Chapter 1
"Do you want me to stay with you, Izu-chan?" Makoto asked quietly. "I still have a bit of time before I have to go home. I can stay if you want."
Izumi remained quiet, staring at her shoes. She wanted to shout out yes, but at the same time, she wanted him to go away. She shook her head in confusion, her dark hair falling into her eyes.
Makoto's lips tugged down into a frown. He remained silent for several seconds before speaking slowly, pausing here and then as if he were choosing his words carefully. "Look, this is just going to be a piece of advice, but go in there by yourself."
Her head shot upwards as she gave him a confused look. "What?"
"I can't be with you forever, you know. And you said it yourself…that this is a new beginning for you. This is your beginning, not mine." Makoto gave her a gentle smile as he reached over to tousle the long, black hair of his younger sister. "Go in there, Izu-chan. Make me proud."
Before she could protest, Makoto opened the door and pushed her into the Hokage's office. She wheeled around, startled. "Nii-chan!" Her eyes were wide with fright. "Wait-"
Makoto laughed, his orange eyes sparkling. "Byebye." He quickly shut the door before she could continue, but as he did so, his laughter evaporated into the air. "Good luck, Izumi. Stay strong for me," he whispered. With one long glance at the closed door behind him, Makoto turned and walked away.
On the opposite side of the door, Izumi closed her eyes. Makoto had made such a scene that there was little to no chance that the people occupying this room were now staring at her.
"I…I'm sorry," she stuttered, a blush crawling up her face.
"There's no need to apologize. Your team isn't here yet," a kind voice replied. Izumi opened her eyes in surprise. An old man peered at her from behind a desk. "Your name is Izumi, is it not?"
"Yes, sir." She nervously played with her fingertips as she averted her glance to the ground.
"Izumi, you want to be a kunoichi, correct?" the Hokage asked quietly.
"Yes, sir."
"Why?" The question caught Izumi off guard. "You are part of the Mikazuki clan. You lead a comfortable life. From my perspective, there is nothing to gain from becoming a kunoichi for you. It is a hard path to take, and most likely, you will see and experience terrible things. Why do you want to become a ninja? For adventure? For something different from your everyday life? Why?"
Izumi's eyebrows knit together. "I know that it is a hard path. With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I've thought about this for a long time."
"You still haven't answered my question, Izumi."
"If…If I may correct you…I am a Mikazuki, but this does not mean I live a privileged life," she responded quietly.
"Because…"
She nodded. "I'm sure that you've heard about my situation from my brother." After seeing the confirmation in the Hokage's eyes, her voice wavered. "I…I am not allowed to become a ninja in my village. I was not allowed to attend the academy. My brother trained me. But even so, I wanted to become a ninja. I think that….that in this way, I can work hard and become someone that the people in my village can accept. This might sound stupid, but…I want to become someone strong to help my village."
"But the people of your village…"
"To be honest, I don't think they like me much," she laughed nervously, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "I don't know why I want to do this…I don't really understand why I'm trying so hard…" She drifted off, her eyes distant before she focused her attention on the old man. Strength crept into her voice. "But what I do know is that I love my village and I want to help in any way possible," she said fiercely.
"Even if that way means that you become a ninja for Konoha and your loyalties and ties will have to be here with this village as well?"
"Yes. After all, this is my birthplace. I promise I will do my best to protect both Konoha and my village! This is a promise I will never break."
The old man's face broke into a wide smile. "You remind me of another ninja…someone the same age as you."
"Eh?"
"His name is-"
The door opened, banging loudly against the wall. "Uzumaki Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto is finally here!" a boy crowed, eagerly rushing into the office. Izumi's dark blue eyes widened. It was the boy from yesterday!
"Naruto!" A pink-haired girl rushed in after him. "This is the Hokage's office! You can't just barge in like that. Show some respect! You're such an idiot!" she scolded, an indignant blush spreading across her face as she caught the amused gaze of the Hokage. "O-Oh, hello, Hokage-sama…"
"You really shouldn't be going around breaking things, but I guess with the way you carry yourself, it really can't be helped." A raven-haired boy quietly stepped into the office, followed by a man with silver hair.
"Shut up," Naruto snapped. "Don't make me hurt you, Sasuke! I can snap you in one piece."
"That'd never happen, idiot."
"Hey, you two…settle down. We're here because Hokage-sama summoned us so let's listen to what he says, okay?" the man said, not even glancing from the garishly bright orange book he was reading.
"Thank you, Kakashi. Naruto, you-"
"Hey!" Naruto thrust his finger in Izumi's direction, ignoring the Hokage. "You! You're that stalker weirdo from last night!"
The pink-haired girl smacked him across the head. "You can't just go around calling people you've just met that! Stop being rude."
"But Sakura-chan…I've already seen her before…" Naruto's lips protruded into a pout as he rubbed his head.
"That's no way to treat your new teammate." The Hokage raised a white, bushy eyebrow at Naruto. He turned to face Izumi. "Stalker…weirdo?"
A silence rang in the air after he spoke. They all stared at the small, slender girl in front of them. Her straight black hair ran smoothly down her back like a stream of dark water, stopping mid-back by a hair tie holding the very end of her hair. Two locks of hair, which ended just below her shoulders, framed the cheeks of her slim face. She blushed with the attention, her cheeks tinged a rosy pink as she averted her dark blue eyes. Izumi subconsciously reached her hand upwards, brushing her bangs across her forehead.
"Ah, you see…I…um…I w-was waiting outside yesterday and I heard s-something weird so I decided to check it out…and I guess he saw me," she stammered an explanation nervously to the Hokage, avoiding all the curious stares. "And…" She swallowed. "I…I took…I walked…" She scratched at her neck. "I went towards him because I thought…I thought he'd be nice to know..." The silence was unbearable and felt heavy in the air. Izumi wished someone would speak.
"Oh…" Izumi detected a change in Naruto's tone. His face was soft now, his eyebrows creased. "That was it?"
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The silence continued, and she stared at her intertwined hands. "I messed up…" she thought to herself miserably. "Was I supposed to say something else?"
A warm hand reached out to take one of hers, gently releasing it from her other hand. Naruto stared at Izumi, and when she looked up, she saw her confused reflection in his clear, blue eyes. "Nice to meet you, I'm Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?"
"I'm Mikazuki Izumi…" she told him softly.
His grip grew firmer as he broke out into a toothy grin. "Well, it's always nice to make a new friend…eh, Izumi?"
"F-Friend?" she asked, caught off guard.
"Yup, you're now my friend and you won't regret it! I'm going to be the Hokage so consider yourself lucky!" Naruto let out a carefree laugh.
"You're…oh…" Izumi's face brightened considerably, her eyes shining with happiness. "Thank you!"
"You're the first person to ever react that way…and no one ever said thanks!" Naruto laughed again. "You're kind of weird, you know that? But that's okay…I like you." He cocked his head to the side, squinting as if measuring her up. "Yup, you're definitely nice."
Izumi let out a surprised laugh. "You're weird too, you know. But it's okay because we're friends, right?" The Hokage's ears picked up on a subtle note that Izumi was unsure. His eyes narrowed slightly. It was more than likely that Naruto was her first friend.
"Naruto," he spoke up. The whiskered boy shot him a surprised glance. "Be a good friend to this girl."
Although slightly confused, Naruto nodded. "Yeah, yeah…sure, I'll do that, old geezer. Gosh, you're getting slow in your old age…you're saying stuff that's obvious." He rolled his eyes.
"Naruto!" a sharp voice piped up. It was the pink-haired girl. "Sorry, Hokage-sama…" After apologizing, she walked to Izumi, extending a hand to her. Izumi took it in hers. Her green eyes were warm and friendly. "Hi Izumi, I'm Haruno Sakura. That knucklehead is Naruto…he's not really important…"
"Sakura-chan, what are you saying?" Naruto complained. "I'm basically the backbone of the team and you know it."
Sakura ignored him as she continued speaking. Her emerald eyes shifted to her right, and Izumi caught a hint of a blush on Sakura's face. "And that's…um…that's Uchiha Sasuke…well, I call him Sasuke-kun! He's really cool…" Sakura's eyes lost focus and she was only brought back to reality by Naruto coughing. "Oh, and that's our lame teacher, Kakashi-sensei…" she finished unenthusiastically.
"How am I lame?" Kakashi questioned his student.
"You're always late, you always make excuses, and you always read that perverted book," Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke said in unison.
"It's really nice to hear my students say such positive things about me," Kakashi replied.
"If you really want to know, it's because of him that we were almost late…he showed up an hour later than we did," Sakura grumbled.
Sensing that the students were going to begin complaining, the Hokage spoke quickly. "Well, you may not have seen Izumi before…"
Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed. "That's true. I've never seen her at the academy, but she's still qualified to be a genin?"
"Yes…well, Izumi here isn't from our village." The Hokage placed his hand on her thin shoulder. "Well, it's a little bit confusing, but she's lived most of her life outside of Konoha."
"Bah, what are you saying, old man?" Naruto asked, scratching his head in confusion. "Stop talking in riddles."
"Izumi is from the Hidden Village of the Dark Moon. It's a relatively small village…and doesn't have as long of a history compared to one like Konoha so this might be the first time you've heard of it."
"But if she's from that village, how can she be a ninja in Konoha? Shouldn't she be one there?" Sakura asked.
Izumi's shoulders tensed up, and the Hokage patted her once reassuringly. "Izumi was born here in Konoha and technically, she is a citizen here…however, her entire family resides in the Village of the Dark Moon and that's where she grew up so…"
"So it's like a dual citizenship almost?" Sakura questioned. "That doesn't sound like it happens too often." She gazed curiously at Izumi.
"Yes. It happens, but you don't hear about it because it doesn't happen too frequently and when it does, it really isn't a big deal…but what this means for Izumi is that she could select to be a ninja in her village or in Konoha…and she chose Konoha."
"But why Konoha over your own village?" asked Sakura.
"Because…" Izumi fumbled for words. She could not exactly explain her situation to Sakura. "Because our village…our ninja system hasn't been around as long as Konoha's has so I thought there were more opportunities here and so…I chose Konoha." She avoided Sakura's gaze.
"Well, that being said, Izumi is now your new teammate so I hope you treat her as one," the Hokage said sternly. "Ah, isn't it almost lunch time?" he suddenly inquired.
Naruto's eyebrows shot upwards. "Ah! You're right!" he exclaimed. "Oh, no wonder my stomach's been growling…" His face scrunched up in a grimace. "Kakashi-sensei, let's go...Sakura-chan, Izumi, Sasuke…come on, I'll race you to Ichiraku!"
Naruto dashed forward while the rest stuck to walking at a normal pace. The Hokage heard Naruto's childish voice from a distance. "Ah, you're so slowwwww."
Kakashi made a move to follow his students before the Hokage called his name. He stood next to Kakashi, deep in thought before he spoke again.
"You understand why I put her on the same team as Naruto and Sasuke, don't you?"
"Hm?" Kakashi slid the book into a pocket.
"You know Izumi's history. I told you everything her brother told me. Kakashi, you're the only one who can handle them so that's why I put them under your care. You're doing a fine job with them…"
The Hokage paused, a gentle smile gracing his aged face. "Do me a favor…do that for Izumi too, will you? I think it'll help her in ways more than one to be a Konoha ninja….especially since…" He laughed.
"Especially since?" Kakashi repeated.
"Especially since she's with such interesting people…" His eyes twinkled as he heard a distant slap and a howl from Naruto. "Team 7's quite the interesting group, isn't it?"