Count On It
Episode 1: "So It Begins"
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any profit from this story.
The sun shone brightly through the window as the sharp ringing of an alarm echoed throughout the room. A small pale hand jerked forward, quickly knocking the orange clock from the bedside table, before pulling back to the bundle of blankets just as fast. "Geez! One of these days I'm going to shove a kunai through that stupid clock" grumbled a slightly muffled voice from under the blankets. The small bundle on the bed squirmed and shifted for a moment before the person underneath realized that they weren't getting back to sleep anytime soon. "Yeah… definitely going to kill that clock."
With a muffled curse the bundled up person tossed the pile blankets off and swung their legs around, planting their feet to the cool hardwood floor. A mighty yawn and, a rather cat like stretch followed as the person stood up revealing the form of a disgruntled young girl. Sudden realization came upon the girl her bright blue eyes widening. "Oh crap, what day is it?" she asked herself. Her annoyance toward being rudely awoken was soon forgotten as she rushed over to the calendar hanging from the wall next to her modest, single sized bed.
The calendar read, May 21st. The girl let out a yelp while she dashed over to her dresser. The first drawer was ripped open, clothes flying everywhere; "Damn it all! I can't be late!" The unnamed girl shot around the room like a lightning bolt alternating between getting dressed, and preparing her equipment. Finally after a hectic five minutes, the girl stood before her full length mirror. A vision of beauty stared back at the girl, even if she didn't realize it herself. From golden blonde hair, to her bright blue eyes, to the identical marks on her face which closely resembled whiskers. The girl was certainly unique in a village filled mostly with people of a darker coloration.
It was this same unique quality that kept most people from noticing the state of her clothing and equipment. The girl bit her lip and smiled nervously at her own reflection. "Well here goes nothing!" She mulled over her image once more, trying to ignore the worn quality of her now slightly off white shirt. The faded brown skirt that ended just above her knees which laid over a pair of old but comfortable shorts. The girl frowned as she considered the need for new equipment. Her weapon pouches were beginning to fray, the shuriken pouch around her waist wasn't so bad but the kunai holster on her thigh was almost unusable. "Well at least the sandals will still be good for a while."
It was with this final thought that the girl's uncertain smile turned into a grin. The grin quickly turned in to a look of horror when the girl remembered that she was going to be late. So with one final glance at the mirror the blonde hopped onto her bed. Opening the window she stepped onto a small balcony, a slight breeze passed; by ruffling the girl's short blonde hair, the tips of which curled slightly against her neck. The girl closed her eyes and inhaled the clean fresh air. Her blue eyes opened once again and gazed over the edge of the balcony. Taking a step back the girl braced herself for a moment, before darting forward. With a short leap she hopped onto the railing, continuing to whisk from roof top to roof top.
Wind whipped past the girl as she took off in a run, arms aerodynamically positioned behind her. Coming to the edge of the roof she once again leaped to the next one. This same process repeated itself over and over as the village's rooftops became her playground. The blonde almost forgot that she was running late in the simplicity of her run; Almost. The girl was half-way to her destination when a figure in a hooded cloak pulled up alongside her. The genderless figure turned their head to her, its' stride unbroken, revealing a clay mask in the shape of a bear with red paint swirled over it in a simple design. A decidedly male voice emanated from the figure "Uzumaki-kun, shouldn't you be at the academy by now?" Before the girl could respond a second cloaked figure pulled up on the opposite side, "Oh leave her alone Bear-san, It must have been something truly important to keep her from being on time today of all days."
The second cloaked figure, decidedly a female by the sound of her voice with a lion shaped mask, turned to the blond haired child and nodded before bringing her hands together and disappearing in a puff of smoke and a swirl of leaves. The young girl pouted, "Why can't I do that?" The cloaked man let out a small chuckle "You'll learn with time, Uzumaki-kun." With that last statement and a nod of his own, the man in the bear mask took his leave.
It took another ten minutes for the blonde to reach her final destination. The girl jumped from the top of a short building to the walkway leading to the entrance to the academy. Even running at her top speed, it was another couple of minutes before the girl reached the classroom. Skidding to a stop the girl grabbed a hold of the door and slid it open with a slam. "I'm here, I'm here!", "YOU'RE LATE!" screamed the instructor. The girl flinched and nearly whimpered in the presence of her instructor's anger. "It wasn't my fault Iruka-sensei, the stupid ala…" Iruka shut his eyes and rubbed at his temples in a vain attempt to ward off the headache he normally associated with one Uzumaki Naru. "Naru just… just get to your seat."
Naru smiled slightly before walking gingerly to her seat beside a young boy with black hair that closely resembled the back end of a duck. "Good morning, Sasuke!" Naru said cheerfully. The raven haired boy turned his dark gaze to his overly bright classmate, "Hn…" "Wow Sasuke it almost sounds like you're happy to see me," she responded. Sasuke sneered at her, "No one, in their right mind, is happy to see you Dobe." Naru's bright expression soured as a growl escaped her lips. She was about to respond when a piece of chalk slapped into her forehead. "Ow!" Iruka once again yelled at the girl, his head seeming to grow larger the angrier he got, "Sit down and shut up!" The young girl quickly sat down and tried not to fidget as the instructor began to speak.
"As you all know today you will be taking the graduation exam. For some of you this will be the culmination of four years of hard work. For others it will mean at least one more year of schooling." Iruka allowed a small smile at the expressions on the faces of his students. "However, pass or fail, I want you to remember one thing," He paused for a moment allowing the words to sink in; "and that one thing is why?" Iruka gazed across the classroom noting the slightly puzzled looks that his students were giving him. "Before you take your graduation exam today, I want you all to ask yourselves, 'why do I want to be a shinobi?'." He almost chuckled at the different expressions on their faces but he didn't want to ruin the moment. Iruka was about to continue his little speech when a familiar blonde had jumped on top of her desk and pointed a finger at him. "I don't have to ask myself why Iruka-sensei! I know why I want to be a shinobi." Naru turned to her classmates with a grin on her face. "My name is Uzumaki Naru, and I will be the next Hokage. Count on it!"
Naru's moment of glory was short lived, as a book was sent sailing towards her. She let out yelp when the book slammed into her forehead, knocking her back and off of the desk. Naru's flight was cut short as she crashed into the student seated below her. "Get the hell off of me you dumb blonde!" yelled the student who had been knocked to the ground. The room full of students broke out in laughter at her misfortune. With a nervous chuckle Naru quickly rose to her feet, left hand going to the back of her head in a sign of embarrassment, "Sorry... Uh…" The boy got up himself and narrowed his eyes at her "You don't even know who I am, do you?" Naru's hand slowly dropped to her side; a look of confusion settling across her face. Before Naru could respond though, Iruka slammed his hand on top of his desk. "If I have to tell you to sit down and shut up one more time..." The instructor allowed the rest of his threat to go unspoken. The room quieted down as both Naru and the unnamed boy returned to their respective seats.
"Now as I was saying…" Iruka paused for a moment struggling to remember what he was going to say "…just forget it, we'll begin the exams now." Iruka turned to his assistant a man with light gray hair covered by a bandana. "Mizuki-sensei, if you would please." With a small nod to his fellow instructor Mizuki rose to face the class "Alright here is how it's going to work: The first portion will be a written test. This test will be 20 questions long. You will have one hour to complete it and you are required to show your work
While Mizuki was going over the instructions with the class Iruka was placing a test face down on each of the student's desks, along with a freshly sharpened pencil. As he passed by each one of his students he would offer them a smile and a word of encouragement; until he reached the bane of his teaching career at which point his smile slowly turned into a frown. Naru looked up at her teacher with a nervous smile. "Hello Iruka-sensei." Iruka closed his eyes and let out a sigh "Listen Naru, this is your third time taking this test, and each year you fail because of stupid little mistakes. I want you to take your time and follow the instructions. Oh, and for the love of God, double check your work." The young blonde gulped and nodded. "I will Iuka-sensei, I won't fail this time. Count on it!" Iruka smiled at his student's trademark exclamation, "I'm sure you'll do just fine Nauru." The instructor took a moment to ruffle the girl's short hair before moving on.
Iruka returned to the front of the classroom once he finished handing out the tests. He addressed the class, "Alright you all have 60 minutes. Begin." Each student turned over his or her own test sheet, once Iruka gave the signal. The next hour was filled with the sounds of lead against paper, rubber erasers being used furiously, and the occasional curse uttered by a frustrated student. All too soon, however, the hour was coming to an end. The final seconds ticked by with Iruka staring at a clock hanging from the back wall of the class room. He patiently watched, waiting for the second hand to reach the hour mark. "And time! All right pencils down. Mizuki will now come around and collect your tests. Please be patient as we will be grading them immediately."
The two instructors sat at their shared desk, dividing the test papers equally between them. Gathering his half of the tests Iruka once again addressed the class; "When we call your name please come to the front of the class where you will receive your grade. If you receive a failing grade than we ask that you please exit the classroom immediately. If you receive a passing grade than please return to your seat, so we can explain the second portion of the exam." Mizuki gazed at the test paper in front of him. "Alright first up is Aburame Shino." A tall boy with messy hair and dark sunglasses walked to the front of the room stopping in front of Mizuki. The gray haired instructor looked over the test paper for a moment before handing it to the young Aburame. "Congratulations Aburame-kun you pass." Shino took the paper and bowed respectfully before returning to his seat.
At the same time that Mizuki was congratulating Shino, Iruka was offering his condolences to a student who unfortunately had failed. After Iuka finished consoling the young boy he moved on to the next paper. This process repeated itself over and over again, until both instructors each held one final test. Iruka glanced at the paper before reading off the name, "Uzumaki Naru," while Mizuki followed with "Yamanaka Ino." The two blondes both stood and made their way to the front. Yamanaka Ino was the very image of confidence as she stood before Mizuki; head held high, a smirk playing across her lips. However the same could not be said for Naru. As Iruka had mentioned before when speaking to her, this was Naru's third time taking the graduation exam and it definitely showed in the nervous way she held herself, hands fiddling the with edge of her skirt.
Iruka wasn't blind to Naru's current state of distress, so he didn't delay in revealing her fate. "Congratulations Naru you pass." The words were barely out of Iruka's mouth before Naru launched herself over the desk tackling the unsuspecting instructor. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you!" The blonde girl was hugging Iruka so hard he thought he could hear his ribs cracking. "Don't thank me Naru; you're the one who managed to pass. Although it was by the skin of your teeth." he said good naturedly as he ruffled her hair. Iruka had to end their little moment of bonding when Inuzuka Kiba wolf whistled. "She's a little young for you; isn't she Sensei?" said the rather wild looking boy.
Naru spluttered while getting up and stepping away from Iruka as quickly as possible, her cheeks burning. "Shut up Kiba! Or I'll turn you into dog food." The young Inuzuka let out a barking laugh. "Hah I'd like to see you try, Dead-Last." Naru let out a growl her blush darkening as she began to stomp her way over to Inuzuka. "Enough!" yelled Iruka "Naru, he was just joking. Kiba, one more comment like that, and I'll change that passing grade to a failing one." Mizuki had remained quiet during this whole exchange, waiting for the other's antics to finish. Once things had settled down and Uzumaki returned to her seat, Mizuki turned to Ino who was beginning to become impatient. "You pass." Ino grabbed her test paper with a huff and gave Naru a dirty look before returning to her seat.
Iruka, once again, addressed the class after they had settled down. "Alright; Now that the written portion of the exam is complete, we will be moving on to the practical portion." The fifteen students, who were left, let out a collective sigh of relief. "Thank God, no more stupid tests." mumbled Naru. Kiba took this opportunity to [once again] antagonize the somewhat ditzy blonde. "Yeah one more question, and you'd probably fry your brain." Naru was about to go over and proceed to beat Kiba senseless, when a cough from the front of the classroom caught her attention. "Why don't we all head outside to begin the practical test before we have to explain to Hokage-sama why we let the students kill each other?" Mizuki said to Iruka only half joking.
Iruka moved away from his desk and stepped closer to the front row of the class, which was now empty. "Now I would like for the rest of you to head outside to the range, where we will begin the first part of the practical test." he said as the class collectively rose from their seats and began heading for the door that lead outside. "Everyone one of you should have a standard academy set of Number Two kunai; as well as a set of Type Three shuriken. If you do not have a set of your own, or if the set you have is of poor condition, you may use some of the school's stock." Iruka's gaze was pointed at Naru as he said this. Naru knew that the state of her weapons was appalling, but she had to make due with what little she could buy on her monthly allowance from the Department of Orphans. "My equipment is just fine Iruka-sensei." Naru huffed.
"I just want you to have the best shot at passing; Naru." Iruka said in an attempt to placate the girl. Naru paused at the door leading to the range, "I'm going to pass this test no matter what Iruka-sensei … Count on that." She said confidently, stepping way through the door, into the bright midday sun, to face her next trial on the path to becoming Hokage.
Well I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I have been an avid fan of fanfiction for many years and this is my first try at actually writing one. If you enjoyed it and even if you didn't please review.