Naruto: Trapped

~ Chapter One ~

Team Introductions

A yellow mop of hair atop a bewhiskered face popped out of the class room to glare down the hallway. The young man looked back and forth, and seeing nothing, growled. He pulled his head back into the room and snapped the wooden sliding door shut with a loud clack.

"Naruto," complained a pink haired girl leaning against a desk, "would you just sit down or something?"

"Why is our Team 7 sensei so damn late?!" Naruto snapped. He crossed his arms and his orange jumpsuit pulled tight across his diminutive chest. "All the other teams have gone off with their sensei already. Even Iruka-sensei is gone for the day."

Naruto forced a grimace off his face as he attempted to wait patiently with his other two new teammates. Team Seven. His team. His ninja team. And it was with Sakura. She was just too pretty. He could have lived without Sasuke, though. He hated that guy. Oh, how he waited for this very day to come… and now this happens! A grin split his face as a prank came to mind.

"Hehehe."

"Hey!" Sakura shouted. "What are you doing, Naruto?!"

"Hehehehe," Naruto chuckled to himself. He stood atop one of the desks as he closed the sliding door on an eraser particularly well laden with chalk. Whoever opened the door would have to be careful that they didn't stick their head into the room too fast. Naruto quickly hopped back down from the table to the floor. "That's what you get for being late!"

"Geeze," Sakura muttered as she approached the door. "I am not involved with this," she said with a too straight face. Her lips trembled in her struggle to keep from encouraging Naruto's rebellious act with a grin. She really, really loved these kinds of things.

"Pfft," snorted Sasuke, the dark haired young man across the room who sat next to the window. He held his hands up in front of his face with his fingers laced together and an entirely bored expression. "Like a Jounin(1) would fall for such a stupid booby trap."

The three Genin(2) fell silent, their attention focused on the door, when a leather gloved hand gripped it. The hand pulled the door back and a head covered in brown curls appeared. The curly hair framed a young man's face as he flashed an easy going grin at the three kids. The kids were all staring at the eraser, seemingly suspended in mid air above the man's head.

"Yo," the man said. "I'm your Jounin sensei. Meet me on the roof for introductions in ten minutes." Having said his piece, the man closed the door and wedged the eraser back where it was.

Naruto immediately ran up to the door and began to inspect the eraser from every angle he could as fast as he could without opening the door. "I don't get it," he said. He scratched his head and slid the door open a little. The eraser immediately fell and crashed on the floor, sending up a large cloud of chalk dust.

Cough! Cough! "Naruto!"

"Naruto, you idiot!"

The brown haired Jounin leaned his back casually against the railing along the edge of the roof. His brown long coat wavered in the light breeze as he watched the three Genin approach him with lopsided curiosity. Sakura and Sasuke sent glares at Naruto, who ignored them and looked like he'd just eaten a lemon raw. All three of them were covered in white.

"I uh…" the Jounin began. The three Genin shifted their focus to him and he crossed his arms in front of him. Best not to rub it in too much, he thought. "I suppose we should begin with introductions."

The Genin stared at him for over a minute. Finally, Sakura asked, "What do you want to know?"

The Jounin nodded. That was a reasonable question. "How about what your dreams are, any hobbies. That sort of thing. And why did you want to become shinobi in the first place?"

"Why don't you go first then," Naruto said. The boy's face wrinkled as he squinted up at the Jounin. "We know each other a little already anyway." Sakura nodded, though she immediately attempted to hide the fact that she agreed with the blond. Sasuke just glared at the Jounin.

"Sure," the Jounin said with a shrug. "My name is Ian. My real name is a secret to everybody. I dream of one day finding home and… well, I have several hobbies. I became a shinobi to make my dream a reality."

"He still looks kind of suspicious," Sakura muttered. Naruto nodded mutely. Sasuke continued to glare.

"Now you," Ian said as he pointed at Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura," she said, "and the thing I like is…" She glanced slyly over at Sasuke. A blush appeared on her cheeks. "Well… the person I like is… and… dream of the future… um… Oh yeah!" Sakura punched the air. As she spoke, the blush grew more prominent. The whole time she stared slyly at Sasuke, who continued to ignore her in favor of glaring at Ian.

"What I hate is Naruto!" she suddenly exclaimed. Naruto immediately sulked. "I became a ninja because…" Sakura glanced at Sasuke again and fell silent.

Ian arched an eyebrow at the open display of affection by the girl for her prospective teammate, and said teammate's complete disregard for that affection. Perhaps she would grow out of it, he reasoned. With a shrug, he pointed at Sasuke, who stood in the middle of the group.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he said evenly. "I don't really like anything and I have no dream but an ambition. It is why I became a ninja. I will resurrect my clan, save my brother, and kill a certain person."

Sakura blushed and tried to hide her face in her hands. Naruto looked torn between wanting to run for his life or fighting Sasuke right there. Ian slowly nodded but kept a straight face as he pointed to Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto shouted. "I like cup ramen, Ichiraku ramen, and Mom's homemade ramen! I hate that three minutes that you have to wait for cup ramen to heat up. I really like it when Mom or Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen at Ichiraku. And my dream," Naruto reached up and, almost reflexively, tightened his Hitai-ate, "is to become the strongest Hokage and then make the people of the village acknowledge my existence. That's why I became a ninja! Dattebayo!" Everyone stared at Naruto in an uncomfortable silenced before he added, "and I guess… I like pranks."

"I see…" Ian said, "very well." He unfolded his arms and pushed away from the railing. "You three happen to be my first Genin team. All new Genin teams are supposed to be tested by their Jounin sensei, so-"

"Aww, not another test," Naruto groaned.

"We passed the Academy test," Sakura said. "Why do we have to take another one? Didn't we become Genin when we graduated?"

"Well… yes and no. You do have the rank of Genin. No, you're not ninja quite yet." Ian paused to scratch his head as he tried to figure out how to say what needed to be said. "The Academy graduation is used to weed out of all the applicants who have the potential to become Genin. To actually become an active shinobi, you have to pass my test. Sadly, only about thirty-three percent of any graduating class ever passes the Genin Test. It sucks, but, eh… what ya gonna do?"

Sakura looked caught between wanting to cry or shout. Naruto's mouth hung wide open and his eyes seemed to almost be bugged out of his head. Sasuke was, if possible, glaring even harder at Ian.

Ian laughed lightly and shoved his hands into the pockets of his long coat. "Anyway, you three should meet me tomorrow at eight AM at Training Ground Three. Bring all your ninja tools and prepare to show all the skills you've learned so far." He pulled his right hand out of his pocket with three sheets of paper. "This is the information," he said as he handed the papers out. "Also, you might not want to eat breakfast. You'll just throw up. K. Thanks. Bye."

Ian formed a hand seal and exploded in a cloud of white smoke. Team seven watched the smoke blow away before they inspected their papers. Sakura stared at the paper like it was life and death. Sasuke glared at the paper for a second before he turned and stalked off. Naruto squinted as he tried to read the paper, but after a while crumpled it up and shoved it in his pocket while he muttered about excessive kanji.

Terminology

Jounin – The highest rank a ninja can attain in a hidden village.

Genin – The lowest rank a ninja can attain in a hidden village.

A/N:So as some of you may have noticed, I've got a lot of back logged SI, that is because I've read a lot of other SI and I've concluded that none of them have what I'm looking for in an SI and so I've set out to write my own. All such attempts have since lacked what I was looking for, so I try again from a different angle. Meh, I'll find it eventually.

Thanks for reading. Drop a line and tell me what you think!

~I.K.A. Valian