A Story of Resolve.
Nothing to gain, nothing owned.
0o0o0
The afternoon sun was bright and beautiful at the north gate. Partly covered by white clouds that looked so very soft to the touch, and giving a warmth that made nature relax in the glow.
A small wind meandered through, a gift from the west sands of Suna, cooling all that it touched. Once a mighty sandstorm, now a harmless breeze. From delivering death, to drying wet clothes on wires.
Two birds crossed paths in the skies above, merrily chirping their songs and secrets to one another, before parting ways, destination unknown.
Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves, was beautiful, tranquil, serene. The picture of peace.
Then, on the rooftop of the academy, Uzumaki Naruto belched.
The sun withered and shrunk behind the clouds, the breeze became foul, and the birds never came back.
"Damn."
"Hn."
"Gross!"
Naruto crossed his arms in annoyance, a little embarrassment showing on his face. Kakashi had asked Naruto for his name, goals, talents, and Naruto had delivered. Explaining his soon-to-be position of Hokage was fun, as was explaining the pros and cons of instant ramen, but apparently belching on command was considered gross. Who would have known?
Naruto sent an indignant glare in Kakashi's direction. "You're the one who asked about my talents! If you didn't want to see that, why did you ask?"
Kakashi scratched his cheek, and after mulling it over in his head, decided that the kid had a point.
"Okay, scratch the talent part, just tell me your name, your goals, and your hobbies. I don't wanna see what freaky things you two might do." Kakashi said, motioning in Sasuke and Sakura's direction.
Sakura held her head in her hands, feeling a migraine coming on."Sensei,"she asked, annoyance evident in her voice, "can we just start over and pretend that introduction never happened?"
"But I thought we were making cherished memories together!" Kakashi responded, the smile evident in his eye.
Needless to say, Sakura did not return the smile. Kakashi sighed to himself. "If that's really what you want..." at Sakura's nod, he continued. "Okay then, let's start over."
Kakashi slowly closed his eye and went still, concentration evident on his features. His three students looked on, curious as to what their new teacher was doing. Kakashi raised his right hand and slowly massaged the side of his head, muttering strange things under his breath. After thirty seconds, Kakashi reopened his eye, greeting his students with a blank look. "Who are you again?"
Sakura bit back an angry retort. "Not funny. You know who we are."
Kakashi turned his attention to Sakura. "Nope, sorry." Kakashi shook his head. "How about you tell me a bit about yourselves? Name, goals, likes, dislikes, that kind of thing."
Two of the three genin groaned in exasperation. The third suffered silently, eyes closed and arms crossed in a bored fashion. A smile came to the masked man's face.
"We can start with Mr. Personality over here." Everyone turned their attention to the young Uchiha, waiting to hear his life story.
"...no."
"Okay then..." Kakashi responded. Sasuke relaxed his posture a bit, but went rigid when Kakashi continued. "...We'll save you for last."
Sasuke couldn't help but pick up on the ominous tone that Kakashi's statement held.
Naruto raised his hand. "Hey, Sensei! I'll go again!"
"Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage, ramen, time to cook ramen." Sakura droned, interrupting Naruto before he could repeat himself. Her head was still ringing from his first introduction, and she could still smell that foul burp in the air.
Kakashi leveled Sakura with a stare."Well young lady, since you you can't seem to wait, you can go next, so let's hear it." Kakashi supplied, ignoring Naruto's protests about not being done yet.
Sakura sat up straighter, and cleared her throat. "Well, my name is Haruno Sakura, and-"
"Sasuke, Sasuke, and anything that's not Sasuke!" Naruto interrupted, an impish grin on his face.
"Hey!" Sakura bristled. "Sensei! He interrupted me!"
"Well, you did kind of interrupt him first."
"So? He already went, remember?"
Kakashi gave her a blank look. "He already went? I don't recall that."
"Whatever!" Sakura huffed, looking away from her infuriating teacher.
After a few seconds of strange silence, Sakura turned back to see her sensei giving her an expectant glance.
"What now sensei?"
"Aren't you going to correct him?"
"Umm...what?" Sakura eloquently responded.
"Naruto. He said your goal was Sasuke, your likes were...Sasuke, and your dislikes were...what was it Naruto?"
Ever helpful, Naruto responded, "Anything that's not Sasuke, sir."
"Good man." He turned back to Sakura. "So? Was he wrong?"
The blush on Sakura's face, and the fact that she looked at everything except Sasuke told Kakashi all he needed to know.
"Well then. Let's move on."
Kakashi turned his attention to the last Uchiha. "Well my young friend, care to embarrass yourself too? I would hate for you to feel left out."
Sasuke looked at his two teammates, and then glanced at his new teacher, all of them waiting patiently to hear from him.
"Fine." Sasuke growled. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have no goals beyond eventually restoring my clan, but I do have a certain mission to fulfill in the meantime, which is none of your concern. I don't have time for likes or dislikes. Everything simply is."
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully to himself.
Sakura looked at him in admiration.
Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What the hell does that mean?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto's question.
Naruto took this as his cue to elaborate. "Everything simply is?"
"Yes."
"Nothing bothers you?"
"No."
"And you don't like anything either?"
"No."
"Wait, do you mean no, you do like things, or no, you don't like things?"
"..."
"..."
"Yes."
0o0o0
After a less than productive introduction, the new sensei of Team 7 sent his genin home, warning them of the exercise ahead.
Naruto walked slowly through the streets, doing his best to avoid crowds, and headed towards the poorer side of town where his apartment was, scowling in thought at his sensei's parting words.
We will be performing a rigorous survival exercise to determine whether or not you make it as official genin. You may have past academy requirements, but it is still my choice if you fail or succeed. It'll be fun, I swear! Well, for me at least.
Naruto had a bad feeling in his gut, and it wasn't just the sour milk this time. Upon reaching his complex, Naruto took the fire escape up to his unlocked window, not feeling up to the challenge of dealing with his neighbors this time.
Locking the window behind him, Naruto gave a cursory glance to his apartment, finding everything where it was, empty ramen cups and all.
Unfortunately, Naruto forget to restock on food. Feeling a little tired, Naruto decided to take a short nap first, and get some food later that evening.
Laying down on his couch, Naruto started to wonder if he could even fall asleep, with the big exercise tomorrow making him so nervous.
Hesitantly, Naruto closed his eyes.
It took him a bit longer than usual to fall asleep.
About fifteen seconds after closing his eyes, Naruto was out like a light.
0o0o0
Sitting at his small table, Sasuke ate his meal in silence, contemplating the task ahead. For the first time in a while, his mind was focused on something other than vengeance. Not only the upcoming test, but his sensei, his teammates, and that ridiculous conversation all invaded his thoughts. It was strange to be thinking about them, especially at such a crucial time.
Sasuke found strength in his desire for vengeance. The raw desire, the need to honor his fallen family is what kept him going for so long.
Thinking of other things would accomplish nothing.
The exercise ahead is what he should focus on, as it was the key to becoming a genin, putting him one step closer towards completing his mission.
Blood will kill blood. His brother will die, or Sasuke will die trying.
0o0o0
Lying awake in bed, Sakura couldn't help but feel a strange sense of helplessness. Sakura knew for a fact that she lacked physical strength, and she was all too aware of her lack of powerful jutsu.
She was a brain. Sakura had come to terms with it, and tried her best to make it work for her. Her strengths were in using information to her advantage. Thus, Sakura felt helpless, confused for the first time in a long while. She has never heard of a "rigorous survival exercise" after passing the academy. She was completely in the dark on this, and Sakura feared she would be left there if she couldn't adapt to this weird new sensei she was stuck with.
I have no control, no knowledge to help me, no past experience to learn from. For the first time ever, I can't find a book to tell me what I need.
It was almost midnight when Sakura's eyes began to droop.
She was nearly asleep, when she realized just how little she actually knew.
...Dammit. He never gave us his name.
oooo
Words of Resolve:
Haha! I bet you thought I was just gonna quit and never update! Don't worry. I'll wait until a cliffhanger before I quit. "Leave 'em wanting more!" I always say!
Seriously, Chapter 4 is totally going to happen. It will involve characters, more dialogue, and maybe even a plot.
I'll also try to start making chapters a bit longer, I know how annoying short chapters can be, especially when the content is as awesome as this, am I right?
Seriously, am I?
Disregard any mistakes you might see, as they are not real, and you just need glasses. For those of you who have glasses, just take them off, and assume that the blurry story in front of you is free of mistakes.
-Resolve