"Naruto! Hurry up or you're going to be late!"
"Fuckfuckfuck! I'm late! Where's my jacket!? I left it on the floor in the hallway!"
"In the closet where it's supposed to be you slob! And don't curse so much!"
Naruto blows through the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast from the table and rushing to the door, stopping only the grab his jacket and put on his shoes.
"Thanks mom, love ya, bye!" He yells back before storming out, leaving the door wide open. He can hear a faint Damn it Naruto, I told you not to call me that! I'm not your mother!!
"—once again congratulate you all on passing the preliminaries and thank you for your participation in this one of a kind program. So without further ado, I would like to—"
A loud bang resonates through the room as the door slams open to reveal an out of breath Naruto.
"Sorry I'm late! I slept in by accident!"
The entire room stares, most disapprovingly at his tardiness and brash entrance, some in awe of his careless honesty.
"Oh! Gramps, you're here, too? I didn't expect—"
"Naruto." The president says sharply. The boy in question flinches and quiets immediately. "Take your seat and be silent."
Naruto looks around, realizing for the first time that they are in the middle of the orientation meeting.
"Ah! Sorry, my bad!" He says rubbing the back of his neck apologetically and taking the closest seat he could find. The dark haired boy next to him levels him a vaguely appalled look before turning away.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the president of Burning Leaf Records, clears his throat authoritatively and continues.
"Now then, as I was saying, I will now explain the fundamentals of the program.
"As of this moment there are twelve participants who have passed the preliminary evaluation. You all have been selected based on talent, charisma, breadth of skill, and other factors that this company has deemed necessary for success in a band setting.
"You will be divided in to groups of three and assigned a manager to help you develop your band. Each group has been selected by a committee of experts to have the highest possible chance for success, and as such I expect each team to cooperate together to create a unified sound and style.
"You will have three months to prepare for a live performance that will be judged both by a panel of critics and the audience. Please keep in mind that there is a recording contract at stake here and we are looking for nothing short of excellence. Are there any questions?"
The room is silent.
"Very well. We'll break for fifteen minutes and then announce the groups and managers." With that everyone is dismissed and directed towards a lounge with drinks and food.
Naruto takes a brief look around the room.
He recognizes a few people from his school. That mutt Kiba, the lovely Sakura, that one girl with her hair in buns whose name he always forgets… He's seen the blond girl hanging out with Sakura before and the guy with the ponytail and the fat kid inhaling the doughnuts look kind of familiar…
Still there were a good few people he's never seen before. There are what looks like a pair of twin girls with really big pale eyes, though it's weird that they're at opposite sides of the room… and upon closer inspection one of them is not a girl… some really hyper guy with a shiny bowl cut, some guy in a big coat and sunglasses, and that bastard who had glared at him at the meeting.
"Hey Naruto! Smooth entrance there buddy!" Kiba says loudly and laughs, hitting him on the back. "You certainly know how to make an impression!"
"Oh shove it Kiba. You're just jealous of my mad popularity!"
"Seriously though dude, couldn't you have at least tried to make up an excuse? 'Sides, this is serious business man. We're talking about the possibility of a contract!"
"I know, I know, geez! Come to think of it weren't you already in band? Did you ditch them or something?"
Kiba scowls. "The bastards ditched me more like. The lead guy had a bone to pick with me and the whole thing blew up into a huge fiasco. Dropped me faster than a hot rock. Ungrateful fuckers. I started that goddamn band!"
The other boy looks about ready to rip up the fancy leather couch they are leaning against.
"Easy there boy, heel!" Naruto says chidingly. "We'll it's their loss, right? You can rub it in their faces later when you're famous and swimming in cash!"
Kiba blinks at him before laughing. "Fuck yeah!"
Kiba is not what Naruto would consider a friend. They had hated each other's guts for the longest time, since Kiba was always calling him a retard and a loser and Naruto thought Kiba was a hot tempered asshole. But after a few years of constant bickering they finally got into a huge fistfight and mutually beat the shit out of each other until they stopped caring.
Now, Kiba still calls Naruto a retard and a loser and Naruto still thinks Kiba is a hot tempered asshole, but they're more likely to take good-natured jabs at each other and provide a jointly ignored not-quite-camaraderie than try to tear out each other's throats.
Naruto's eyes wander over to the lovely Sakura, who he's had a crush on for years now. She's chatting animatedly with her blond friend, Ino or something, and swooning over that black haired prick. Fate is cruel like that, because in spite of Naruto's less than subtle interest she's hardly ever even given him the time of day.
She notices him out of the corner of her eye, and gives him a rather patronizing look before turning back to Ino.
"Dude, didn't I tell you last time to give it up? You don't stand a chance. Girls are troublesome like that."
Naruto looks back over next to Kiba, where the guy with the spiky ponytail and the fatty have meandered over.
"…last time? Do I know you?"
The ponytailed guy rolls his eyes and mutters something like How troublesome under his breath.
"Shikamaru and Chouji." The fatty says between bites of doughnut. "From Sakura's party a few months ago, remember?"
"Oh!" Naruto says as the memories flood back. He had used Chouji as a meat shield to sneak into the party unnoticed since he hadn't technically been invited. (He had been sure Sakura just lost his invitation and assumed he would come.) Between Chouji's sheer girth and Shikamaru's quick thinking, he got in unscathed, and had actually chatted with them for a while. It turns out that they were good friends with Ino, which was the only reason they were invited.
Of course after that, the word fat had been casually tossed out at some point and Chouji made a huge scene (and almost broke Naruto's neck), in which he was discovered and thrown out on his ass. Good times overall.
"Right you guys! How've you been!? I didn't know you guys were into music!"
"Ino." The say in simultaneous defeat.
Naruto nods sagely. "I see, that makes sense."
Ino always did strike him as the controlling type. She and Sakura are rather good friends, but she's more or less always leading between the two of them. Although at times he swears they're rivals, going back and forth with boar and forehead like terms of endearment. Girls are mysterious like that.
Before he can inquire any further however, the president's secretary steps into the room and calls them back to the meeting room.
After everyone files in and takes a seat, taking note of the people standing in the back of the room, the president begins speaking.
"Now then, I'm sure you're all very eager to meet your bandmates and managers, so I'll get right to it. Please stand as I call your names.
"Sakura Haruno…" She stands.
"Sasuke Uchiha …" The black haired bastard stands up coolly and Sakura smiles gleefully, nearly glowing.
"and Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto shoots up with a whoop of delight and Sakura's posture immediately deflates. Sasuke doesn't even look their way.
"You will be working with Hatake Kakashi."
The three look around curiously.
"Hatake Kakashi" The president repeats.
No one moves.
"KAKASHI!!" He roars irritably.
A man with spiky grey hair and a scarf piled up over the bottom half of his face looks up suddenly from the book he was reading.
"Ah, did someone call me?"
The president rubbed his temples. "Kakashi, these are the three you will be working with."
Kakashi looks them over blankly, giving them a lazy half salute. "Oh. Nice to meet you team."
The president sighs and gestures for them to sit before continuing.
"Now then, where was I… Shino Aburame…" The guy with the long coat and glasses stands calmly.
"Hinata Hyuuga…" The girl with really light eyes stands bashfully and she nods in Shino's direction.
"and Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba looks slightly disappointed, but stands after a moment's hesitation.
"You will be working with Kurenai Yuuhi." A long, dark haired (rather attractive) lady steps forward, striking red eyes smiling.
"I look forward to working with you all." She says warmly. Shino and Hinata nod her way respectfully and Kiba just blinks.
The president inclines for them to sit and continues.
"Next… Chouji Akimichi…" He stands, still munching on a doughnut.
"Shikamaru Nara…" He grumbles about having to get up, but does eventually.
"and Ino Yamanaka." Ino stands energetically, smiling one-sidedly at her friends.
"You will be working with Asuma Sarutobi." A man who is about to light a cigarette looks up.
"Ah, that would be me. Nice to meet you guys."
The president glares at him until his sighs and puts away the cigarette.
"Moving on… Neji Hyuuga…" The guy with light eyes that Naruto thought was a girl stood stiffly.
"Rock Lee…" The guy with the shiny bowl cut stood enthusiastically.
"and Tenten Xiong-Mao." The girl whose name Naruto can never remember stands.
"You will be working with Might Guy." A man whose bowl cut actually outshines the other guy's nearly leaps forward, smiling broadly and gives them thumbs up.
"GREETINGS MY MOST EXCELLENT STUDENTS. I LOOK FORWARD TO BEING YOUR GUIDE THROUGH THESE EXCITING TIMES OF YOUTH!"
Everyone flinches at the intensity of his voice, save for Lee, who gives him a spirited thumbs up back.
The president coughs and everyone sits again.
"Now then, this meeting is officially over, but now would be a good time to get to know your managers and bandmates. Any questions will be answered by your manager. I wish you all the best of luck. You are dismissed."
AN: So yeah, I made a band AU because AUs are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine and I wanted to see how well I could adapt the general plot of Naruto into a music industry setting. As a forewarning, I can't write music for shit, so I'll probably using existing songs I've found on the internet/radio/whatever, that seem appropriate for the character/tone/situation/whatever, with a BSed explanation to be provided at a later date should I ever get around to continuing this thing. You can see my profile for more on that. If anyone has suggestions on songs/genres/etc please don't be shy and I'll be sure to credit you if I use it. Oh right and...
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE PLOT/CHARACTERS OF NARUTO, NOR ANY SONGS/BANDS/LYRICS/ETC MENTIONED OR REFERENCED FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, OR MAKE ANY PROFIT FROM THEM THROUGH THE PUBLISHING OF THIS STORY.
That being said, thank you for reading! :D