Chapter 2 – All for one, and one for all
It didn't make any sense to Naruto. Why was he being placed in a team of fresh genin? He was miles ahead of them in terms of his shinobi career. Sure, he hadn't done any missions together with a team, but was that reason enough? How was it fair that he had to sit in the back of a classroom with people talking loudly about how happy they were that they were promoted to genin.
As far as Naruto was aware of, no one in the room was actually genin because they needed to pass the test supplied by their Jonin-sensei, to be or not to be. More than likely at least half of the people in the crowded classroom would flunk the test and have to redo the year in a remedial class.
With his honed skills he had managed to take a seat at the far back of the room without anyone noticing. When a few people had looked behind, they widened their eyes.
"Look it's Naruto!" Kiba, the dog boy said with a high pitched voice that could only belong to a boy going through puberty. Everyone turned to look.
He hadn't seen any of them in years, but he didn't really care. So when Kiba started to make fun of him for wearing darker clothes, starkly contrasting his previous bright colors, Naruto completely ignored him by looking at the wall to his left. He tuned out the voices of the murmurs that followed.
Now, twenty minutes later, no one paid him any attention. Naruto more than welcome that.
The door of the classroom creaked open and in walked a shinobi with a scar running through his noise. He had brown hair. Naruto noted that the teacher, like most teachers in the academy, was a chunin. Silently Naruto wondered how long it would take him to knock out the chunin.
If there was one bad habit that Naruto had, something that Hiruzen could not drill out of him, it was his need to prove himself. Whenever someone of chunin rank or above was around him, Naruto measured them up. His fingers twitched to start a fight, but his long hours of meditation always kicked in time to stop him from doing something that his sensei would disapprove of.
An hour later the groups were made. Naruto was placed with the last surviving Uchiha and a pink haired civilian girl. He didn't even pay them attention, seeing as they were ants to him. He caught the civilian, called Sakura, giving him odd looks every now and then as they waited for their jonin instructor. Sometimes she would even fiddle with her hair.
Naruto sighed when thirty minutes passed and no one but their team stood waiting to be picked up.
With every minute passing, Naruto had a hunch as to who the jonin instructor could be. There was only one jonin in the shinobi corps known for his tardiness.
"Yo," Hatake Kakashi said almost two hours later, "I'm your new instructor, the first order of business is to meet me up at the roof," and the jonin disappeared in a swirl of leaves, completely missing the complains Sakura gave after he left. Sasuke, the Uchiha, grunted, but otherwise gave no inclination of caring.
"So, how about we begin with introductions? Like your name, likes, dislikes and dream," Kakashi looked towards Sakura.
"My name is Haruno Sakura! I like…," Sakura flushed as she looked down and sideways towards Sasuke, "my dislikes are loud and stupid people," Naruto had to force himself not to burst out laughing considering Sakura had fought with a blonde girl over who could sit next to Sasuke for over fifteen minutes, "my dream is to become…." Again she looked sideways towards Sasuke. Naruto definitely knew he was screwed with the girl in his team. She was a complete airhead as far as he could see.
Sasuke looked ahead with fingers overlaying the back of each of his hands as his arms were in front of him when Kakashi nodded towards him, "my name is Uchiha Sasuke, I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." Great Naruto thought, a border-line psycho who had a tunnel vision.
Naruto stared straight back into the only visible eye that belonged to the legendary jonin when it was his turn. Naruto had met Kakashi on several occasions. Many of them were when he personally guarded his sensei from the shadows. He had always worn a mask when he wasn't alone with his sensei, so no one really knew who he was at the Hokage Tower. As far as the shinobi corpse was aware, he was just another Anbu.
Naruto did not know for how long Hiruzen-sensei wanted him to stay a genin, but unless he wanted repercussions in the form of Hiruzen-sensei giving him stacks of paperwork, he decided he had best work along.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like to eat a lot, I dislike lazy people," he gave Kakashi a sharp look, who didn't seem fazed, "my dream is to become the strongest shinobi to have ever lived." Sasuke and Sakura gave him queer looks when he said that, Kakashi nodded and gave an eye smile.
"Good, now that's out of the way….," Kakashi explained about how just graduating from the academy didn't mean that you actually made genin, you still had to pass the test of the jonin instructor assigned to your squad. This startled Sakura, made Sasuke grunt and Naruto, Naruto didn't care because he already knew.
But when Kakashi told his three potential students that they were advised not to eat when they met him the early in the morning the next day, Naruto made a decision. First he made sure the jonin had really gone after he left, when he was sure, he looked towards Sakura and Sasuke.
"I hope you two don't take his advice seriously, just eat, otherwise you won't have the energy to do any sort of physical test properly."
"Are you deaf baka?" Sakura started, "he ordered us not to eat!"
Naruto ignored the deaf remark, trash was trash after all, "you're the deaf one here pinkie, he said I advice you not to eat anything in the morning, did I pronounce the word advice wrong or do I need to spell it for you?"
Sakura was stunned as she widened her eyes. She remembered Naruto to be a clingy childish idiot who always wanted her attention, now he seemed mean. She failed to realize that she was the one that instigated Naruto's sharp response.
"Do whatever you want," Naruto turned, "just don't blame me when you can't dodge a punch because you were too hungry, oh and remember, since when do shinobi not prepare properly before a mission? That includes ingesting enough glucose to fuel your body."
Naruto proceeded to walk towards the edge of the roof and jumped down.
Sasuke saw the logic in what the dead-last said, although he wouldn't admit it. Something had changed in the dead-last of the academy. He only knew Naruto for a few months years ago before the blond suddenly dropped out, but in that period he gave the impression of a needy class clown. Now he seemed very different.
{Reason}
To say that Naruto had entirely changed his ways was an understatement. In the past years he has undergone mental and physical training. It prepared him from simple errands to preventing assassination attempts on the Hokage. But according to Hiruzen, Naruto was unprepared for many other situations. One of those was joining a squad with green ninja who hadn't even killed before.
So when said green ninja arrived at the meeting point, a bridge in between Konoha and one of its training grounds. He was surprised to see them actually having listened to him the previous day. Both of them looked well nourished.
Sasuke ignored Naruto and stood at the opposite end of the bridge's railing to where Naruto leaned. Naruto wondered what the raven haired boy was thinking, because Sasuke was looking straight at him. Naruto did not pay him any attention. This made Sasuke annoyed, but Naruto could care less what an arrogant twat's opinion was like.
Altogether different was the pink haired girl, Sakura. When she arrived close behind Sasuke, she was smiling and looking dreamy towards the back of Sasuke. When she saw Naruto, she froze before averting her eyes and standing close to Sasuke. Naruto immediately knew that the girl was going to be a liability if anything else. The way she seemed only to care about what Sasuke did or thought unnerved the blond.
One thing that unnerved Naruto even more than a teenage girl with a crush was people arriving late. Naruto of course knew who Hatake Kakashi was. How could he not? He had spent years with the Hokage, seeing him debrief shinobi or hand out missions. Kakashi was always late when he was summoned by the Hokage and always had a lazy attitude. That made Naruto's hand twitch on many occasions. On some occasions it almost revealed his presence from the shadows when on guard duty.
So to fight going insane while waiting for hours until Kakashi arrived, Naruto devised a plan the night before.
"I know you two think I'm an idiot and a clown, but if you listen to this clown today, we will all make genin by the end of the day," this peaked both Sasuke and Sakura's attention. The hook with bait was cast.
"I'm pretty sure that you two are wondering why there is another test while in the academy they tell you that passing the exam means becoming genin, right? Well, they want to test our future merit as shinobi. You two are at the top of the class right?" Both nodded. The fish were biting.
"I'm going to flat out tell you that the only thing that they're going to test is teamwork, surely you two must have realized this? I mean, look at me! I'm supposed to be the lowest of the lowest, remember how they pulled me out of class years ago? Why would they let someone as weak as me pass?" Both looked puzzled.
"It's because a shinobi is worthless if they can't cooperate in a team. See, that crafty Kakashi is going to come in hours from now and make up a stupid story to drive us apart, if we can stay together as a team, we'll become genin." The fish were biting a lot.
"Judging from how Kakashi is, he's probably going to tell us only one or two of us can pass, but when have you ever heard of a genin team composed of only a jonin and one or two genin? Never, duh." Hook, line and sinker, gotcha, Naruto thought.
"How do you know all this Naruto?" Sakura asked a bit uncertain.
Now was the time for Naruto to think up a lie. But Naruto was horrible at lying. Every time he tried he would start grinning like a five year old. He hated it.
So instead of lying, he decided to tell the truth, well at least partially.
"Well I was pulled from the academy because I have special needs, so they forced me into the library to read every day! It was a hell!" Okay, so maybe he wasn't so bad at lying. Or maybe it helped that grinning about hating reading, while he actually liked reading, made it seem that much more believable.
"So I read this book about how the academy graduates students and how a genin team is always composed of three genin and a jonin sensei." That wasn't a lie because he had read that book.
"So Kakashi's lying?" Sasuke said a little confused. Naruto could see in his expression that Sasuke just now realized that they had to pass as a team, or not at all.
When Sasuke chimed in to listen to what Naruto had to say, Sakura soon followed. Naruto was glad that the girl was basically a slave to the Uchiha's will, because it would help them pass Kakashi's stupid test.
"Yo, what are you huddled together for?" Kakashi asked as he arrived at the bridge. He saw how Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were whispering in a circle before he made his entrance. "Maybe this team will be different." He thought indifferent. But even though he cared little if he would get a genin team, something about these three made his heart a little bit happier. Sasuke reminded him of when Kakashi was younger, Sakura was Rin but more hyperactive, and Naruto was Obito in many ways.
The three turned.
"You're late Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura puffed.
"Hnn," Sasuke grunted annoyed.
"Whats up," said the blond.
Soon Kakashi explained to the trio that he had two silver bells with him, and that only the ones who could manage to get a bell would pass and become genin. He found it strange when none of the three flinched. He had at least thought they would be surprised.
Kakashi led the three to the third training ground. It had an open clearing with trees surrounding it and an open stream next to it.
"Ready, go!"
"I said go, Naruto," Kakashi said as he was about to pull out his favorite orange book.
Naruto smiled gingerly. Sasuke and Sakura were hidden in nearby trees just according to plan.
"But I'm going to beat you on my own sensei! I'll show you and everyone else that I'm the greatest!" That sounded too corny, but Naruto had to push on.
Kakashi yawned inwardly. He knew he would have to fail this team now.
"I'm a jonin, do you think you can handle me on your own?" Kakashi tried to hint towards teamwork. They fell on deaf ears.
"Yeah whatever, jonin, chunin, genin, they're all the same." Kakashi sweat dropped. Naruto did more than necessary to prove to him that he was indeed the class clown.
Kakashi had read up on Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto's files. Sasuke and Sakura excelled in various subjects. But Naruto was way below average. It said that he was a homeschooled academy student, which was odd because it was the first time that Kakashi had heard of a homeschooled academy student. Naruto, however, was the vessel of the Kyuubi, so maybe that explained things.
Even so, the homeschooling didn't do anything to keep the boy's hyperactive side down. Kakashi observed that the blond was jolty and very predictable. And just as he predicted, said blond charged at him.
It took him no effort to deflect all the punched that Naruto sent his way. Each punch and kick had below average power and technique behind them. It was as if Naruto wasn't trying. Kakashi looked bored as he decided to just dodge everything.
"Now let's see, chapter three," Kakashi said out loud as he flipped open an orange book.
"Hey wait, isn't that Icha Icha Paradise!?" Naruto yelled excited before he stopped attacking. With glowing eyes he pointed towards one of his favorite books. That wasn't a lie, because Naruto enjoyed reading Icha Icha Paradise. The romance in it was very interesting.
Kakashi looked up from his book, "you're too young to be reading this Naruto," Kakashi said mildly surprised.
"I read it all the time!" Naruto said happily, "hey isn't that the recent release of Icha Icha? I finished reading it yesterday," Naruto inwardly had a sly smile on his face. He knew from his guard duty that Kakashi loved to read Icha Icha. His own interest in the novel was going to be very handy now.
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, Naruto was really goofy. Another year at the academy would do him good. Instead of talking about Icha Icha Paradise, one of the best books in the world, he should focus on his genin test.
"Did you know that in chapter two Mizami hides a box of chocolates so Taro doesn't find them?" And in chapter 3 they," Naruto paused before scratching his head, "in chapter three they go out to the carnival a," he was stopped immediately as Kakashi appeared in front of him delivering a swift kick that sent him flying towards the nearby creek.
"You shouldn't spoil books Naruto, that's not very nice," Kakashi said annoyed, no one ruined Icha Icha for him, even if it was the Hokage himself!
"Sorry sensei, but it was for you to let your guard down," Naruto said as he emerged from the shallow waters. He smiled.
Kakashi widened his eyes. He was tricked!
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A giant ball of fire rocketed towards Kakashi who turned around and formed seals of his own. The heat wave soared into the area where Kakashi was.
Sasuke looked with narrowed eyes at the crisped corpse. Sasuke walked closer to see if Kakashi was still alive. Someone who was late everytime couldn't be that great of a shinobi, could he? Besides, Sasuke was an Uchiha and their fire techniques were the best.
"Behind you Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted from the nearby trees.
"Gotya," Kakashi said as he appeared behind Sasuke.
"No, we got you!" Naruto said grinning ear to ear from the creak, still drenched.
Kakashi wondered what the blond was talking about, but then he looked down and noticed he was standing on a ninja note.
"Good job Sakura," Naruto said as he walked towards them with wet clothes.
"You mean you three had this planned all along?" Kakashi said amazed. There weren't many who could fool him.
"Yes," Naruto said as Sasuke stood to his right and Sakura had walked towards his left.
"How," Kakashi demanded, still trying to get his foot loose from the ninja note, but it was like the note weighed more than a building.
"Do any of you want to explain it?" Naruto asked hiding his grin.
"It was your plan dobe."
"I agree with Sasuke-kun."
"Well then," Naruto said as looked at Kakashi amused, "I knew that you would read all our reports before coming here, even though you give the vibe of an uncaring jonin. So I anticipated that you would think of me as an incompetent person. Having that in mind I played along with your initial thoughts of me and combined that with the coincidental fact that we both enjoy to read Icha Icha, which I definitely saw in your hands yesterday."
Kakashi was baffled.
"Moreover, I attacked you head on to give you an illusion of the person that you already envisioned. I knew you would get bored and read Icha Icha, I actually waited for that. When that book send by the Heaven was out of your pocket and I was about to spoil it for you, I knew you would attack me. So when all your attention was focused on me and Icha Icha, Sasuke came and took it over. But you're a jonin, so we factored that in."
"Factored in?" Kakashi was getting intrigued.
"Yes, that's where Sakura comes in," Naruto nodded towards Sakura," she would make it seem so that Sasuke was getting ambushed when you would make your escape, which we also knew you would do," Naruto sighed, "it was a gamble, but we put everything on you appearing behind Sasuke and touching the Gravity seal." Naruto mentally patted himself on the back for being such a great trickster. He still had it in him.
"I've never heard of a Gravity seal, who made it?" Kakashi inquired.
"Errrr," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "not telling, you're the loser here after all," Naruto grinned. Besides, what good would it do to tell Kakashi who was experienced with seals, that he was a sealing master?
"Well well," Kakashi said, "it seems that you three have outsmarted me."
"Does that mean we pass sensei?" Sakura asked happily.
"No, there are only two bells, and most of the work you and Sasuke did, so I'm only letting you two pass and Naruto is going back to the academy," Kakashi wondered what would happen now.
"Either we pass as one, or none of us do," Sasuke and Sakura said in unison. Both looked startled afterwards, looking at each other awkwardly.
"Is that final?"
"Yes!" Sakura answered firmly.
"Fine, you all pass, now let me out Naruto," Kakashi said.
Kakashi was slightly surprised that none of them looked surprised at realizing that they all passed, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that Naruto had something to do with it.
Sakura jumped in joy. "I'm going to be a shinobi now, watch me closely mom and dad!"
Sasuke turned around and looked at the sky. "One step closer to you onii-san."
Kakashi watched as Naruto hunched down to release the Gravity seal. He decided the kids needed to know why teamwork was so important, "those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
All three of the newly minted genin looked up with the same realization that Kakashi once felt when Obito told him the same thing.
Naruto dismantled the Gravity seal before picking up the ninja note and storing it in one of his pockets. He stood and was about to go tease Kakashi about already knowing the ending of the latest release of Icha Icha, but then his shinobi senses went crazy. It took him less than a second to realize why.