child after all… he had heard horror stories from Suna about their Jinjuriki, he was confident he had made the right decision.
"I'm sorry Naruto, I know I should have told you… but I did what I thought was right" the blonde didn't respond immediately, a few seconds passed where the elderly man gauged his reaction, then the boy nodded almost imperceptibly. The man mentally patted himself on the back, at least he wouldn't have to worry right now, Jinjuriki are almost not worth the hastle. He was by no means prejudice against the blonde, and he did revere him as a hero, but at such a young age… with so much power, there was no denying the Jinjuriki were dangerous.
"Mizuki-sensei was lying then, wasn't he… about the exam" It wasn't a question, the elderly Hokage nodded,
"I'm afraid so Naruto, you'll have to finish at the academy, with the rest" the boy didn't seem disappointed by this,
"I suppose I should've seen it… straight to chunin.. That's crazy" he managed a small smile, " At least I won't make the same mistake again" The Hokage showed little emotion as he stood silently at the foot of the bed, inside he was seething… Mizuki would indeed be punished for this,
"Continue to work hard and you will become a strong ninja Naruto, tonight proved that" the blonde smiled at the ceiling,
"Thanks old man" he raised his head as he spoke, to realise the room was now empty, a small sigh escaped his lips, again he lowered his head, slipping into evil dreams.
Ω
Aiko stared at Naruto's seat, directly in front of her… It wasn't uncommon for him to miss a lesson, or even an entire day, but over the last few months he had begun to enjoy his time at the academy, she could tell… maybe it was the fact that he was actually being tutored now, or maybe it was to do with her? She pinched her brow at the thought… what made her think of that? It was absurd, of course… she hadn't really had much interaction with the boy, aside from a few shared meals, with Iruka and the occasional morning training session. But the point was, him missing a day was raising alarm bells for her…
"Aiko, please pay attention, I know you've heard it all before, but-" She glanced at Iruka, he looked tired, maybe even hurt… he was usually a lot more enthusiastic in his lessons.
"I will, sorry" the man nodded and continued his lecture, turning to the large blackboard. As soon as he did she returned her focus onto Naruto's seat… Something must've happened to him, I need to ask Iruka-sensei about it after class…
Ω
The lunch bell shook Aiko from her thoughts, she glanced around to see most of the class filing out of the room, Iruka returning to his desk and retrieving a pen from a pocket on his flak jacket. She remained still for a few seconds, waiting for the other students to leave the room, before climbing out of her seat and walking over to the desk.
"I can't tell you what happened Aiko" the man spoke without even looking up from the papers scattered on his desk, she swallowed… it couldn't be good then.
"I-is he hurt?" the man let out a very quiet sigh before dropping the pen onto the desk and leaning back into his chair, shifting his weight from one arm rest to the other. Still not making eye contact.
"He lost a lot of blood, if it was any other student, they would probably be dead" at this point he raised his head to meet hers, she swiftly glanced to the floor, not entirely sure how to take the news.
"He's at Konoha General, tell the receptionist I sent you" the girl nodded and turned toward the class room door,
"He'll be fine, don't worry" his voice was confident and held a trace of a smirk, as if he was in on some kind of joke she wasn't aware of. She made her way over to the class room door… what should she do? What could she do? She sighed under her breath then raised her head and walked towards the lunch hall, Naruto probably wouldn't miss her anyway.
Ω
"Murderer.." Naruto woke with a start, snapping himself alert with a single fluid motion, his breathing was heavy as he clinged to the bed sheets like a child. Cold sweat matted his skin and hair making the hospital gown stick to his form. A few seconds passed while he regained his breath, the same word resonating in his head… Murderer. He lightly slapped his cheeks to rid himself of the voice, though it made no difference. Eventually the echo repeated itself into inexistence. He was used to Iruka being there when he awoke in hospital, this time he wasn't… it was slightly scary if he was honest, he shook his head and swooped his legs out from under the blanket. Cringing slightly from the cold floor he rose to his feet, pulling back the curtain that obscured his view of the rest of the ward… Just as he had hoped, his clothes were neatly folded on a table, along with a closed envelope. He eyed the letter with caution. He'd never received good news through one, grimacing slightly he peeled open the envelope and pulled out its contents.
"Naruto,
I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you to wake up, but without Mizuki-teme at the academy, I can't afford to miss a lesson,
I hope you understand, so get well soon, Iruka
P.s – Follow your nurses orders this time! "
The boy read over it a few times before grinning, even though Iruka couldn't stay, he wanted to, it was nice to have someone worry about him. He spared no time in getting changed and so threw his clothes on as he ran through the ward leaving only his gown behind. But this was an odd situation… where should he go? Usually he would go and train in the forest over the Hokage monument, but some part of him wanted to go to class, to see Iruka. He narrowed his eyes at the strange desire… never before had he WANTED to go to the academy, to lessons… A few seconds passed where he stood silently staring down two roads, leading in two directions, in one direction he could see the entrance to the Academy, in the other he could see the crown of the monument…
"Naruto?" The boy flinched so hard he fell over, glancing up he saw two boys,
"How come you're so late?" Naruto climbed to his feet quickly and ran returned his eyes to look at the two, Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji. He raised his hand to the back of his neck and laughed quietly,
"Ah I was in the hospital again" Chouji tilted his head in apparent concern whilst the Nara fractionally raised an eyebrow before returning it to its place.
"Again Naruto? Mah, you have to be more careful" Naruto grinned and glanced down the road to the academy.. 'I guess I'll go back with these two'
Ω
Naruto sighed as he leaned back into the wooden chair, silently he cast his mind back over the last few months… He had made a lot of progress as a shinobi, and was confident he would be able to pass the genin exam. He smiled to himself as he glanced at Iruka giving his lecture at the front of the room. He owed so much to the man, he'd been training him almost every morning from 6 am until class started at 9 am. But the boy knew that 5 months of training would never be a substitute for the years that the other students had on him, at the moment he was brought to the low end of the class, and able to beat a lot of Sasuke's fangirls in a spar easily, which Naruto thought the Uchiha was secretly grateful for. After all once they had realised that Dead Last was able to beat them in a spar they began to up their own training, leaving the Uchiha alone to do his brooding in peace.
As well as Iruka he owed his current success to Inuzuka Aiko, she was an odd girl, just a year older than him, but seemed to be extremely knowledgeable and skilled. He dared a glance over his shoulder to see the girl half asleep on her desk, as if feeling his stare she glanced at him, then smiled sparing a curt wave, he grinned and allowed a small wave back, before turning back to the front of the room. She was quite a bit taller than him, maybe a few inches taller than Sasuke, always wearing the same jacket that Kiba wore, maybe it was a clan thing? He wasn't sure. Her hair was short and unruly, a dark brown like her puppies which was now getting to be a lot bigger than Akamaru, when she had joined the class they were a similar size, but now her dog was almost twice as big and had to walk for itself rather than in the girls hood, he had a feeling Chicho was going to grow into a very large dog.
But again the boy sighed, as much as he liked the girl he didn't consider her a friend. She was always acting strange around him, almost suspicious… he wasn't sure if he liked it, a number of times he had caught her looking at him during lunch breaks or spars, but she wasn't staring in the same way Sakura would stare at Sasuke, it was different… way different, like she was confused and annoyed at the same time. All the same… if, no, when, he passed the genin exam he did secretly hope to be on her team. The blonde was shaken from his thoughts when a firm knock on the door signalled the return of a student from the examination room, proudly showing off his brand new hitai-ate, Iruka nodded approvingly at the boy before turning back to the class,
"Naruto! You're up! Remember relax, breath and take your time" the blonde nodded as he stood from his desk and slowly made his way towards the examination room, as he left the room he glanced back and saw Aiko giving him a thumbs up from her seat. He smiled as he left and began the short walk to the room knocking twice and waiting for approval, a few seconds passed before a familiar voice sounded from behind the wood, allowing him entry. He blinked in confusion as he opened the door, coming face to face with three white haired men and an instructor he recognised to be the examiner, looking at the four in turn he only recognised two of them. The Hokage was the first to speak,
"Hello there Naruto-kun, I hope you don't mind if myself and these" he gestured to the other two white haired men in the room, "stay and observe, would you?" the boy shook his head slowly, not entirely trusting his voice, he could tell without being told that these men wielded a lot of power. The Hokage nodded and took a seat, motioning for one of the other white haired to sit as well, as he did Naruto was able to get a proper look at his clothes… which were in a word, bizarre. He wore a dirty green shirt and trouser combo, with a flowing red over coat which lacked sleeves, as he sat he un-slung a large scroll from his back and placed it against his chair. On his forehead he wore a horned head band with the kanji for oil… was this man even part of the leaf village? He seemed to be very familiar with the Hokage, so the boy assumed he must be in some way. As for the other white haired man, he was unremarkable, aside from the large amount of his face that was covered. Only one eye was left visible and that was currently tucked into a small orange book, the other eyes was covered by his slanted hitai-ate, aside from that he wore the normal Jounin attire and so Naruto was accurately able to tell he was part of the village. A few seconds passed in silence before the examiner coughed, clearly uncomfortable with so many men in the room, he then turned to Naruto and spoke.
"Uzumaki Naruto, in order to pass this exam you will need to successfully execute the bunshin and henge jutsu. Feel free to start with either" Naruto shifted his gaze from the examiner to each of the other men in turn, the Hokage and Red Jacket steadily returned his gaze but the Cyclops seemed to interested in the book to take notice,
"Um, sensei" the man nodded for the boy to continue, "Is it okay if I do a kage bunshin instead of a regular?" the Cyclops looked up from his book, other than that gave little to no reaction to the sentence, the Hokage and Red Jacket gave no reaction at all, the examiner how ever allowed his eyes to widen slightly and his mouth to fall open for a second before composing himself.
"I… I guess, if you think you can" the blonde nodded before forming the seal and closing his eyes, speaking the name of the technique at an audible volume,
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu" a second later there were three blondes standing in front of the spectators, the examiner sat back in his chair and smiled broadly, before making a larger than average tick on his grading sheet, everyone missed the Cyclops' visible eye widen very slightly at the use of the technique. All three Naruto's shifted their seals into the henge and spoke together,
"Henge" a small plume of steam erupted and cleared slowly to reveal an accurate presentation of the Hokage, the Red Jacket and the examiner. A few seconds passed while those present scanned for inaccuracies, finding none the examiner nodded and picked up a hitai-ate holding it out for the blonde to take.
"Uzumaki Naruto, I am proud to present you with this hitai-ate, it is a symbol of your service to the village, wear it proudly!" the blonde took it and gave a mock salute before bowing and thanking the examiner, then nodding to the others present giving them all a large smile.
"Well done Naruto-kun, you've improved a lot lately… I have no doubt you will become a very powerful ninja" the blonde thanked the elderly Hokage before turning and running back to Iruka's class room, already wearing the headband across his forehead. As the door closed the Hokage spoke again.
"So what are your thoughts Kakashi?" the Cyclops shifted his eye back to the book and a few seconds passed while those present thought he wouldn't answer,
"I think he has potential… You're sure you want me to be his instructor?" the old man nodded as the man with the Red Jacket stood up
"You know sensei, it's not really fair to force two students onto the same guy…" Sarutobi nodded slowly before responding
"I know it's not normally done… but it is necessary, we need your sharingan to watch over the Kyuubi vessel and to help the Uchiha unlock his own" the man now identified as Kakashi sighed and nodded as if to himself,
"Yeah I get it… but can I ask for one thing in return?" the man raised his eyes from the book to look the elderly man directly in the eye, waiting for his approval to continue, the man sighed and checked himself, he was sure Kakashi wouldn't take advantage of this situation to do anything to outrageous and nodded. The Cyclops returned his eye to the book and spoke
"I want the right to pick my third student with absolutely no restrictions" the Red Jacket laughed and turned to the Hokage,
"I think that's a fair deal sensei, accept before he asks for something worse" the elderly man nodded
"Okay Kakashi, you'll have total freedom to pick any student within that class. I'm afraid that's the best I can do for now, have your choice ready for tomorrow or it'll be luck of the draw" Kakashi nodded and told the pair that he'd stay to observe the other genin hopefuls to determine a good choice. Sarutobi nodded and made a short bow to the examiner
"Pardon the intrusion Aoba-san, feel free to continue your examinations now, Jiraiya, we'd better go before the next student arrives" the Red Jacket nodded and walked towards the door, opening it to see a short girl with her hand extended as if about to knock, stepping aside to allow her to enter he glanced at the Hokage who was walking towards the door, as he passed the girl he wished her luck then continued out.
"Are you sure about this sensei… putting all of the villages sharingan onto one team is just asking for disaster, add the vessel and you're looking at a serious gamble" The hokage took a few seconds to respond, pausing often as he spoke, obviously doubting his own thoughts on the matter.
"The only other alternative is to have Yamato-san take the vessel and teach him… but that way he will be without a team. Yamato is not ready to be a Jounin instructor yet, and so Naruto will meet him when they are both ready" as he finished speaking the elderly man began to sound confident… yes. This was the right… or the only way to do things right now.
"And the matter of the sharingan?" Jiraiya already knew there was nothing to be done… after all Kakashi was the only living man in the world willing to teach the Uchiha how to use his sharingan, and so he wasn't surprised when the Hokage decided against answering the question at all.
Ω
The next day Naruto found himself sitting beside Sakura Haruno, she was one of the first fangirls he'd managed to beat and one of the last to start training seriously… at one point a few weeks before he had the beginnings of a crush on the girl, but that was swiftly rushed after seeing her continue to chase Sasuke after the other girls in the class had began to take their training more seriously, on the other side of the kunoichi hopeful was the Sasuke Uchiha, brooding silently, taking no notice of the pink haired girl jabbering in his ear. A few minutes passed before their instructor arrived, calling for quiet, all those that weren't already in their seats began to walk towards them, quickly ending any conversations before waiting for their instructor to give them their teams.
"Okay class, first off I want to say it has been more than an honour teaching all of you, you will all make fine shinobi one day, I just hope you remember your old teacher when you're all clan heads" the man ruffled his own hair and laughed at his own joke before walking over to his desk, retrieving a piece of paper. Holding it up for all to see he spoke in a much more serious tone,
"This is the list that has all of your teams and sensei's on it. I'll run through it now and again when the jounin arrive, any questions?" when no hands rose into the air the man began to read down the list.
With each team that was read out the blonde grew more excited and nervous, they were already at team six and he hadn't been named yet, only ten teams were being named this year, meaning any left over's would be kept on the roster for the next genin selection.
"Team seven! The Jounin in charge of this group will be Hatake Kakashi-" a second later the heavy wooden door exploded off its hinges and fell onto the floor, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the white haired man from the day before stroll into the room, the Cyclops.
"Oh… you can't have heard me knocking, did someone just say my name?" Iruka raised an eyebrow at the man and then sighed,
"You're early Kakashi… about forty five minutes early" The man gasped and staggered backwards as if he'd been struck,
"B-but Hokage-sama told me orientation started an hour ago!" Iruka slapped his forehead and growled
"That's probably because you're always late!" Kakashi 'Humphed' and pulled out his orange book, immediately his aura changed, from the seemingly childish or fun character to the calm collected ninja that was now visible,
"Well that's enough Iruka… I'll collect my students early then" the scarred chunin stiffened slightly at the change before turning back to the list,
"Team Seven will be, Aiko Inuzuka, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha" the three students exchanged glances before Naruto stood, he stared into the one visible eye of his teacher for a few seconds before walking down towards the bottom of the room, followed a few seconds later by Aiko, then Sasuke. Kakashi cast an eye over the Uchiha who bristled slightly under his gaze. Returning his eyes to the book he called for the three to follow him to the roof.
Ω
When the four arrived at the roof the Kakashi in front of them burst into steam, revealing him to be a shadow clone, a few seconds passed in silence, Naruto's eyes wide… that technique… the kage bunshin…
"Yo" he slowly turned his head to the balcony where he saw his teacher leaning against the barrier shamelessly reading his novel, not even sparing them a passing glance.
"So you're my cute little students?" Sasuke sighed under his breath but said nothing, the three approached the man but then sat on the steps in front of him, expecting him to explain himself. A few minutes passed in silence before Naruto spoke up,
"That technique… the kag-"
"The Kage bunshin, yes, what about it?"
"How did you lear-"
"A better question would be: how did you?" Naruto squirmed from his position but chose to speak again, ignoring the questioning looks from Aiko and Sasuke
"You can teach me to use it better?" the man raised his eye from his book for the first time that Naruto saw,
"That's what teachers are for… but not right now" the man closed his book and placed it within his pouch, looking at each genin in turn,
"Okay then… why don't you introduce yourselves?" when neither of the three made a move to start the man stood up from his leaning position and bent forward,
"Maybe I should start… My name is Hatake Kakashi, you can call me Kakashi-sensei, I enjoy reading and being challenged, I live by my nindo, which is to always put my comrades before my mission and I dislike those who don't" he then gestured to Naruto "You next blondie" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the nickname but chose to let it pass,
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like Iruka-sensei and ramen, I dislike those who judge me and seafood ramen, I guess I've never really thought about a nindo… that's about all" the man nodded satisfied then pointed at Aiko, who was scratching chicho under his chin
"Inuzuka next" the girl nodded and began to speak
"My name is Inuzuka Aiko, I like Chicho and my clan, I dislike being told what to do by people I don't respect and really cold weather, my goal is to make my clan proud" again Kakashi nodded before glancing at Sasuke, which was enough to show he was next.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't really like anything, and there is one thing I hate more than anything… my goal is not a dream, but an ambition… to kill a certain man" Kakashi narrowed his eye almost imperceptibly before nodding again. So… a vessel and a revenge driven Uchiha… great… At least I was able to get the Inuzuka girl… her and the pup will help them pull together, team work is usually second nature to the Inuzuka clan.
"Okay good, you're all different and have different styles… first things first though, we'll have a survival exercise tomorrow, for today you're dismissed" the jounin began to walk towards the stairs before Aiko spoke, she stood up as she asked the question that was burning in all three genin's ears
"Survival exercise? But we already passed the academy, why do we need more practice?" the man slowed to a stop then turned on his heel, meeting her with full eye contact.
"This isn't a normal exercise… it's a test, your final test before becoming official genin… and the pass rate is 66% which means one of you will definitely fail and be sent back to the academy for another year" a few seconds passed in silence while the information sunk into the three, Naruto spoke next.
"Th-that's crazy! There's no way you'd send us back, is there?" the man looked thoughtful for a second before he spoke again,
"I suppose you're right, after all most genin who fail this test give up being ninja's at all" he smiled sweetly at the three
"I'd avoid breakfast if I were you as well, you'll only throw it up anyway" he then disappeared within a stream of leaves. The three spared a glance at each other, each thinking the same thing…
'It won't be me!'