Aljan Moonfire does not own Naruto or Bleach

"Normal Speech."

'Normal Thoughts.'

"Demonic/Godly/Summon Speech." - also used for jutsu, with translations in brackets.

'Demonic/Godly/Summon Thoughts.'

"Otherworldly Speech."

'Otherworldly Thoughts.' - italics will also be used for both temporary and full flashbacks or dreams.

.-. - POV or scene change.

Chapter 3 – Konohamaru

The wind was cold. That was the first thing Naruto noticed.

Looking up, the second thing he noticed was that it was the bright full moon that was illuminating the space around him with a soft silver glow. Diamond-bright pinpricks of light also glinted across the dark blanket of the night sky.

Blinking slowly in leisurely contemplation he idly wondered, 'Where am I?'

On turning his head to survey his immediate surroundings, he found that he was in the middle of a very familiar field covered in long grass that was interspersed with occasional white flowers.

But that wasn't what had immediately caught his attention anyway; it was the small boy that stood before him. A very familiar boy at that. 'Ah, it's a dream then.' He thought. Then he stiffened at a slight rustling of the grass behind him. Turning, he frowned at the person he found himself looking at. 'No, more like a memory.'

The person he had turned to face was a boy also, though he appeared to be around his current age and had equally long dark hair. He moved to the side slightly so he no longer stood between the two. He remembered this night very well. The boy he had first seen – one that unmistakably wore his own younger face – smiled at the other. The second boy smiled back, though it was a bit strained.

Neither showed any indication that they ever noticed that the elder Naruto was there at all. It didn't surprise him.

And the memory played out just as he remembered it happening.

As the second boy finally vanished in a swirl of wind he closed his eyes against the sight of his devastated younger self. Even now he couldn't really understand what had caused the other boy's actions that night. As far as he knew, no one did. Still… he knew there had to be a reason. A good one.

'Is it all right if I still miss you?' he wondered to himself as he felt his surroundings blur with the onset of consciousness. 'Itachi-nii…?'

.-.

Naruto did not wake slowly. When he opened his eyes he was already fully aware. He then sat up and ran a hand through his long hair, now loose from its customary tail. His fingers caught momentarily in the small knots that had formed in his sleep. He glanced out the window quickly and was glad to find that the sun was only just rising. Good. He had plenty of time then.

Fifteen minutes later found the blond boy finishing off a quick breakfast as he strolled out the door. Not even bothering to look around at the empty streets he then quickly jumped to the roof of a nearby building and continued in the direction of the training grounds. On reaching them he then entered the training ground he'd had to pass up the previous night and began his morning exercises.

As he stripped off his sleeveless hoodie and laid it and his sword on a nearby training stump he thought back to the day and night before. It had been quite productive, if he did say so himself. He had passed the graduation exam easily enough, even though he'd been a bit preoccupied through most of it. Then he'd managed to interrupt that fight between Iruka and…um…well…that traitor.

He'd managed to get something useful out of that as well. He'd only been able to take a long enough look to memorize the description and handseals of the first technique on the scroll before the Anbu squad had arrived, but the jutsu looked to be worth all the trouble he'd gone through.

'So,' He thought as he cracked his knuckles and turned away from the stump, 'the Shadow Clone Technique, huh?'

.-.

Later That Day…

"So, you ready then, kid?" the rather portly man asked as he adjusted the lens of the camera.

"Just get on with it already." The blond boy answered, glaring at the device with irritation. What was the point in having photos in shinobi profiles anyway? He shifted uncomfortably on the wooden stool.

The photographer arched an eyebrow at the kid's attitude but complied readily enough and said, "Well then, smile!"

Naruto just glared harder, and a flash of light momentarily blinded the irritated subject of the photograph. How annoying.

.-.

Sarutobi stared unflinchingly into the dark blue eyes of the genin before him. The boy returned the look unwaveringly. Deciding to stop this before they ended up locked in what promised to be a very long staring contest, he sighed, somewhat exasperated.

"Is there a reason why you look so angry in this picture, Naruto?" he asked.

The boy huffed in irritation and crossed his arms. "I just don't like having my picture taken." He attempted to defend himself.

The Sandaime took another look at the profile and the angry eyes that glared at him from the photo. He sighed again. "I think that's an understatement." He commented under his breath. Then he raised his eyes once again to look at the pre-teen before him. "Well, other than that though, you're all set. Be at the academy tomorrow at ten for team assignments."

Naruto nodded and rose to his feet. "Okay then old man, I'll see you –" he began, but was interrupted by a childish war cry.

"Fight me, old geezer!" The source of the shout was a small boy who seemed to be around eight years old. An odd sort of hat gathered his hair into an awkward tuft at the top of his head and a ridiculously long scarf fluttered behind him. One of the boy's hands braced itself against the ground as the other awkwardly clutched what seemed to be a recently pilfered shuriken and made to throw it in the direction of the Hokage.

Naruto just blinked in surprise and slight irritation at the sudden interruption. The Hokage sighed again, a puff of smoke wafting up into the air. 'Really, again…?' he thought exasperatedly. 'What is Ebisu doing?'

"Oh no, not again!" came another shout from outside the room, echoing the Hokage's own thoughts.

'Well, that answers that question.' Sarutobi thought dryly.

Even as Ebisu shoved open the door of the room, the small boy tripped over himself and faceplanted in the floor. The two new arrivals immediately froze and made simultaneous exclamations of shock and pain, respectively.

Then the boy raised his head, clutching at it in pain and shouted, "Damn it! Who set that trap?" The question didn't seem to be directed at anyone in particular.

"Are you alright?" Ebisu asked the boy, just as loud. "And there aren't any traps anywhere!" he answered. The boy was clearly ignoring him though.

Naruto looked down at the small boy from where he was standing with a raised eyebrow. 'Who the hell is this kid anyway?' he wondered to himself.

That was when Ebisu noticed the other occupant of the room and immediately fixed a familiar cold glare on the pre-teen. 'The Kyuubi-brat…'

"Hey!" the boy suddenly yelled again, standing and pointing at Naruto, "You're then one who set that trap, aren't you!"

Naruto just glared at the kid half-heartedly as he attempted to check his hearing with a pinky finger. "You tripped over your own two feet, idiot." He told him, bored and not really feeling like sticking around any longer.

"Hey! Don't insult him!" Ebisu took immediate offense, his voice still loud as he gestured at Sarutobi. "He's the Hokage's grandson!"

Naruto blinked slowly, looked back at the kid, and then looked incredulously at said man. The expression on his face said clearly what he was thinking. You've got to be kidding me…

The Sandaime nodded back at pre-teen in confirmation with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

Catching the exchange of expressions, but not exactly the emotions conveyed, Konohamaru ground his teeth in frustration. 'Now that he knows who I am he won't dare do anything. He's just like everyone else –' Konohamaru's thoughts were then interrupted by Naruto's response.

"And you really think I give a damn?" the genin returned to the jonin uncaringly. He then turned his attention back to the Hokage and repeated what he'd been about to say earlier. "I'll see you later, old man."

He then strolled as lazily as ever from the room, arms folded behind his head. He left behind various reactions to his words. Sarutobi just shook his head in exasperation at the boy's mannerisms as Konohamaru looked after him in awe. 'So cool…'

Ebisu on the other hand was furious, and began ranting at full volume. Eventually the man wound down, the rant having somehow turned into a lecture on his own apparently amazing qualities as an elite instructor. When he turned to look at his intended audience however, said boy was long gone, and the Sandaime was just regarding him with an expression of long suffering.

"Damn it! He got away again!" Ebisu spoke the obvious and looked around himself in a rather useless manner.

Sarutobi sighed, again, and replied, "It seems he followed Naruto."

"No way!" the man looked ridiculously horrified and scrambled to race after the two boys.

The Hokage mostly ignored the reaction as he folded his hands before his face. 'Why did he turn out like this?' he wondered to himself, 'That was the twentieth 'surprise' attack today. That he followed Naruto isn't too worrisome…It might end up being entertaining though.'

Quickly checked to make sure there weren't any over achieving Hokage-slav… desk-chunin… around and on finding none pulled out his crystal orb. Then h paused and stared at it for a moment before activating it with a carefully directed pulse of chakra.

'It's not a peeping orb, damn it!'

.-.

Naruto stopped and sighed in exasperation, eyebrow twitching. Turning around, he glared irritatedly at a small section of fence that had the slats positioned horizontally, unlike the rest of it which was vertical. The small sandaled foot and half of an unmistakable scarf that stuck out from under what was clearly a rather badly botched camouflage technique only queued an increase in the eye-brow twitching.

"Would you stop following me, brat?" he called out.

Konohamaru immediately dropped his clumsy disguise and smirked at the older boy. "Heheh, impressive." He said. "To see through my cover… It seems the rumors about you are true."

Naruto just blinked blankly at the boy, unsure of how to respond. 'That has got to have been one of the most pathetic disguises I've ever seen. And what rumor is he talking about? The only ones I know of aren't anywhere near good…'

"I've decided! I'll make you my boss!" the kid then exclaimed.

Naruto blinked again, but in surprise this time. "Huh?"

"And in exchange," the child continued, oblivious to the older boy's confusion, "Please teach me how to defeat Gramps!"

You could almost see the question mark floating above the genin's head at the request. 'How the hell does he expect me to know how to defeat the strongest ninja in the village?'

"Why do you want me to do that?" he finally asked the other boy.

"Just because! You're really strong, right Boss? Please?" he clenched his hands before his chin and almost begged, "Please, Boss?"

Naruto winced at the boy's watery eyes and finally conceded after a few moments of resistance. 'Well, I was bored anyway…' he thought resignedly. Well, better men then he had fallen to the puppy dog eyes anyway, he tried to comfort himself. It didn't work very well.

"Fine. So, what's your name then, kid?"

.-.

A few minutes later found the two boys in the middle of a small park not far from where Naruto had finally gotten fed up with Konohamaru chasing him around.

"Alright, so what do you know so far?" Naruto asked the younger boy.

Konohamaru immediately stood at attention and gave a listing of what skills he had. It was a short one, to say the least. He was only eight after all.

'Well,' Naruto thought, 'I have no intention of teaching him anything after today – I get my genin team assignment tomorrow after all. He already has a fairly basic control of his chakra too… I suppose perfecting his Henge would suffice for today, but how to spin that into defeating the old man?'

Then a veritable lightbulb went off in his head and he gently slammed a fist into his palm as he said, "Alright, I'll teach him that then."

"Teach me what?" Konohamaru eagerly repeated.

Naruto then kneeled in front of him and said seriously, placing a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder as he did so, "I'm going you to teach a technique that has been expressly forbidden by the Hokage ever since I first showed it to him. It knocked him out in a single shot."

Konohamaru's eyes began to shine with eagerness as he practically vibrated with excitement. "What is it?"

"It's the ultimate technique; and an immediate K.O. for any straight male in sight." Naruto grinned, a slightly evil shine in his eyes. "I call it, the Oiroke no Jutsu."

"Oiroke?" Konohamaru repeated confusedly. 'Sexy..?'

"Yes, the Oiroke no Jutsu. I'll only teach you the most basic form, but hopefully you'll be able to make you own variations eventually." Naruto continued seriously, standing up as he did so. "Are you ready?"

Konohamaru was already bouncing in excitement again. "Yes!"

Naruto only had one thought going through his mind as his rather ominous grin widened, 'Who knew corrupting kids was so much fun?' His zanpakuto choked on a laugh.

.-.

"Now that you understand the basics," said Naruto after he finished explaining the technique (for once the Icha Icha books were actually good for something) "Try it." He ordered.

A puff of smoke surrounded Konohamaru momentarily and then faded to reveal one of the ugliest women Naruto had ever seen. In a bikini. He threw up a little in his throat. "Gah!" he choked out. "No – just, No. Try it again."

Konohamaru tried again. Naruto immediately felt the urge to rip his eyes out.

The older boy then tried to give some advice, "Try to make her more slender! She's supposed to be beautiful!"

Konohamaru tried it yet again.

"No!"

'This is going to take awhile…'

.-.

Ebisu perched on top of one of the taller buildings in the village and raised a hand to shield his eyes as he surveyed his surroundings. It was clear that the instructor was both attempting to look cool and failing miserably. His thoughts only reflected this.

'I am an elite tutor.' The man praised himself proudly, 'I have taught many future Hokage candidates. I will remove any parasite that attempts to infect my student!'

Suddenly he caught sight of something in the distance and smirked before disappearing from the roof with a leap. "There they are…!"

'If you were to learn shinobi skills from me, becoming Hokage will be easy! I'm your number one shortcut to becoming Hokage, young master!'

.-.

Seeing that the smaller boy was getting tired, Naruto quickly told him to take a break and went to get a couple of drinks from a nearby vending machine. As they sat on a log to the side of where they'd been training it suddenly occurred to Naruto that now would probably be a good time to ask about something that'd been bothering him. He supposed he already had once, but perhaps he'd been too indirect…?

"By the way," Naruto began, "Why do you keep attacking your grandpa like that?"

Above him the newly arrived Ebisu gapped at the question. 'Is that brat an idiot? Does he think no one's tried to ask him that before, including me? There's no way –'

His thoughts were then cut off by Konohamaru chucking away the empty can of his drink and beginning to glare at the ground. Then he actually answered, shocking not only the jonin the nearby tree but also himself. "Grandpa was the one who named me Konohamaru; I'm named after the village. It shouldn't be that hard to remember at all, right? But nobody ever calls me by my name." he gritted his teeth in renewed anger.

"Whenever someone talks about me or calls out to me, all they ever see is 'the Hokage's grandson.' No one sees me as me, and I'm sick of it…" he almost hissed. "That's why I want the title of Hokage." He finished, calmer.

"Idiot." Naruto said after a moment of tense silence. "Do you really think it's that simple?"

As Konohamaru rounded on the other boy and made to speak Naruto's voice overwhelmed his as he continued. Up in the tree braches, Ebisu couldn't bring himself to move, curious as to how this would play out despite himself. From what he could see, the boy sitting next to his charge was quite different from what rumor mill said of him though.

"The Hokage is the strongest and most skilled shinobi in the entire village. He leads the village through times of peace and strife and is respected by everyone in it. A Hokage must even be willing to put everything he cares about on the line for the village he serves." His thoughts went unerringly towards his father. "A Hokage is sacrifice." For once his zanpakuto was also silent.

He then turned piercing blue eyes towards his temporary student. "Do you really think this village would let a snot-nosed brat like you lead it?" he gave a short laugh at his own words before quickly becoming serious again, "Besides, if you really want that title…"

"What?" Konohamaru asked, curious, having mostly calmed down again.

Naruto grinned wildly, a flash of gold skipping over his eyes, "…You'll have to beat me to it!"

At this statement, one that left Konohamaru gaping at his newest mentor, Ebisu was broken from the slight trance that had fallen over him as the boy spoke. 'I suppose it's appropriate that the Jinchuuriki would give a lecture like that, but it's about time I intervened. Still, I may have to reevaluate my perceptions of that brat. He may not be as bad as I thought…'

He then made himself known, forming the seals for the shunshin and appearing on a steady tree branch in plain sight. "It seems I've found you." He said, looking down at the two boys.

Naruto though, was a bit confused. He had noticed the tutor glaring at him in the Hokage Tower but now there seemed to be some conflict in his gaze. He wondered what had changed – perhaps it was something he'd said earlier? – but he was quickly broken out of his thoughts by the man speaking again.

"Now, young master, let's go home." He told Konohamaru, jumping from his perch. For the time being he chose to ignore the older boy.

"No way!" Konohamaru yelled back, "I'm going to defeat that old geezer and become the Hokage, so don't get in my way!"

Ebisu, having heard this proclamation many times before simply sighed and ignored the small boy as he began to gather his chakra. Spreading his hands before him he began to give a lecture that had gotten all too familiar of over the past few months. "How many times must I tell you, young master? A Hokage must be a master of every aspect of being a shinobi. You must master over a thousand techniques and…huh?"

Ebisu finally registered Konohamaru's cry of, "Henge!" (Transform) and looked up to see what pathetic rendition of whoever he was attempting to transform into happened this time. Thus it was no surprise that when he saw a very attractive and completely naked brunette teenager where his student had been he was shocked into a stunned silence, his jaw dropping. A trickle of blood escaped his nostrils.

Buts then Konohamaru's real voice said, "Take this, Oiroke no Jutsu!" At the seeming lack of reaction Konohamaru then turned back in another swirl of smoke. "What? It didn't work?"

A vein began to pulse in the man's temple as he exploded in an embarrassed rage, quickly and as discretely as possible wiping away his slight nosebleed as he did so.

"W – Wh – What a perverted technique! I'm a gentleman; such a dirty jutsu would never work on me!" he shouted. 'I take it back, as I thought, that brat is just an immature slacker!' then he continued, reaching out to grab Konohamaru's scarf as he did so, "If you keep hanging around trash like him you'll be infected with his idiocy! Just do as I say! I'm your easiest shortcut to becoming Hokage! Now come on!"

Konohamaru quickly drew away from the tutor and even though he didn't understand some of what the man had said still understood that he was insulting his new boss. "No way! I'm staying and learning from the boss!"

Naruto, who had previously been watching the exchange with lazy amusement, felt his eyebrow twitch at the insult to both him and his first original technique. 'Oh, really? It would never work on you? We'll see about that! I wonder…'

Seeing what he had planned, his zanpakuto practically convulsed in suppressed laughter.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Technique)

At the shout and – on Ebisu's part at least – the large surge of chakra the other two looked up from the argument to stare in shock and – on Konohamaru's part this time – awe that the nearly twenty clones of the pre-teen that had just appeared in nearly simultaneous puffs of smoke.

'What the hell?' thought Ebisu, 'How much chakra does he have? Even I can barely make seven Shadow Clones without suffering chakra exhaustion!'

Konohamaru's thoughts were much simpler and he immediately chose to voice them with wide amazed eyes, "Wow! So cool! That's amazing!"

On hearing this Ebisu snapped out of his shock and began to sneer at the genin. 'Humph, even if there are twenty of them they're still fresh genin. I suppose this is how he defeated that traitor Mizuki last night though.' Then he too chose to voice his thoughts, "Heh, how foolish. I'm an Elite Tutor. I'm nothing like that weakling Mizuki." He sneered.

The now twenty Narutos ignored him and formed a few handseals, ending with the ram sign. "Henge!" they all called out in unison.

"Huh?"

"EBISU-SAMA!"

"Gah!" SPLURT!

Looking on through his scrying orb, the Hokage buried his face in his hand in exasperation.

Konohamaru gaped in shock.

Naruto smirked, dispelling both his clones and the transformation technique, and said, "Harem no Jutsu, success."

Ebisu just groaned helplessly from were he lay nearly unconscious on the other side of the clearing. Before he finally passed out one last thought ran through his mind, 'I really do hate that fox brat after all…'

.-.

Back in his office, Sarutobi groaned again, suppressing his own nosebleed. "Harem no Jutsu, huh?" he muttered, "So he combined that stupid (if effective) 'Sexy' technique of his with the Kage Bunshin. I suppose he took the time to learn it from the Forbidden Scroll. I'll have to make sure he knows the dangers of that technique though."

Directing the orb's view momentarily towards Ebisu he was grateful to see that the man was mostly fine, if unconscious and probably weakened from blood loss. 'Honestly though, I'd probably fall for it too…'

.-.

Back at the park, Konohamaru continued to gush at the genius of the technique. "That was so awesome, Boss! You defeated my tutor!" but then got a little depressed as he continued, "I want a name people will acknowledge me by as well though, and yet…"

'As well? It's not like I have much of name yet myself…' Shaking his head, Naruto gently slapped the younger boy on the back of the head, quickly getting said kid's attention as he crouched slightly before him. "Like I said earlier, it's not that simple. It's the Hokage title we're talking about! Even getting a single person to acknowledge you as worthy for it is really hard, let alone an entire village! So, you better prepare yourself!"

"Prepare myself?" asked Konohamaru.

"Yeah. If you want to be an incredible Hokage that everyone will acknowledge, there's not going to be any shortcuts!"

At that very moment a swift breeze swept through the clearing, sending a multitude of leaves swirling into the air around them. Konohamaru couldn't help but think how cool his newest idol looked. Then what Naruto had said earlier, before Ebisu had interrupted suddenly registered

– "…If you really want that title, you'll have to beat me to it!" -

Konohamaru's eyes widened, and then he frowned and huffed, half turning away from the older boy. "Bah! Stop lecturing me like you know everything… I'm not letting you be my boss anymore!" then he turned around and grinned, a challenge plainly seen in the smile, "From today on, we're rivals!"

Naruto half-smiled back but then rethought it and said, "Sorry, but staring tomorrow I'm taking my first step as a shinobi," and tapped the hitai-ate that was tied loosely around his neck and that Konohamaru had somehow missed until now.

'It's not like I could stand being the rival of an eight year old anyway. I'd feel too pathetic…' he thought

Thankfully, the other boy was unaware of his thoughts, and Naruto continued speaking. "But one day…" The smaller boy looked up at that, "…one day I'll be glad to fight you for the Hokage title! In fact, I'll be looking forward to it…Konohamaru."

.-.

The Next Day…

Naruto smiled slightly as leaned forward on the desk to look out one of the windows. Yesterday had been rather strange; now that he thought back on it at least, but it had been rather entertaining too. It had been a while since he'd gotten to know someone like that. Corrupting the kid had been fun too – he'd even asked for it.

Konohamaru was a good kid, despite his almost constant excessive volume level. Also, despite saying that he was no longer his boss, that kid kept on calling him that, though it also seemed to have become rather interchangeable with 'Naruto-nii' or 'Nii-chan'.

It was interesting, having someone look up to him like that. He wondered, had he acted like that when he'd first met– no, better cut that thought off before it goes anywhere it doesn't need to. There was no point in thinking on the past.

But he was also a shinobi now. He reached up slightly to caress his new forehead protector, tied in what was quickly becoming its customary position around his neck. One step closer to his goal, becoming Hokage, and surpassing his father and all the others who came before him.

He could feel the wordless support of his Zanpakuto in the back of his mind and was silently grateful for it. He didn't know how he would have turned out if he didn't have his support; he may have even turned out like, well, Chicken-butt.

Naruto shuddered at the thought of being like that angsty brooder. Speaking of which… Naruto turned his head to the side to regard the other boy and frowned. He wondered if he made that little raincloud hover his head on purpose…

Then he winced as he heard what could have been approaching thunder. It wasn't though – it was worse. Just about every male in the room (and some of the females too) braced themselves for the noise.

"I WIN!"

"NO YOU DIDN'T! MY FOOT WAS THROUGH THE DOOR FIRST, INO-PIG!"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, FOREHEAD-CHAN! CLEARLY, MY FOOT MY WAS THERE BEFORE YOURS! I'LL BE TAKING THE SEAT BESIDE SASUKE-KUN!"

"NO WAY! I'M SITTING WITH SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto made a valiant effort at ignoring the two banshees, inwardly promising to invest in a good set of earplugs if he ended up with either one on his team. It would prove to be a good decision on his part.

.-.

Iruka opened the door of the classroom to find a very strange sight, even for this class. Well, more like especially for this class.

"Sakura-chan, please stop hitting Sasuke! What ever he did to you it couldn't have been that bad!"

"Eh!" said girl finally noticed just who it was she was striking, "Oh my God! Sasuke-kun! Are you alright! I'm so sorry!"

Iruka almost sighed with relief as things went back to normal and Sakura bean to gush over he long-time crush once more. But how did they end up in that situation in the first place..? His eyes eventually landed on a very amused looking Naruto sitting only a couple of seats away from the commotion and he couldn't help but wonder…

But back to what he was originally doing. "Alright! Now, if everyone's here, we will begin!" Iruka then called out. Immediate anticipatory silence fell as all eyes turned to him.

"My congratulations to all of you who have managed to make it this far. However, the road ahead of you will only get harder from this point on. You are now genin, the lowest of the low, but as such adults. I'm very proud of you all for making it this far and I wish you all luck on the journey ahead of you. If you remember nothing else, remember this; you now represent our village, the oldest and strongest of all shinobi villages. Take pride in that."

At this many of the more exuberant began to cheer, and even some of the most stoic smiled slightly. Well, except for Sasuke of course, and you could never really tell with Shino anyway.

"Now then, as per tradition you have been divided into teams of three along with a jonin instructor. Team 1…" He began to list the names of the teams and their members. Then he got to Team 7. "Team 7, will consist of Uchiha Sasuke," at this name quite a few of the girls in the class, including the two previously mentioned banshees, leaned forward in anticipation, sure that they would be paired with their true love.

Unfortunately, it seemed that only one would get that 'honor'. "Haruno Sakura," Iruka continued, but was then, unsurprisingly, cut off.

"YAHOO! TRUE LOVE WINS!" Then Sakura turned and stuck a tongue out at her rival, "TAKE THAT, INO-PIG!"

"AND!" Iruka cut in raising his voice temporarily to banshee level volume. Then, seeing that he had the fan-girl's attention once again, continued. "Uzumaki Naruto. Your jonin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto and Sakura let out simultaneous groans, and Naruto slammed his head to his desk in despair. 'Kill me now…'

'Well, it can't that bad…?' the zanpakuto's feeble attempt at reassurance did nothing to comfort the boy.

'You know as well as I do that we're doomed 'till I make chunin. What the hell did I do to deserve this old man?' the last part was obviously directed at the Hokage.

'At least you'd already planned on getting some earplugs…'

'Not. Helping.' Naruto deadpanned.

Iruka, meanwhile, had continued with the team assignments. "Team 8: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Your sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai." Much like the first six teams, this team assignment was taken fairly neutrally. The next team…well, not so much.

"Team 9 is still currently in circulation." Iruka said, "And Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino; your jonin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

"WHAT? WHY AM I STUCK WITH THE LAZYASS AND FATASS WHILE FOREHEAD GETS TO BE WITH SASUKE-KUN? THAT'S SO NOT FAIR!" Ino immediately began screeching.

"If you're really that upset, take it up with Hokage-sama, he has the final say in all team assignments." Iruka told her. "Now, you can take a short break. Your senseis will be here in half an hour."

.-.

Two Hours Later…

Sasuke was, as per usual, brooding. But it was about something a bit different than usual for a change. He sat at the far side of the room – as far as he could get from his two other 'teammates'. It wasn't like he needed a team anyway; they'd just get in his way. Well, actually, now that he thought on it they might have some uses.

When his two…fan-girls (cue an almost imperceptible shudder)…had barged into the room and begun to fight, the pink haired one (Sakura, he thought her name was. Maybe.) had eventually won. She had then marched up to the desk he and the Dobe had been sitting at and demanded that Naruto move so that she could sit next to him.

He had moved all right, but not until he'd finished completely pissing her off and then kawarimied with Sasuke himself when she made to actually punch him. This proved two things to the brooding brunette. First; Sakura can hit very hard when she actually wants to. He rubbed at a large, and still growing, bruise on his arm discreetly. If only she'd use that strength a little more productively.

Second; Naruto may actually be quite a bit more skilled then he'd originally thought. It's one thing to switch places with someone when they know about it in advance and actually help you along with their own chakra. It's an entirely different thing to do the same to someone completely unaware or just unwilling. The innate chakra resistance in anyone with an even remotely developed chakra system will usually prevent it.

He turned to glance at his new…teammates…out the corner of his eye and found the object of his thoughts currently snoozing away in a seat a few desks over. The fangirl was also ranting on about the lateness of their sensei, but he was doing his best to ignore her right now.

He couldn't help but wonder though, what else could the other boy do? Even if he's not as strong as he himself, having a sort of rival might make him more powerful than he'd be otherwise. He was getting a bit ahead of himself though. For the moment he should be more concerned with their extremely tardy sensei. No matter what excuse he has, being an hour and a half late is simply unacceptable.

Sasuke scowled even harder over his folded hands at the classroom door.

Omake! What Kakashi was doing...

Hatake Kakashi was in a fairly good mood.

He'd slept in, as per usual, and then woken at 10 o'clock on the dot. After leisurely getting ready for the day and grabbing his ever present Icha Icha off a shelf full of different volumes of it he'd paused to glance between the date on the calendar and his clock, trying to remember the significance of the two combined. Eventually giving up, he'd strolled out the door of his small apartment and into the village.

An hour later found him finishing up with his daily visit to the memorial stone and noticing that he was a bit hungry. He stopped briefly at a small shop near the Academy to grab some dango for a snack.

Then he frowned staring at the tall building that was just barely in sight. Jus as he finished off the last of his snack he finally remembered. 'Oh, right. I was supposed to test a new genin team wasn't I?' he thought lazily.

Glancing at the time he thought, 'Well, I'm already late any way. I'll go pick up a proper lunch before I go meet them then, I guess. Ramen sounds good.'

.-.

Unfortunately, the future Team 7 was left hanging for another hour as Kakashi ate and flirted with the cute waitress at Ichiraku's.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, got a bit distracted with things and hit a small case of writer's block midway through. Hope you enjoyed the chapter though, even if it's a bit fillerish. Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon. No promises though. Also, thanks for all of the wonderful reviews. There were over thirty for the last chapter alone. It seems you people really like this story so I'll try for another chapter soon.

R&R then…

~ Aljan Moonfire