Foreword: This is a rather long chapter that's focuses heavily on the Naruko clone. That said, I'd like to assure everyone this I am not turning this into a Naruko story. Not even a Naruto secretly disguised as Naruko story. You'll have to read on to find out more than that.
One of the hardest parts of this scam was for her to remember that she was Naruko not Naruto. She worked hard to even refer to herself that way in her own thoughts. Naruko was just thankful she'd picked a name so close to her real one. That made it much fairly easy to answer to her new name when called. Still, one slip when she was speaking and it could lead to some questions she preferred not be asked.
The whole Naruko thing was a constant struggle for a while, but the worst part, hands down, was just living in the orphanage. She could deal with the fact that it was crowded with other kids. She could even play games with them, as she'd done that plenty of times as an adult. No the part that really got to her was that the staff at the orphanage treated her like … well … a five-year-old girl.
Trying to keep a scowl off her face whenever the adults talked down to her was a sizable trial. It made the months until the new year at the academy pass very, very slowly. Finally, however, the day did come, and Naruko was looking forward to spending much of her time out of the orphanage.
She was so excited that she found herself one the first people to the building, waiting as the other students filed in. The highlight of that particular process was when a young Hyuga girl with dark blue hair walked in. Her features were similar enough to Hanabi's that she could have been her sister, but Naruko supposed that's what centuries of inbreeding did.
Naruko had barely spared her the time to notice that much before looking away in disgust. She cursed her luck for getting stuck in a class with a Hyuga, but supposed it wasn't too unlikely considering there were a decent number of them living in the village.
Naruko passed the remainder of the time waiting for class to start by looking at clan symbols of the students walking in. She then tried to figure out how many of them had their clan homes broken into by her. It turned out to to be almost half the class if her math was right. Quite a few of the prominent clans were represented in the assembled children.
Finally, the teacher called out for the kids to settle down. He introduced himself as Umino Iruka and began to drone on about what they'd be doing on their path to becoming a ninja. The lesson was designed for young children and Naruko soon grew bored, only half listening.
That seemed to become the norm in the weeks to come. Some of the history lessons were mildly interesting, and their rules gave interesting insight into the ninja of Konoha. Everything else, on the other hand, was taught on such a basic level as to be virtually useless.
As far as interactions with the other students went, Naruko tried to be friendly enough to keep her cover, but her heart wasn't in it. The other students seemed to pick up on this and soon left her be, making Naruko something of a loner.
That suited her just fine, but it didn't change how monotonous things were. As far as grades went, she deliberately kept herself somewhat in the middle of the class. She could have easily made herself out to be a prodigy, but the less scrutiny she got, the better.
Between the boredom of school and the frustration of the orphanage, Naruko prayed the years would pass by as quickly as possible. Sadly that prayer didn't seem to be answered.
Sasuke woke up to several voices talking loudly from outside his bedroom door. Pretending to still be asleep, he listened in on their conversation. Some of the voices sounded familiar, and he was pretty certain they belonged to other Uchiha, but he wasn't quite sure who they were.
"Face it, it's over. It was a fools errand to start with and now what small hope we had is gone. They'll be watching us even more closely after tonight."
"All the more reason to strike now, while we can still catch them by surprise."
"We won't catch them by surprise. This has Danzo's hand all over it."
"If it were Danzo's work, we'd have a lot more than one corpse."
"That would be because the Yondaime keeps him on a short leash."
Sasuke was beginning to realize just how serious this argument was. Someone had died and they were discussing an attack of some sort? Even the Yondaime was involved? Just what was going on?
"Speaking of the Hokage, how are we supposed to deal with both the Yondaime and the Sandaime? Not to even mention all their allies. Even assuming we can still catch them unaware, it was a long shot before, with Fugaku dead and Itachi a traitor we don't stand a chance."
Sasuke reacted immediately to those words, jumping out of the futon and running to throw upon his bedroom door.
"Liar!" he shouted angrily. "Itachi would never betray us!"
Finally having a look at who had been speaking he confirmed they were men from the Uchiha Clan. He also recalled that they had been meeting with his father a lot lately. The were joined by his mother, who was sitting nearby, eyes still wet with tears.
"He killed your father and ran off," the oldest member of the group exclaimed. "If that doesn't make him a traitor than what does?"
"Quiet!" his mother snapped sharply. "I won't have you upsetting Sasuke any further. Get out and have your meeting somewhere else."
Reluctantly, they did as she'd ordered leaving the two of them alone.
"They were lying, right?" Sasuke asked her hopefully. "It can't be true. Tell me what really happened."
His mother just looked at him sadly before wrapping him in a hug. But Sasuke found no comfort from that embrace.
Naruko saw that Sasuke hadn't shown up today either, the poor kid. She'd thought her family had been dysfunctional, but even when things were at their worst, Nanami had never tried to kill her. It was a tough thing for any kid to go through, but at least his mother was there for him to help him through it.
When Sasuke finally did return, he was more withdrawn. He became considerably less sociable, instead focusing more of his efforts on his studies. Sasuke easily pulled away from the rest of the class as far as grades were concerned.
For her part, Naruko continued her charade of being an average student, finally making it through their first year. However, when Iruka was handing Naruko her final grades he let her know that he wanted to speak to her after class. Not in a position to refuse, she agreed and shortly found herself alone with him in his office.
"I asked you here because of your grades," Iruka began sternly.
"Why?" Naruko asked curiously. "There are a lot of people with worse grades than mine. Why aren't you talking with them?"
"I already have spoken to some of them," he answered, "but in your case it's for a different reason. I've been teaching you for a year now and it's clear to me that you're a bright young girl. Whether it's taijutsu, math, or chakra theory, you can pick things up and understand them quickly. I've seen you do it any number of times. The fact that your grades are still only average tells me that you're not really trying."
Iruka was sharper than she'd given him credit for to pick up on that. Naruko should have put more effort into making her act convincing. At least he only seemed to consider her unmotivated. She could play along with that belief for now.
"So I want you to tell me why you don't work harder," Iruka continued. "I notice you don't really have any friends. Are you worried you might intimidate them if your grades were higher?"
"It's not that," Naruko answered. "I'm just not really sure I want to be ninja."
"Well, no one is going to make you if you don't want to," Iruka assured her. "Still, you should at least consider trying until you make up your mind. You may find someday that you really enjoy it, and you don't want to regret being behind in your training then, do you?"
"I still don't know," Naruko replied doing her best to sound uncertain.
"At least promise me you'll think about it during the break," Iruka requested.
"Okay," Naruko agreed. "I'll think about it."
"Good," he said breaking into a smile. "That's all I ask."
Excusing herself, Naruko left academy. Rather than going straight back to the orphanage, she went on a walk to think over where to go from there. Should she let her grades go a bit higher to appease Iruka, and if so, how much?
Naruko's walk led her to the scene of one her classmates, a girl by the name of Sakura, being taunted by three other girls about having an oversized forehead of all things. They were apparently satisfied with their work, as the three of them quickly moved off, leaving the pink-haired girl in tears. Kids could really be cruel.
Naruko's vantage point allowed her to see Ino, another of her classmates, approach Sakura and do a pretty good job of cheering the girl up. Good for her. It was nice to see that not all the kids in Konoha were such rotten brats.
Still, said brats weren't likely to let up on their taunts anytime soon. Even if Sakura learned to deal with it, they'd just move on to other targets. Naruko wanted to see if she could put a stop to that as she slipped away in the direction the three bullies had left in.
They hadn't gone far, and Naruko quickly spotted the three of them standing in a circle and laughing. One of the girls Naruko recognized from her class, but the other two were strangers. The largest of the three was probably a year older than Naruko was supposed to be.
"You really shouldn't go around bullying people," Naruko declared, getting their attention.
"I don't like your tone of voice, blondie," the oldest girl responded.
Naruko wasn't sure exactly what she'd been hoping to accomplish here. They'd hardly listen to any admonishment from her giving how young she looked. Beyond that, it felt wrong to take a more direct approach against little kids. Still, it was best they learned, and Naruko was good enough to avoid hurting them. It wouldn't really be any worse than sparring.
"Well too bad," Naruko told her, "because I don't intend to change it."
The largest girl approached menacingly and when Naruko didn't back down, tried to shove her. Instead, Naruko grabbed the arm and flipped her onto her back. Boy that brought back memories. It was more or less than same move Hanabi had used on her when they'd first met. Although Naruko had to say, she much preferred being on this side of it.
The girl from her class actually tried to throw a punch at Naruko's face, but she easily batted it aside and rewarded her with a small punch to the stomach. Just enough to knock the wind out of her. She fell to her knees and actually started crying herself. Naruko turned to face the third girl, but she was already turning to run away. The one she'd flipped had picked herself up and was hurrying off in the other direction.
"You should go too," she said more kindly to the crying girl next to her. "But tell your friends I'd better not catch them picking on anyone ever again."
She did as she was told and sped off, leaving Naruko alone. Or so she thought anyway.
"Those were some nice moves," Ino called out appreciatively from behind her.
Naruko was surprised to see both Ino and Sakura watching from a short distance away. It was a real pain having to hide how skilled she was. Sensing someone coming required a certain amount of order to one's chakra. An order that went well beyond the amount of control she was supposed to have as Naruko.
Since she didn't want anyone getting suspicious about how she'd got so good at manipulating chakra, she was forced to keep hers a disorganized mess. This meant living without her sixth sense for now. That didn't change the fact that it was embarrassing to have a couple of seven-year-old girls sneak up on you.
"Yeah, well, I just didn't like them much," Naruko answered.
"Don't be so modest," Ino insisted. "You wanted to help out Sakura-chan too, didn't you."
"Thank you for doing that," Sakura added. "You didn't have fight them for my sake."
"Don't worry about it," Naruko told them. "It really isn't that big a deal."
"Nonsense," Ino argued. "Why don't you both come over to my house? I'm sure my parents would be happy to meet my two new friends."
"Thank you for the offer," Naruko answered politely, "but I'll have to pass." Turning to walk away, she was stopped when Ino followed after her and grabbed her arm.
"Don't be like that," Ino insisted. "I've seen that you're always by yourself in class. You'll have a much better time if you make a few friends. Now come with us. I won't take no for an answer."
Naruko was beginning to wonder just how many people were taking note of her every action in class. Ino was second person today to bring up how she didn't have friends. Naruko supposed it did look a little odd from the outside. So it might be wise to play along, if only to avoid another lecture from Iruka in the future. Really, how bad could it be?
For once, Naruko's cautious optimism wasn't a portent of impending disaster. Ino and Sakura were both nice enough to be around. Sure it wouldn't usually top his list of things to do, but hanging out with them was a nice break from the orphanage.
Also, when they returned to the academy Naruko found sitting by them and sneaking chatter when they could get away with it to be better than listening to Iruka drone on endlessly. On the topic of school, Naruko had decided to slowly raise her grades. Hopefully it would be enough to satisfy Iruka without drawing too much attention.
As the weeks passed, however, Naruko was beginning to wonder if the friendship she'd formed would last. Ino seemed determined enough to make it work, but Naruko could tell Sakura wasn't entirely comfortable being around her. It was the same thing that made her a loner in the first place. She just really didn't fit in with kids their age and wasn't much fun to be around.
So it was a bit of a surprise when Sakura approached Naruko at their usual meeting place in the park one Sunday morning and struck up a conversation. Ino wasn't there yet, and usually when she was the last to arrive the two of them would just sit in awkward silence until she did.
"Hey, Naruko," Sakura began cheerfully. "I wanted to tell you, but there's someone I like now."
"Go on," Naruko said dryly. "Don't hold me in suspense all day."
"It's Sasuke-kun," she supplied, not deterred by Naruko's lack of interest.
"Not you too," Naruko told her with a groan.
"Too?" Sakura asked in confusion. "Don't tell me you like Sasuke?" The question sent Naruko into a fit of a coughing.
"No!" she finally said when she'd recovered. "Ino likes him, not me. She was going on and on about him to me the other day."
"She really likes him?" Sakura asked, looking depressed by the news.
"I'm afraid so," Naruko answered.
Sakura fell into a bit of introspection at that, but it wasn't long before her expression firmed up.
"I guess that makes us rivals," she announced.
"I guess so," Naruko repeated, still not very interested "I can hardly wait to hear the two of you comparing notes and making plans to win his heart."
"No," Sakura said simply. "Ino and I are rivals now, we can't be friends anymore."
"That's stupid," Naruko told her honestly, getting a nasty look from Sakura.
"I knew I shouldn't have talked to you about this," Sakura snapped.
"No, you should have," Naruko fired back. "Because you need to hear how stupid it is. You're going to give up your friendship over some guy you have a crush on?"
"It's not just about Sasuke," Sakura insisted. "Ino is my best friend, but I need to prove that I can stand on my own without relying on her. Not that you'd understand. You're strong enough that you just beat up the people who were picking on me."
"I still don't see it," Naruko argued. "If you want to toughen up, then toughen up. You don't need to throw away your friendship with Ino just to make a point. You said she was your best friend. Maybe it's just me, but I thought that meant something. It was my belief that a friend like that was something to treasure. Do you really think you'll be happier on your own again?"
Sakura was taken aback by her words, but seemed to be considering them.
"You're right," she finally said. "I don't know what I was thinking."
"You obviously weren't," Naruko quipped, but Sakura didn't seem at all upset this time.
"You know, I was always a bit scared of you," Sakura admitted before breaking into a broad smile. "but you really are a good person underneath, aren't you?"
"Just don't go telling everyone," Naruko replied, smiling herself.
After that day, Sakura became just as friendly to Naruko as Ino was. She even said that she'd started to find Naruko's gruff nature endearing. Well, the word she'd actually used was cute, but for the sake of their friendship, Naruko was doing her best to pretend she hadn't said that.
The improved friendship wasn't always a good thing, however. Mostly she was referring to when Ino and Sakura double teamed her and both insisted they were going to do something about her hair. Naruko had always just left it straight and didn't even take particularly good care of it.
That wasn't good enough for the two girls, as they practically tied her down over her protests and started trying different styles. Eventually they settled on twin ponytails, insisting the style looked perfect on her.
"You know I'll just let it down again the minute you leave, right?" Naruko asked them, appalled by the overly feminine style.
"Then we'll just put it back this way the next time we see you," Ino countered.
"I'll just cut my hair short," she threatened. "It's a pain to deal with anyway."
"You won't get more than a trim if you know what's good for you," Ino told her. "Unless you want me to make your life miserable, not only will you leave it like this, you're going to start taking better care of your hair. That means using the right shampoo and conditioner as well as brushing your hair properly every day."
"It's not worth fighting, Naruko," Sakura added. "Ino is too stubborn to give up, and I've got her back on this one. Besides, it really does look good on you."
"Fine," Naruko relented. "I'll keep the hairstyle and I'll even brush it, but I get to use my own shampoo and no conditioner."
Ino only glared at her despite her concession.
"Alright already, just show me what you want me to use," Naruko told her. "You don't cut me any slack, do you?"
"I knew you'd see things my way," Ino said with smile.
As far as academics went, Naruko's plan had kept Iruka off her back. That said, she found that rising through the class rankings drew a bit more attention than she'd wanted. Mostly because as she neared the higher ends of the class, students weren't too happy about being passed. Especially by some nobody who didn't even have a clan.
Naruko was actually amused enough by the whole thing that she brought her grades up further than she'd originally planned. By early in their third year, Naruko had moved all the way up to the second spot. She was still well behind Sasuke, but the teachers were already praising him as a genius, and she didn't want that kind of attention.
Naruko's plan was simply to sit back and coast at number two until graduation. That plan did hit a bit of a snag when Sasuke approached her shortly after she claimed the second spot. Sasuke had largely recovered from the murder of his father, although he remained much more driven since then. Still, he wasn't terribly social, and had never started up a conversation with her before.
"Congratulations on climbing so far up the class ranks," he told her. "I hope you'll keep up the hard work. It would be nice if someone was at least a slight challenge in a spar."
The words were polite enough, but somehow, the arrogance behind them rubbed Naruko the wrong way. "I'll try," she said gritting her teeth and trying to be polite in return. "If I work hard, maybe I'll even give you a run for the top spot some day."
Sasuke snorted in reply to that, showing just how likely he thought that would be. He didn't go so far as to actually question her claim, but the damage had already been done. Naruko forgot all thoughts of coasting at number two, instead resuming her slow, methodical climb in grades. Before the end of the third year, she'd caught up to Sasuke. And then she passed him.
From that point on, Naruko played a bit of a game with Sasuke in where she would let him pass her and leapfrog back in front of him shortly thereafter. She supposed she was actually doing him a favor, considering he always pushed himself all the harder to regain the top spot. Still, she had to admit that she mostly did it just for the look on his face whenever he dropped to number two again.
This little game was another way to distract from how boring the curriculum was. As far as ninjutsu went, they were only scheduled to learn three during their entire time at the academy and one he already knew when he'd started.
Even worse were the special kunoichi classes on topics such as flower arrangement. Yes, she needed all the distraction she could get from those. Thankfully, Sasuke got really into the little rivalry Naruko had constructed.
Every time they switched positions, she knew she would soon be getting a visit from Sasuke to either gloat or vow she wouldn't hold the top spot for long depending on which way it had gone. Considering that she was the only girl Sasuke would give the time of day to, despite most of them being interested in him, this soon became a topic of conversation with Ino and Sakura.
"It's not fair," Sakura complained. "You don't even like Sasuke and somehow you can get him to talk to you."
"I don't know if there's anything to be jealous of," Naruko told her. "Sasuke doesn't like me at all in either sense of the word. In fact, I'm fairly certain he hates my guts."
"That's just the way boys are," Ino said dismissively. "He's just very competitive. That doesn't mean he dislikes you."
Naruko bristled at being lectured by her about what boys were like, but let the matter slide.
"I think Sasuke talks to Naruko because he respects her as a ninja," Sakura suggested.
"I was thinking the same thing," Ino agreed. "If we worked a little harder, Sasuke might notice that and open up to us a bit more."
"Not that taking your studies more seriously isn't a good thing," Naruko interjected, "but part of it might also be because I don't fawn all over him. You might give that a try too while you're at it."
The twin glares he received made it clear just how they felt about that idea.
"Yeah, how silly of me," Naruko said sarcastically. "It couldn't possibly be that."
The girls made good on their plan to increase their training, often getting help from Naruko as well outside of class. Both of them were on the high end of the rankings even before this new push, so by early on in their fifth year they were beginning to pull ahead of the rest of the pack as they fought each other for third.
Sasuke and Naruko had a huge lead by then, and that wasn't likely to change, but Naruko was proud of the effort they were making. They even continued despite their hard work not having any noticeable effect toward getting Sasuke to notice them. Not that they'd given up hope that it might work if they just kept at it. Still they might make decent kunoichi yet.
It was about halfway through their fifth year, and Naruko was having trouble dealing with a guilty conscience. Glancing over her shoulder, she again caught Hinata looking at their little group. Although she looked away in embarrassment as soon as she realized she'd been caught staring.
For over four years Naruko had been doing her best to ignore the girl, wanting nothing to do with the Hyuga Clan. Nevertheless, over time it was getting harder and harder for her to do. Hinata just looked so miserable back there. As far as Naruko could tell, she was terminally shy and hadn't made any friends during their time at the academy.
She'd just sit in the back of the class looking wistfully at groups of friends having a good time. She was just so unlike the arrogant, heartless Hyuga that Naruko so despised, that was becoming difficult to even think of her as one, despite her eyes. Finally, Naruko decided she could stand it no more. As soon as Iruka called a break for lunch, she was bounding up the stairs toward the back of the room where Hinata sat.
"You know, you'll have better luck making friends if you talk to people instead of just staring at them," Naruko quipped.
This probably wasn't the best approach to take as Hinata completely missed the intended humor instead acting as if she'd just been reprimanded.
"I'm sorry," she said weakly. "I didn't meant to stare."
"What our socially inept friend is trying to say is, would you like to join us for lunch?" Ino interjected from where she and Sakura had followed Naruko up.
"I wouldn't want bother you," Hinata answered, looking down at her feet instead of making eye contact.
"It's no bother," Sakura assured her. "We'd be happy to have more company. No doubt you'll be more pleasant to be around than Naruko here."
"I'm sure that's not true," Hinata said meekly.
"Come on, show a little bit of backbone," Naruko urged her. "We're being friendly here and inviting you to eat with us. So are you going to accept, or are you going to turn us down because you'd rather eat by yourself?"
There, that should trap her. Now it would seem more rude to decline than to accept. Still, he was surprised by how quickly she responded.
"No, I'll go," Hinata said as strongly as Naruko had ever heard her speak. "That is, if you're sure you want me to."
Naruko realized by how hopeful that last bit sounded that she must have been wishing for something like this to happen for a long time. All Naruko's excuses that part of her solitude might have simply been because she felt the other students were beneath her fled. This was a girl who genuinely wanted a friend.
Her lack of confidence really was something else though. Even after they'd eaten together, it had taken them a few days to convince Hinata that she was always welcome to sit with them during class and join them for lunch. Once they'd done that, however, it was clear how much happier the young Hyuga was.
It was like pulling teeth trying to get her to talk about herself, but over time, the three of them were finally able to get a picture of why she was the way she way. She was the only child of the head of the Hyuga Clan, and a great disappointment to him, as he would frequently make clear. Nothing she did was good enough for a Hyuga, much less the clan's heir.
Naruko felt like a real heel for ignoring Hinata for so long. She could have really used a friend much earlier in life. There's no telling how deep the trauma went by now, or how much could have been prevented if she'd acted sooner. Hinata was another life added to the long list the Hyuga Clan had worked to ruin, and Naruko had done nothing to stop it.
She just wished she weren't undercover, as she'd love to have a word with Hinata's father.
The end of her fifth year brought with it one change that Naruko had long been looking forward to. They were finally letting her move out of the orphanage and into her own place. Naruko thought eleven was a bit young for someone to be living on their own, but he could understand where they were coming from.
She was only a year from becoming a full-fledged ninja, so they'd want her to learn to be self reliant soon. Of course there was also the fact that the orphanages were overcrowded and understaffed. Releasing one of the older kids who was actually asking to live on her own would let them devote more care to the younger ones.
Despite finally living on her own again, her final year at the academy was in some ways her worst. This was largely because her body was developing as all girls' did eventually, a truly mortifying experience for Naruko. This was only made worse by the fact that even some of the guys were become interested in the other sex.
The problem was made clearest by one Inuzuka Kiba. He wasn't the first guy to approach Naruko asking about a date, but he was certainly the most memorable. It probably wasn't even entirely his idea, given the way the two other guys he'd been hanging out with were laughing and watching closely as he approached the group of four girls as lunch was ending. Still, whether it was a dare, or a legitimate attempt to get a date didn't really matter. Only what happened when he arrived.
"Any of you four lovely young ladies looking for a date?" Kiba asked them without so much as a hello.
"Not with you," Ino quickly answered.
"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "The only person we'd go out with is Sasuke-kun."
"Well, I knew you two were like that," Kiba admitted, undaunted by their quick refusal, "but I'm hoping your two friends might have better taste. What do you say, Hinata?"
"I … I don't think I'm ready for something like that," Hinata told him, blushing about as deeply as she'd ever seen a person blush.
"The shy type, huh?" Kiba responded. "I'm okay with that. I may see if I can't convince you, but first I want to check if Naru-chan here is interested."
Something about the whole situation just had Naruko at her limit. She was sick enough of guys asking her out, and Kiba was easily the worst of the lot. The way he was just casually switching from one girl to the next right in front of them as if he didn't even care who he went out with for starters.
But the whole 'Naru-chan' thing was what finally sent her over the top. She just didn't want to deal with Kiba or any other would be suitor. So she didn't even give it much thought and said the first thing she could come up with to get rid of him.
"I don't like guys," she said loudly enough that everyone sitting anywhere close by could hear. She was treated to a host of shocked looks, with everyone nearby stopping what they were doing as they turned to face her.
"What? You mean seriously?" Kiba asked, being the first to find his tongue.
"Yes, seriously," Naruko told him firmly.
"I don't actually know how to respond to that," Kiba announced wide eyed. "So I'm just going to go back over there."
Kiba made a hasty retreat, but the rest of classroom erupted into a multitude of conversations on the latest piece of gossip. Debates were already breaking out over whether she was telling the truth or not, but Iruka cut it off almost as soon as it had started.
"Everyone quiet down!" he yelled out angrily. "There will be no further discussion on this topic. We're starting class."
"But we still have five minutes left of lunch," one student complained.
"I said we're starting class," Iruka said through a clenched jaw as he stared down the offending student. No one else protested as he began their next lesson.
"So, do you think Naruko was telling the truth?" Ino asked her two friends before class the day after her big claim.
Naruko had run out the moment class ended without saying a word and now seemed to be waiting till the last minute to arrive today. Ino could understand why she wanted to avoid the rest of their classmates, but she still wanted to grill the girl herself.
"Well, I haven't ever seen her show an interest in any boys, even Sasuke," Sakura mused. "And it is true that she's never been very into anything feminine."
"You're right about that," Ino agreed. "Remember how hard we had to fight her to get her to do anything with her hair? And we still haven't made much progress on her wardrobe."
Really, sometimes Ino was convinced Naruko would have rather been born a boy. It was kind of unfair that someone who cared so little for their appearance had so much natural looks. Not that Ino was any worse off on that front, she quickly reminded herself, even if she wasn't quite as early a bloomer as her friend.
"We are only eleven," Hinata pointed out. "Maybe she's just not interested in guys yet. She didn't say she liked girls."
"Well, she hasn't really shown any interest in girls either," Sakura admitted. "Honestly, I think she may just be so devoted to being a ninja that she's suppressing her feelings. Kind of like Sasuke-kun."
That did sound like Naruko. And Sakura was right, she hadn't shown any interest in girls despite being around Ino herself most every day. It was probably just something she said to get Kiba to leave her alone.
"You do realize I'm standing right here, don't you?" Naruko asked, sounding annoyed at their conversation.
Hinata was clearly ashamed to have been caught, and even Sakura looked a little guilty. Ino on the other hand was always happy for a chance to tease their slightly brutish friend.
"So, tell us the truth, what exactly are you interested in?" Ino asked her shamelessly.
"Why don't you figure it out," Naruko told her. "You seem to be enjoying doing that already."
Even Hinata could tell by now that there was no real anger in that reply though. Just another one of the caustic remarks that made Naruko who she was. They all relaxed a bit to see that was the case. Whatever the truth of her claim, it didn't change the fact that they were friends.
The furor around Naruko's pronouncement had finally died down when it was clear she wasn't going to say anything further on the subject. She was also happy to see that it really had proven effective in its original intent. For most of the remainder of the year, she didn't have a single request for a date. Kiba never completely stopped pestering her about if she'd been telling the truth, but she found that preferable to the alternative.
Now, they were finally coming upon their first chance to pass the graduation exam and Naruko was trying to decide exactly how she wanted it to go. Should she let Sasuke win? Should she score something he could beat but only if he did really well and leave it up to him? Or should she score so high that he wouldn't have a hope of beating her.
She really didn't have to think it over for long. First she'd figure out how good Sasuke would do if he'd really rolled out the stops training for this and then had everything go his way the entire exam. Then she'd do slightly better than that.
No one had come beating down her door demanding to know how she could be so skilled yet, so getting rookie of the year shouldn't change that. Not to mention how great it would be to see his face when he realized that not only had he lost, but that he couldn't even blame it on a bad day. Knowing that she'd done better than he could have managed at his best. That would be sweet.
While nearly everyone else was nervous, Naruko was already looking forward to the big day and was enjoying herself right up till when she was called in to do the final practical portion of the exam. Entering Iruka's office, she was asked to show off her Bunshin skill.
Naruko should have just pointed to herself, broken her cover, and explained her modified version of the Bunshin just to see his reaction. It would have almost been worth it. Instead she simply went through the hand seals and summoned twenty-three copies of herself that all smiled and waved at Iruka independently.
"Very impressive," Iruka complimented her. "I don't think this will come as any surprise to you, but you pass."
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," she told him cheerfully.
"Before you go, I'd just like to say how glad I am you took my advice," Iruka told her. "I knew you had the potential to be a great ninja if you put your mind to it, but even I'm surprised with just how well you did. I know how hard it can be to do so well without any family to give extra training outside the academy, but you overcame all of that."
Iruka really was a nice guy. Done for the day, Naruko went straight home, returning early the next morning to see the posted results. Immediately going to the top of the list Naruko was shocked to see it wasn't her name that sat there, but Sasuke's. She'd slightly underestimated him, as he'd beaten her by a hair with a combined rating of 378.2 to Naruko's 378.1.
Forcing herself to look at the rest of the chart, she saw that Sakura had edged out Ino 261.5 to 259.7. Ino had a slight lead in every category save one, but it wasn't enough to overcome Sakura's domination on the written exam. Even Hinata had managed a seventh place finish, not that it would be nearly good enough for her father. It was then that she noticed Sasuke hovering off to the side with a smirk.
"It was a good try," he said in about a friendly a manner as he ever had. "I'll admit you made me work for rookie of the year."
Naruko was seething all over again. The fact that he would choose to be a good sport about it now after all his taunts and boasting before infuriated her, and she was sure he'd planned it that way. If only she had chosen to make one more clone, or moved just a hair faster during the Taijutsu portion she could have put the arrogant Uchiha in his place.
"Now now," Sakura interjected, joining into the conversation in an attempt to calm Naruko. "We're the top three in our class, we should all be happy for each other."
Her words did little to cool Naruko's temper but did serve to tick off Ino where she stood nearby muttering about the written exam counting for more than it should.
"You were a distant third," Sasuke reminded her, before walking off and away from the group.
The remaining month is the academy was a very dull affair. Lessons continued even for those who passed. Meanwhile, those who failed struggled to improve in time to pass on one of their remaining attempts before they'd have to repeat the year. In the end, all of them succeeded, and Konoha headbands were passed out to everyone.
Now all the talk was about the big event that would set the course of their entire career as ninja. What team they would be assigned to.
"Quite an impressive group of graduates," Sarutobi mused as Minato read of the results. "Have you decided what teams to put them on?"
"Not yet," Minato admitted. "Iruka writes that Sasuke and Naruko have quite a rivalry going and suggests we put them on the same team so they'll continue to push each other. I admit it would be interesting to see where that team could go, but they're both so far above the other students, it's a bit unbalanced to stick them together."
"Well, we generally put that top and bottom student together," Sarutobi reminded him. "That would help a little in that regard."
"Except the person with the lowest grades is Nara Shikamaru," Minato informed him. "Do you want to be the one to explain to the fathers why we didn't put their children on the same team?"
"I think we can ignore that tradition this year," Sarutobi declared, grimacing at the thought of doing just that. "Still, if I'd had a group of graduates like this when I was younger, I might have been tempted to take a second team."
"What's stopping you?" Minato asked. "You don't have many responsibilities anymore. And based on the fact you're always in here bothering me, you obviously aren't ready to give up the ninja life and enjoy a peaceful retirement."
"An interesting thought," Sarutobi replied, looking to be seriously considering it. "I was thinking of taking up a hobby to pass the time, but this sounds more entertaining than gardening or any of my other ideas."
"I was only joking," Minato admitted, "but if you're actually interested, the offer certainly stands. Whatever team you lead would benefit greatly from it."
"You know, you could always take another team yourself," Sarutobi suggested.
"Me?" Minato asked in surprise. "Don't be ridiculous. Being Hokage keeps me far too busy for that."
"I'd like to remind you that I was already Hokage when I trained my team," Sarutobi pointed out. "But I understand that it can be difficult to live up to the example set by the God of Shinobi himself."
"I'd love to make you eat those words, but I honestly don't know how you found the time for it," Minato admitted, irked a bit that he was bringing up that overblown nickname of his again.
"It's not that hard," Sarutobi told him. "You don't need to directly supervise them all the time. I'm sure Kushina would be happy to help out when you're busy."
"She probably would enjoy that," Minato agreed. "Alright, I'll do it if you will. That way I can prove to you just who the better teacher is. I'll even let you have your pick, Naruko or Sasuke?"
"I'll take Sasuke," Sarutobi quickly answered. "It would hardly be fair to deny the girl the opportunity of working with her savior now, would it?"
"Fine," Minato agreed. "Now that that's settled, let's work out the rest of the teams."
Naruko could feel the nervousness rolling off her friends in waves as Iruka began announcing the teams. Not that she was that much calmer than they were. She was thrilled to finally get on a team and maybe start seriously learning ninjutsu and the like, but the wrong team members could make that a pretty miserable experience.
"Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka announced.
"Yes!" Sakura cried out happily at being put with Sasuke.
"Team 8: Naruko, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba," Iruka continued, ignoring the outburst.
"Jackpot!" Kiba cried out excitedly, eliciting a groan from Naruko.
She saw Hinata wilt at her reaction and quickly ran damage control. "No, no, Hinata, I'm thrilled to be on your team," she assured the girl. "I just really didn't want to be with Kiba."
"I'm glad I'm on your team too, Naruko," Hinata replied, cheering up at her words.
"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji," Iruka went on, causing Ino to groan this time.
"I knew it was coming," Ino admitted. "But that doesn't make it any easier. I don't suppose any of you would switch places with me?"
"Don't worry, Ino," Sakura told her. "We'll all stay friends even though we're on different teams. And I can tell you all about what it's like to work with Sasuke-kun every day."
"Yeah, thanks a lot for that," Ino said dryly.
After the teams were announced, they were lead off by their instructors one at a time. The big news in that was when the Sandaime himself came for Team 7. Naruko had to admit, she was jealous of that, and she wasn't the only one. It might have even been worth being on a team with Sasuke for that privilege. Anyway, Naruko's team leader was the last to arrive. It was already fifteen minutes after the other teams had left with no sign of whoever it was.
"Some people get all the luck," Naruko complained. "Can you imagine actually training under The Professor himself? They say he knows all the techniques within Konoha."
"You're telling me," Kiba agreed. "It's all because of Sasuke. He's getting special treatment because he's an Uchiha."
"I can assure you that didn't come into a play," a new voice added. "And I may not know as many techniques as Sarutobi, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with my credentials."
Naruko had recognized the voice immediately as the Yondaime's, and was quite pleased with the thought of him as her teacher. She probably would have still preferred the Sandaime if it came right down to it, but he was a close second.
"You're going to be our teacher, Hokage-sama?" Kiba asked excitedly. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
"Please," the man replied. "I remain your Hokage, but starting today, I'm your team leader even before that. So call me Minato-sensei. Now, if you'll meet me on the roof, I'd like to get started with some introductions."
Minato was gone in the flash, and the three of them quickly hurried to the roof, seeing their sensei already there, along with a red-haired woman.
"I'd like to introduce you to my lovely wife, Kushina," Minato announced. "Since work tends to keep me busy, she'll be helping me run the team when I'm otherwise tied up."
"I'm looking forward to working with you all," she said sweetly.
"Now, on to introductions, I want each of you to tell us a bit about yourselves," Minato ordered. "Your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future."
"I like Akamaru and my clan," Kiba announced quickly, hardly wasting a moment after Minato's order. "For things I dislike that would have to be Sasuke. For my dreams, I want to prove to everyone how awesome I am and become Hokage some day."
"It's good to dream big," Minato said approvingly. "How about you, Hinata?"
"Well … I like my friends," Hinata began hesitantly. "I don't like it when I disappoint people, and I hope to someday get strong enough to make my father proud."
"I'll do my best to train you until you reach that goal," Minato promised her. "That leaves us with you Naruko. Tell us a bit about yourself."
"I like training," Naruko said simply. "For goals, I pretty much just want to learn as many jutsu as I can for now and keep working to be a top ninja. Oh, and I don't like guys that come on to a girl that obviously isn't interested."
"You mean you don't like any guys," Kiba amended. "Naruko claims she's a lesbian, but I don't believe her."
"Kiba!" Kushina exclaimed, sounding scandalized. "That's not the sort of thing you just come out and say."
"She did, why can't I?" Kiba argued, rolling his eyes.
"Anyway," Kushina said, turning her attention back to Naruko. "You may have grown up an orphan, but a good team should feel like family. So I'd be happy if you would think of me as the mother of this little family."
"At your age?" Naruko said with a snort. She knew she shouldn't have the moment after she said it, but the thought of treating someone less than a tenth of her age as her mother was so ridiculous it just came out before she'd realized it.
"What's that about my age?" Kushina said, her voice turning to ice.
Naruko thought the truth would actually be the safest answer to that. "It's just that you're much too young to be my mother," Naruko told her.
Kushina's anger fled immediately and she was all smiles again as she ran up and engulfed Naruko in a huge.
"Well, aren't you just the sweetest thing," she said in an overly saccharine tone. "I've always wanted a daughter like you. Minato, can we keep her?"
"You'll have to discuss that with Naruko," Minato answered weakly, clearly embarrassed by his wife's antics. "Anyway, we still have an important test to take care of today, so I'd like to move on with that."
Naruko used the distraction he provided to finally free herself from the Kushina's grasp. Although Naruko was curious about this test Minato was referring to, Kiba beat her to punch.
"A test?" he asked. "What kind of a test?"
"I'll explain when we get to the test site," Minato answered. "Follow me."
All of them did, and they soon arrived a training ground. When they did, Minato pulled out a timer and set it on a log. Then he grabbed two bells out of a pouch and held them up.
"For this test, each of you will have one hour to get a bell from me," Minato announced. "Those of you who fail to do so, will be sent back to the Academy. As there are only two bells, at least one of you will fail."
"What?" Kiba protested. "That's not fair! I liked this team and now you're just going to break it up?"
"You should be worried more about whether you get a team at all than who's going to be on it," Minato advised him. "I'm starting the test now."
Naruko was actually quite pleased by this little turn of events. If she played her cards right, she could make sure Kiba was removed from the team. Almost any replacement would be better. Although she did wonder how they would fill in the last slot if they were doing this for every team. Unless more than half the teams had only a single person pass, it'd almost be required.
"It's okay," Kiba told them. "One more year isn't a big deal. I'll let the two of you get a bell and just pass next year."
"No, I should be the one to fail," Hinata argued. "I don't think I'm really ready to be a ninja anyway."
Kiba had put up a brave front, but Naruko could tell how quickly he perked up at Hinata's reply. He'd probably been hoping she would say that. Naruko wasn't about to let it end like that, however.
"No," she declared firmly. "Kiba, I'm not going to have you holding it over my head that I owe my passing to you. And Hinata, I'm not letting you give up so easily. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to play rock-paper-scissors."
"Rock-paper-scissors?" Kiba queried, sounding unsure he'd heard her right.
"Yeah, the loser goes without a bell but still has to help the others," Naruko explained. "Minato-sensei will certainly hold back if he wants us to have any chance of passing, but we are talking about the Hokage, we'll need to throw everything we have at him."
"If that's the way you want to do it, then fine," Kiba agreed, "But don't come crying to me if you lose."
"You really should just let me fail, Naruko," Hinata argued. "You did so well that it just wouldn't be right for you to fail."
"No, Hinata, we're doing it this way and that's final," Naruko insisted. "And the winners don't owe the loser anything, since we all had a fair chance."
"Fine," Kiba acknowledged reluctantly.
With the timer already running, they wasted no more time and started the game. As Naruko had hoped, both Hinata and Kiba telegraphed what they were going to throw. As such, Naruko was easily able to ensure each round was a draw until she got the outcome she wanted. On the fourth round, Kiba got stuck holding rock while Hinata and Naruko had paper, causing Kiba to let out a curse and Akamaru to whine pitiably.
"You're not thinking about going back on your word, are you, Kiba?" Naruko taunted him.
"Of course not!" Kiba said defensively. "I agreed to help you if I lost and I'm going to help you. Now let's go show Minato-sensei what we can do."
Naruko cracked her knuckles in anticipation, looking forward to a little exercise herself, but was brought up short when Minato walked over to the timer and stopped it.
"That won't be necessary," he said. "It was a little rough around the edges, but all of you pass."
"What?" Naruko asked in confusion. "What about the bells?"
"Yeah," Kiba agreed, somehow complaining despite the fact he'd been told he'd passed just after he'd resigned himself to failing. "I was looking forward to showing off my moves."
"Don't worry, we'll have so much training over the years to come that you'll soon be sick of it," Minato told him. "But the point of this test was to see if you could work as a team. Even putting that above your own individual goals. Although I must admit, I've never heard of anyone passing thanks to a game of rock-paper-scissors."
"I'm glad we were all able to pass," Hinata said happily. "It would have been sad to have the team broken up so soon."
"Yes, well good work today everyone," Minato announced. "I have some work to get back to, but I suggest you all celebrate tonight. We'll meet together for our first mission tomorrow at 8 AM by the academy."
Naruko was a little disappointed Kiba hadn't actually failed, but she supposed today still went well enough. Now, she could finally start picking the mind of the Yondaime and see what secrets it held.
"We should go out and celebrate all of us passing," Ino suggested, their usual group of four having met up after each had completed their final test. "I found this great new restaurant with a really hot guy running it."
"A hot guy?" Sakura asked curiously. "Are you finally giving up on Sasuke?"
"You wish," Ino said dismissively. "Besides, this guy is too old for us anyway. And just because we're after Sasuke doesn't mean we can't appreciate a good looking body."
"I'm sorry," Hinata told them. "But my father said he wanted to see me as soon as I was finished today. I can't really go celebrate."
"Would you believe my father wanted to see me too?" Naruko asked.
"Nice try orphan girl," Ino responded, "but you're not getting out of this one."
"It was worth a shot," Naruko quipped, but let herself be led along. A nice dinner didn't sound to bad.
"I'm home," Sasuke announced as he entered.
"Welcome back," his mother called out in reply. "Now let me have a look at you."
"It's just a headband," Sasuke said. "It's not like there was any doubt I would pass in the first place."
"Let your mother enjoy her moment," she admonished him gently. "Anyway, I heard about your team. It's an honor to be training under the Sandaime, but it's a shame you couldn't be put on the same team as that Naruko girl you like so much."
"Mom," he complained. "We're just rivals. Nothing more than that."
"The way you were always talking about her, I would have thought otherwise," she teased him. "I suggest you make sure that's all you feel about her though. A smart, good-looking girl like her isn't likely to stay unattached forever."
"You've obviously never had the pleasure of talking with her," Sasuke quipped. "And I'm quite certain there's nothing between us."
"If you say so," she said. "What about this Sakura who's on your team, though. Isn't she quite taken with you?"
"Obsessed would be a better word," Sasuke told her. "The thought of being with her might even be more terrifying than with Naruko. It'd be a close match though. Anyway, I'm done talking about this, I'm going to go train."
"Don't be gone for too long," she called out to him as he was walking back outside. "Dinner will be ready in less than an hour, and I'm making your favorites to celebrate."
Sasuke was almost tempted not to go back for dinner, regardless of what she was making. Why did mothers feel the need to embarrass their offspring anyway?
"I'm glad to see you passed your final test," Hinata's father told her. "You'd given me plenty of reasons to worry."
"I'm sorry," she said meekly. "But I have been improving. My grades were much better this year."
"Yes, it's good they were no longer a complete embarrassment, but seventh place is nothing to be proud of," he told her. "Especially when not everyone above you was even from a prominent clan. Sometimes I wish you'd be more like your cousin Neji."
Hinata kept her gaze downward, but didn't like the implied slight against her friends. Sakura and Naruko had both beaten her and neither were from well known clans.
"Naruko had a higher final score than Neji did," Hinata pointed out, still hardly believing she'd worked up the courage to talk back to her father. "And she's not even related to any ninja."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," her father replied. "I've seen the girl, and I have my suspicions regarding her circumstances."
Hinata was confused as to what he meant by that but didn't get a chance to ask before he continued on.
"Anyway, training under the Yondaime is a good opportunity for you," her father said. "Maybe he can get through to you where I've failed. That said, I expect you to do better than you have in the past. I don't want you embarrassing the clan in front of the Hokage."
"I'll try," she promised.
"Don't try, do it," he ordered.
Hinata was left with little choice but to say that she would, even though she had no idea what she could do to satisfy her father's demand. At least she had Naruko on her team to help her.
"Would you just shut up about the guy running the restaurant already?" Naruko pleaded. "I said I'd go, but you're making me want to change my mind."
"You know, if this whole not liking guys thing was just a ploy to get Kiba to leave you alone, you should probably drop it," Sakura suggested. "As you're well aware, he doesn't believe you anymore."
"Although, if you are telling the truth, maybe you'd prefer to spend some time alone with me instead of going to out to eat," Ino declared in a sultry tone as she leaned toward Naruko in a seductive pose.
Naruko immediately jerked back in revulsion, the thought of a twelve-year-old girl coming onto her making her more than a little uncomfortable. This caused both her friends to burst into laughter.
"No, definitely not into girls," Ino said when she'd regained control of herself. "Anyway, we're here."
Looking up Naruko realized that it really must have been a new restaurant, as she was sure the building hadn't been there just a few weeks ago. It looked like a fairly nice one though, and she was a bit worried about her spending money. Sadly, it would have been a bit suspicious to leave herself with a large sum of cash.
"So what is this guy like anyway?" Sakura asked.
"Well, I guess he looks kind of like a younger version of the Yondaime," Ino answered, causing Naruko's blood to run cold even as she stepped through the door.
She suddenly go a bad feeling about this, one the proved prophetic when she finished entering and saw a familiar blond turning to face her. What was he doing here?
"Hello, Naruko-chan," the man said. "I don't know how well you remember me, but I'm your brother, Naruto."
Yeah, Naruko was going to kill him.
Author's Notes:
Yes, Naruto is back and this time to stay. As I said in the foreword, this will not become a Naruko story. However, I do plan to have both Naruto and Naruko heavily involved in the plot. I was initially tempted to just summarize the entire contents of this chapter into a few paragraphs, possibly even including it at the end of the previous chapter.
Still, I felt the character development here was too important to brush over it so quickly, and I've never been a big fan of flashbacks when you can avoid them. I prefer to write things as close to chronologically as I can manage. So saying 'Naruko made friends with Sakura, Ino, and Hinata as well as forming a sort of a rivalry with Sasuke' doesn't have nearly the same impact as writing down how it happened.
I'm sure I'll be beset with people from both sides saying I should have summarized more or that I should have expanded it out further and wrote multiple chapters on this time frame. As always, I'm happy to hear any opinions on my handling of the story, positive or negative.
One thing I would like to note, if you ever caught me referring to Naruko using Naruto, he, him, his, etc, that was not a clever ploy on my part to show an internal mental struggle. The only one who was struggling was me. I found I was using the wrong gender about 75% of the time to start with and even by the end was still messing up about 20% of the time.
Naruto was easy enough to just do a search and make sure I found all incorrect usages, but try searching for 'he' sometime. Let's just say there's a very good chance I missed some.