Okay, new chapter! This one's going to be a bit different than a normal chapter. I've mostly used it to set up alot of drama for later in the story as i came up with a new idea for stuff to add in (for pairings, etc). Things in this chapter are important, thought I don't think this is the best chapter i've ever written. Next chapter will be back to normal writing, and after the next chapter or two, the sand sibs will show up again. To keep with that schedule, this next chapter's will be LONG, and may take longer to write, so i apologize before hand.
Anyways, i hope that, despite how i feel that this chapter is a bit stagnant, that you will still enjoy it. Let me know what you think, please! :) As always, anyone who wants to can review my stories, even if you don't have a fanfiction account.
disclaimer- I own NOTHING on Naruto. That said, enjoy, and please support the official Naruto manga/anime releases in your area.
"And that's what happened, jii-san." Naruto looked down guiltily after finishing her account of the events from that day. She was actually fighting back tears from that guilt. She felt that she had betrayed one of the only people that loved her, and it was tearing her up now that the excitement of the whole thing was over. She didn't see the worried look he gave her as she kept her gaze down, nor did she see him stand up, though she did notice that Anko and Iruka had taken a step back. She finally looked up, just a little, to see the hokage's robes right before her, then she was enveloped in a hug, the old man stroking her hair as she let loose her tears.
"I, I'm sorry, j,jii-san! I, I shouldn't have listened and, and asked you first if, if it was real."
"Shhhh, shh, Naruto, it's okay, my Naruto, my little girl. It was not wrong what you did." She looked up in surprise at her grandfather's words.
"Bu, but I, I stole the forbidden scroll! I, I could have let it get into the hands of another village!" He smiled warmly at her.
"Yes, that could have happened, but what did happen, was you trusted someone who should have deserved your trust. You had no reason to suspect him, and neither did any of us. Did you know that Iruka almost sees Mizuki as a brother?" Naruto's eyes widened as she looked back at her sensei who was now shuffling his feet, and she saw the tears that he was holding back in his own eyes. As she looked back at her jii-san she missed seeing Anko putting her hand on his shoulder soothingly, and his look of thanks.
"Naruto, what you did, was protect this village, and the people you love. I am proud of you." Naruto hugged him tightly, crying again, but this time for happiness. He wasn't mad at her; he was proud of her…
"Arigato, jii-san. I promise, I'll never let anyone trick me like that again." He tousled her hair as he let go of her.
"I know; that's one thing about you, Naruto-chan, you learn. You may not be the smartest in terms of books, but from experience, you learn in a way no one else does." She grinned from ear to ear.
"Heheh, yeah, believe it!" He turned back to his desk, speaking as he went.
"Now, one more thing, Naruto. I'm going to leave this up to you to decide, but I thought I'd found the perfect gift for your graduation. I'm not sure now, since Iruka gave you his own headband," he said, leaning down to pick up something from beneath his desk, "but this was your mothers, and I thought you might like to have it." He turned back, handing it too her. Naruto's jaw had dropped as she held out her hands to take the box. It was wrapped in bright colors, much like any gift would be, and about the size of a shoe box.
"You know that I can't tell you much about your mother, but she came her as a little girl from another country and stayed to become a shinobi of Konoha. Some of what's in that box where what she used when she was your own age." Naruto was carefully sitting down while Anko and Iruka looked at each other in confusion, trying to figure out who Naruto's mother was. They had both assumed she was a complete orphan, never thinking that either of her parents might have been shinobi. However, try as they might, neither could think of a kounichi that matched what the hokage had said, so instead they just watched as Naruto opened up her gift.
Lying in the box, on top of everything else, was a headband with the leaf symbol. The cloth was a deep crimson red, and it was long enough that it would reach halfway down her back. It showed it's age and use from all the light scratches and dents on it. Naruto picked it up, almost gingerly, as if afraid it would break.
"As you can see, your mother never changed her head plate. That is the very forehead protector that she used from the time she graduated the academy till she died." Naruto nodded, putting it down in her lap and looking at it for a moment before returning to the box.
Also inside were various shinobi tools. There was a set of kunochi sandals, though these were the usual Konoha blue, a weapons pouch which also happened to be red, and a shiny mesh undershirt.
"That mesh is the strongest that money can buy," Hiruzen said. "Your mother firmly believed that a shinobi should be prepared both in their own skill, and whatever else they could provide for themselves. She told me it took months to get it made, but she managed to afford it through saving money for some time. It might be a little big on you for now, but it was also make to stretch, so soon it will fit fine, and you should be able to continue wearing it until it wears out." The little girl smiled, running her fingers across the material, enjoying the cool feel of the mixed cloth and metal. Anko and Iruka were looking on in awe, and Anko had given a high whistle when she'd seen the mesh. She wondered if maybe she could afford one as nice as that if she laid of the dango for a little, then slapped herself for the stupidity of laying off of dango for any reason. Then Naruto looked over her shoulder at Iruka.
"Um, sensei, what should I do?" Iruka looked at her, confused.
"Do? About what?" She held up her mother's headband. Iruka winced.
"Well, I really don't mind. I mean, it was your mothers, and since you never got to know her, well, I guess that it would be nice to have this as a way to be close to her again." Naruto frowned, looking down at the headband and other contents of the box, reaching up to touch her headband, running her thumb over the engraved metal. Then she perked up.
"Hey, jii-san! Could I have mom's forehead protector attached to her weapon's pouch? Then I could have both of them, mom's and Iruka sensei's!" The hokage smiled, happy with her solution, Iruka proud that she still wanted his gift to her.
"Alright! This is awesome," Anko yelled out, pumping her hand in the air. "Let's skip over everything else and go celebrate!" Naruto yelled her agreement, the two men in the room trying not to roll their eyes as they smiled at the girls antics, but also hoping that it would be the other one to remind the girls that it was the middle of the night and there weren't any places open…
.
.
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"Wow, that really happened?" Konohamaru was sitting on Naruto's bed as she put on all of her equipment. He'd come in while she was brushing out her long hair, preparing for team assignments that day. He'd been so busy with Ebisu, and her with getting everything ready for being a real genin, that she'd never gotten the chance to tell him the story.
"Yep! Turns out Mizuki sensei was messing with my chakra, so I really deserved to pass anyways, besides taking that…jerk out after he hurt Anko-chan and Iruka-sensei." She smiled evilly at the memory. "I wonder if I kicked him enough to cause permanent damage?" Konohamaru shuddered.
"Wow sis, you're scary sometimes!" She laughed as she finished brushing her hair and began tying it into the twin ponytails that she so often wore.
"Hey, blame Anko-chan! She's the creepy one." Konohamaru had to agree with that, and soon the two siblings were talking and laughing normally and having breakfast. Naruto said good bye to him as he went off to train with Ebisu sensei, and Naruto headed to get her team. I wonder who I'll be paired with? She thought over the other students. Somewhere straight out as considerations, like those jerks that had tried to get her killed by going into the backwoods a couple years back. Of course, a couple of them had quite the academy after receiving more pranks, courtesy of Naruto and Anko. Ino and Sakura are WAY too loud, and all they can think about it Sasuke. Bleag! She shook her head in disgust for the boy and his fan girls. I guess he wouldn't be too bad, though, if he could just stop brooding all the time and be more energetic, like Kiba maybe. She tilted her head to the side. Hmmm… he wouldn't be a bad teammate. We both like fighting, but man, he sure has a thing against women! You'd think he'd realize that there ain't no difference what with his mom and everything. Let's see…Shikamaru's okay, even if he is a lazy butt. Choji's pretty nice, too. That Shino guy's a bit weird. Hardly ever talks and it's freaky when he does. She smiled. Ah, but Hinata would be a great teammate! She's awesome and she'd be best for helping me with chakra, not to mention being my best friend! Naruto smiled as she thought about her possible team. Well, Jii-san knows how much fun we have together, I'm sure we'll be on the same team! With that thought, she continued on to the academy, whistling happily. Of course, the first thing that happened when she came through the doors was a surprised shriek.
"Naruto! What are you doing here? This is only for students who passed you know. Repeats don't start up again for another week." Naruto rolled her eyes, pointing to the headband that she had in her hair (she'd opted to put it back so it rested just in front of where her pony tails came out rather than on her forehead, much like how Sakura was wearing hers now, actually).
"Check out the headband, Sakura; I did pass!" Sakura stuttered as a few kids moaned and a couple actually had congratulatory comments.
"Say what? Haha, guess you had it in you after spaz," Kiba said, reclining in his chair, broad smile on his face.
"Congratulations, Naruto-chan," Hinata said.
"…" Shikamaru, accompanied by Choji, "munch munch." She rolled her eyes at the two of them, getting the message anyways, and smiled back.
"Heehee, turns out someone was trying to make me fail," she said as she sat down next to Hinata and Kiba. "But I caught them and jii-san and Iruka sensei retested me, and I passed!" Hinata smiled, happy for her friend and Kiba laughed.
"Hah, girl like you I bet they wished they hadn't." Naruto got that evil grin again as she reminisced.
"Yeah, especially since I don't think he can have kids anymore…" Kiba froze in the middle of his laughter to gulp and slowly let his chair down, wincing at the imagined pain.
"Um…remind me never to really tick you off." He shuddered again.
"Any ideas on who you'll have for your team?" She shrugged.
"Nah, not really, but I hope Hinata's on my team!"
"Me too, Naruto chan."
"What about you, Kiba? Any preferences?" Kiba took a thoughtful look, something he didn't do often. Naruto laughed at the thought. She and Kiba were quite a like in some respects.
"Well, I think I'd like Shino; he's actually a pretty cool guy, even if he does seem weird sometimes. He just has a funny way of talking, but he's pretty smart, once you get past that."
"You should think more about how you talk about people. You never know when they might be listening, and if you talk about them badly, it may hurt their feelings." The three looked behind them, surprised by the low, quiet and steady voice.
"Oh hey, Shino, did know you were there!"
"I thought not, hearing how you were speaking about me. It's not very kind." Kiba shrugged as Hinata blushed slightly and Naruto rolled her eyes.
"Hey man, I say it how it is. Besides, you are the first person I said I wanted to be teammates with. You gotta balance these things out man." Shino tilted his head slightly.
"Hmmm, I suppose you're right, somewhat. I will take the compliment, then, but you may still wish to be more careful about how you speak of others." With that he walked back to his chair, Naruto rolling her eyes.
"Honestly, I don't know why you do want to be teammates with him; he's just too weird!" Kiba laughed.
"Yeah, but like I said, after you get past how he talks, he's pretty cool."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." She looked over at him again.
"So, who else?" Kiba scratched Akamaru's ears (who was lying on the desk in front of him) for a moment before answering.
"Well, honestly, I'd like you for a teammate." Naruto looked at him in shock.
"What? Me? Why?" He shrugged, grinning foolishly.
"Well, you're fun! And you fight like a demon or something, too! Haha, you'd be a great partner in a fight." He missed Naruto's wince at his choice of words, but her sudden discomfort made her look up at the clock.
"Well, thanks, but it's about time for class to start, so I need to get to my seat." Kiba looked at her in surprise as she walked off.
"Since when do we have assigned seats," he asked Hinata. Hinata shrugged her shoulders, wondering what had given her friend that aura of discomfort, and hoping Naruto was alright. She would ask her about it later, but for now, maybe she could talk to Kiba alone…
Naruto, meanwhile, was looking for an open seat as her mind was occupied by Kiba's words. Crap, why did he have to say that? I know he didn't mean nothin', but… She shook her head mentally, still thinking about his 'demon' comment, not even noticing who she was sitting down next to until someone screamed at her a moment later.
"Hey! Naruto baka! How dare you take the seat next to Sasuke!" She looked up in surprise to see Ino and Sakura standing next to her, hands on their hips, glaring at her.
"Huh?" She looked over, shocked to see that she was, indeed, sitting next to the annoying Uchiha. How did I end up sitting here? She looked back at the other girls. "Heheh, sorry about that. I uh, I had a lot on my mind and didn't notice where I was sitting. Please, take it," she said, standing up quickly, and walking around the desk. The girls sniffed at her, as though she'd done something rude, then began bickering over who would sit next to Sasuke.
Sasuke, meanwhile, had been looking at the blond girl out of the corner of his eye. Hmm… not that I mind, but why doesn't she like me like all the other girls? I remember seeing her when we were kids, and I thought we were going to be friends… He frowned (more than usual) as he thought back to his childhood memories. He remembered his mother pointing the girl out many times and how he needed to be her friend when he got to the academy. He would ask her why they couldn't be friends now, and all she'd say was that his dad wouldn't understand and not to say anything about it.
Come to think of it, he wondered if that's what all the girly clothes were for that he'd helped his mom buy back then. Was she giving them to Naruto? Why all the secrecy about it? His brow furled. Why hadn't they become friends? Just then he noticed Naruto looking at him oddly from across his desk. What the crap? What's with that stare!
Naruto, for her part, had just been looking at him curiously. He was always brooding, but she'd noticed that, when she got up, his brooding was different than normal. Instead of 'grim determination', as she liked to refer to it, it had gone confused. He was totally spaced out, till a second ago, then he gave her his usual glare. Well, two could play at that game! She leaned forward, crossing her arms, and gave him a glare back. They continued to glare few a few seconds before the boy sitting behind Naruto pushed his chair back, not realizing that someone was behind him.
"oh hey, sorry about that. You okay?" He was quiet surprised to see the sight that awaited him: Naruto and Sasuke 'kissing'. The classroom went silent as everyone felt that auras of shock and killing intent that came off of the fan girls. Only a few people missed seeing Naruto and Sasuke lip-locked, but only the fan girls seemed to the shock on the two genin's faces, and their disgust as they jumped away from each other and started to spit and attempt to scrub their mouths out.
"Gak! Bleagh! Ugh! That was disgusting!"
"Bleagh! Gah!" Naruto paused, suddenly noticing the killer intent as Sasuke continued to clean out his mouth. She turned slowly to see the fan girls cracking their knuckles and staring at her.
"Narutooo….you stole Sasuke kun's first kiss," they growled dangerously. She held up her hands defensivly.
"Hey hey hey, it, it was an accident! I, I fell! You saw that, didn't you? I mean, this guy pushed his chair into me and I fell! I-" She broke off as the first girl raised her fist to administer the beating, but it never touched her. She opened the eyes she had close at her impending doom to see Kiba standing before her, Sakura's fist caught in his hand.
"It was an accident," he said dangerously. "I would think you could let her off for falling into a guy she's not interested in." The girls glared at him, but the beating was already interrupted. Instead Ino just walked up as Kiba let go of Sakura's hand.
"Alright then, but don't think we'll forget this Naruto! You stay away from Sasuke or next time we won't let you go so easy!" Naruto nodded her head vigorously, wondering how Kiba got there so fast and why he'd bothered while Sasuke just covered his head. Won't it ever stop! The fan girls turned back to each other to figure out the seating again, taking a moment to realized that, in the confusion, Sakura had taken the open seat, grinning victoriously. They, of course, screamed out their frustrations, but that didn't really matter, not to Naruto anyways. She was following Kiba back to his seat, forgetting why she'd left him and Hinata in the first place.
"Why did you do that?" Kiba shrugged not looking at her, but his voice was more subdued than normal.
"Anyone could see it was an accident. You didn't deserve what they were about to dish out, and you're my friend, aren't you? So why shouldn't I help?" She shook her head, knowing there was something he wasn't saying.
"Whatever. Thanks." He looked over his shoulder, grinning his usual grin.
"Heh, no problem. Just go getting into trouble like that again. OW!" He rubbed his arm where she'd punched him.
"Not on your life," she replied, grinning back and sitting down next to Hinata who had a sad smile on her face. "Now, what should we talk about till sensei get's here?"
"Well…" Speak of the devil was the thought that occupied the three genin's thoughts.
"Alright kids, quiet down! It's time to get your team assignment!"
"Wait, where's Mizuki sensei?" Iruka forced a smile.
"Oh, he's not feeling well; he may be gone for a good while. Meantime, you're all graduating anyways, but if you want to send him get well cards or anything, I'll do what I can to make sure he gets them."
Please not Sasuke or a fan girl, please not Sasuke or a fan girl, please not Sasuke or a fan girl, please not Sasuke or a fan girl!
"And the teams are…"
Alright, that's it for this chapter. I realized that i'd never really done anything with Mikoto's thoughts back when i wrote those in in the earlier chapters, so I'm going to be providing some flashbacks here and there to show what she did rather than going back and rewriting to include what i meant to put in.
Also, I've decided that I must really miss my gf (whom i met at college and lives on the other side of the US) because I came up with an alternative NaruSasu kiss that's slightly less innocent. I blame, as i said, missing my gf. As such, since i DID write it, the alternative version is available on request, but i'd rather not have it posted with the rest of the story just 'cause.
Please review and tell me what you think, especially if you have advice (in a constructive, NON-flame format) of how i can improve. Include where i made grammar errors and i will go back and correct them after i get off of work tomorrow. Thanks!
Final note, i recently did a NaruHina one-shot called 'teardrops'. Since one-shots only get to the top of the Naruto fanfic list once, i'm including one 'advertisement' per a story so i can get more feedback on it. Thanks to anyone who reads and reviews it, and until i see you again on Naruto of the Sand, take care!