Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
The updates for this story have now stabilized at Wednesday and Sunday. I hope you enjoy it.
.
Memories Of Others
Chapter 5
Assignment Of A New Genin
.
The noise level of the classroom dropped significantly as Hinata and Naruto entered. Part of the sudden drop in volume was that instead of scurrying in timidly like normal, Hinata was standing up straight. Most of the reason, though, was the person who was accompanying her, a person whom everyone else in the classroom knew had failed.
Of course, not everyone was focused on that fact.
"Deeeyaaaamn." Ino breathed. "How did the Class Clown hide all that yumminess?"
Hinata promptly shifted to slightly in front of Naruto, shielding him from Ino's semi-predatorial gaze.
"Hey, why is the dead last here?" Kiba shouted. "He failed, remember? He couldn't even do a clone!"
"Most of it's classified, but I helped plug a hole in the security of the village and as a reward, I got promoted." Naruto shot back. "And no, Sasuke couldn't have done it because he passed the test. The mission needed someone who had failed."
Several of the girls in the room froze, their instant declarations that Sasuke should have had the chance to do the mission slamming into the realization that in order to have got the mission, he would have had to have failed and Hinata capitalized on the pause. Grabbing Naruto's hand, she towed him to a pair of adjacent seats and settled down, smiling as Naruto let her rest her head on his shoulder.
"But how did you manage to get a pass without a clone?" Kiba persisted and Naruto rose, placing his hands in a cross-seal. A cloud of smoke erupted behind him, dissipating to reveal a single clone and Naruto sat down again as the clone walked to Kiba's desk and smacked his nose with one finger before dispelling.
"Ow!" Kiba whined, clutching at his nose. "That hurt, dammit. You know we Inuzuka have sensitive noses!"
"That was a solid clone!" Sakura gasped and Naruto nodded.
"Yep, I've got way too much chakra to do one of the normal Bunshin, so I learned something better."
"Teach me." Sasuke snapped, spinning to look at Naruto, but it was Hinata who replied.
"You do not have enough chakra, Sasuke-san. If you indeed wish to commit suicide by exhausting all your chakra while trying to perform a technique that you are physically incapable of, then may I ask that you first make a will? The Hyuuga clan will happily take possession of the Uchiha sector once you have killed yourself and thus ended the Uchiha's presence in Konoha."
Sasuke growled as he flopped back down and Hinata half-turned to see Naruto gaping at her.
"Wow, Hinata! You really told him! That was awesome!"
Hinata blushed and buried her face into the junction of Naruto's neck and shoulder.
.
"Heh, it would seem that young Hinata's been spending a great deal of time around Naruto." Hiruzen chuckled as he viewed the scene through his crystal ball.
.
The opening of the classroom door caught everybody's attention and Iruka walked in, looking at the assembled children.
"First of all, may I say congratulations to all of you for passing the test last week." He said. "Now, before I read out your assignments, do any of you have any questions?"
"Yeah!" Kiba shouted. "How come the dobe's here? He failed the test and gave us a story about passing another way!"
"That is correct. Naruto was given a field promotion for his actions in preventing a great loss to the village via the actions of a traitor." Iruka said, showing no sign of regret at Mizuki's fate, even though Mizuki had been his friend for years. "Combined with his learning of a variant of the Bunshin, it was decided that he was indeed qualified to become a shinobi, a decision confirmed by the Sandaime Hokage himself. Do you have a problem with this?"
Kiba slunk back into his seat and Iruka checked his list.
"Right now, Teams one through six are being assigned in the other classrooms, so I shall begin with Team 7. Team seven is under the command of Jonin Hatake Kakashi and consists of the Rookie of the year Uchiha Sasuke, the Kunoichi of the year Haruno Sakura…"
"YES!" Sakura exulted. "Take that, Ino-pig!"
"NO!" Ino screamed.
"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Iruka roared and both Kunoichi dropped back into their chairs, pale with shock.
"Ahem… and Uzumaki Naruto."
"No!" Naruto shouted, inadvertantly drowning Hinata's identical exclamation out. "This team sucks!"
"Because you're on it." Sakura sneered. "Even trying to look as cool as Sasuke is doesn't change that fact."
Iruka pointedly cleared his throat.
"Team 8, under Jonin Yuhi Kurenai is Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba."
Hinata sighed sadly and cuddled up against Naruto.
"Team 9 is still in rotation, so team 10, under Sarutobi Asuma, will be Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akamichi Choji."
"Dammit, Forehead gets all the luck!" Ino raged.
"Your Senseis will be here to collect you after lunch, so you are dismissed for an hour."
Naruto gave Hinata a quick kiss on the cheek, then rose and walked over to where Sasuke was sitting, trying to ignore Sakura.
"Since we are assigned to be a team, we should try to get to know each other…" he began, only to quickly step back as Sakura swung at him. Before she could recover her balance, Hinata had appeared almost out of nowhere, Byakugan blazing, and struck Sakura's right arm, numbing it.
"Ow!"
"Thanks, Hinata-Hime." Naruto said, noting that Sasuke had taken advantage of the situation to escape. "Shino, Kiba, I'm taking Hinata to Ichiraku's, my treat. Since you're on her team, you want to come as well?"
"Sure." Kiba shrugged.
"Sharing sustenance is traditionally an acceptable way to encourage and enhance interpersonal relationships." Shino droned. "I am honored to accept your invitation."
"Damn, those lessons you've been giving me really are working." Naruto whispered to Hinata as he led the impromptu group out of the classroom. "I understood every word that he just said!"
Hinata failed to restrain her giggles at his comment.
.
.
The classroom door opened and two figures entered, looking at the assembled genin.
"Team 8." The woman called and Naruto caught Hinata's shoulder as she stood.
"Just remember, you're totally awesome." He whispered, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Trust me on that."
Hinata beamed at him, then quickly kissed him back before scurrying to Kurenai's side, her face glowing red as Kurenai tried to hide her smile.
"Team 10." The man stated and Naruto leaned back as Shikamaru, Ino and Choji filed to the bearded ninja's side.
"See you later, Hinata-Hime." Naruto called and Hinata gave him a small wave before she vanished through the door.
"What does she see in a Baka like you?" Sakura wondered and Naruto glared at her before reaching into one of his belt-pouches and pulling out a small book. "And what is that?"
"It's a book, Sakura. You know, it has paper sheets that hold words." Naruto riposted and Sakura looked taken aback at the lack of the normal –chan suffix that was usually attached to her name by him.
"And since when does a Baka like you read?"
"Since a princess took the time to teach me." Naruto shot back. "Now please hush, some of us have better things to do than listen to your screeches."
As Sakura started to prepare a blistering comeback, Sasuke spoke up.
"I agree with the dobe. Shut up. You're starting to give me a headache."
Sakura meekly sat down, glancing at the door while Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the picture of the Uchiha fan on the cover of Naruto's book.
.
.
"YOU'RE LATE!"
Naruto looked up from the book on the various types of traps and found himself looking at a tall shinobi standing in the now-open door. The man was thin with spiky silver hair while most of his face was covered by a mask pulled up over the bridge of his nose and a Hitai-ate angled over his left eye.
"Hmmm, my first opinion of you is that I don't like you." The new arrival mused. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes. Don't be late!"
The ninja vanished in a cloud of smoke and Naruto sighed.
"That must have been Kakashi." He said as he slowly put his book away, then moved to the window as the other two dashed out of the doorway. Channeling his chakra, he swung himself out of the window and stood on the wall of the Academy, then walked up to the top, grabbing the railing and vaulting over it.
"Interesting." The tall man mused, even though he didn't pull his attention out of the book he was reading. "Wall-walking already? Now who taught you that?"
Naruto glared at Kakashi. The way he had phrased it suggested that he had known about the way that Naruto's learning had been sabotaged, a definite minus point in Naruto's book.
"We're here… how did you get here before us, you baka?" Sakura burst out as she sprinted through the roof access. Naruto simply sighed and moved to sit down on the furthest one of the three benches, letting the other two claim the others.
"So, let us introduce ourselves. Name, likes, hates, dreams" Kakashi said and Sakura raised her hand.
"Will you show us how?"
Naruto managed not to face-palm. His lessons with Hinata and later with Ko (with whom he hadn't used the shared-cloning technique) had raised his social abilities to the point where he could now identify stupid questions (although usually, it was identifying them before he asked them that was the issue).
"Hmmm? Oh, okay. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have things I like, there are things I dislike and you aren't old enough to learn about my dreams yet. Alright, pinky?"
"My name is Haruno Sakura and I like…" Sakura broke off as she glanced as Sasuke. "My dreams are…"
Naruto sighed as Sakura looked at Sasuke again.
"And your dislikes?" Kakashi prompted.
"NARUTO!"
"As if I care." Naruto grumbled, noticing the slight frown that Kakashi gave him.
"All right, broody."
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have many likes or dislikes, but my dream is to kill a certain man and rebuild my clan."
"And finally, blondie."
For a moment, Naruto was tempted to go all out, but then the memory of the slight frown crossed his mind and he decided to tweak his sensei.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto… There are some things I like, there are some things I dislike and my dream is mine to achieve."
"Stop trying to be cool, you baka!"
Kakashi's eye narrowed at Naruto's response but he ignored Sakura's outburst.
"So, you three have passed the Academy exam, but you aren't true genin yet." Kakashi stated. "You won't be unless you pass my test tomorrow and be aware that on average, two in three fail the test and have to return to the Academy for another six months."
Naruto frowned at the implication. Kakashi had already showed himself to be distressingly similar to the Academy teachers (bar Iruka), but he was obviously unaware of how Naruto's promotion had differed from the others.
"Meet me tomorrow at seven AM on training ground seven for your final test." Kakashi said. "I'd advise you not to eat breakfast, you'll only throw it up again. Bye!"
Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves and Naruto rose from his bench.
"What did he mean by that?" Sakura quavered.
"I think I'll check out the area tonight and talk to Kurenai-san." Naruto decided, vaulting over the railing and using his chakra to slide down the wall.
"Stop showing off, you baka!" Sakura screamed. "Hey, wait for me, Sasuke-kun!"
.
Kurenai paused as a familiar voice called her name.
"Naruto?"
"Clone." The blond clarified as he came to a stop beside her. "Boss is checking out Training Ground Seven for tomorrow's test, but he sent a whole load of us out to get info. One of us was even sent to Hiashi-dono."
"Information about…?" Kurenai prompted.
"Hatake Kakashi." The clone replied. "Boss is trying to put as much info together on him as possible. Do you know anything about him, and are you allowed to tell us any of that?"
"For a start, he's known as Sharingan Kakashi for the sharingan he has underneath his Hitai-ate…" Kurenai began.
.
"…and he is consistently three hours late, unless it is for a mission of C-rank or above, or he has been ordered to show up on time by the Hokage." Hiashi told the clone who was sitting attentively in front of him.
"He said to show up by seven." The clone supplied.
"Then he will be there by ten. I would advise showing up at half past nine just to be on the safe side."
.
"I'm afraid that I can't really tell you anything about your sensei." Hiruzen sighed. "There are certain rules and traditions that prevent it."
"Meh, it was worth a try." The clone shrugged. "I mean, what better source of information is there in the whole village than the Hokage?"
"Well reasoned." Hiruzen said with a smile. "I am proud of you, Naruto. You really have grown over the last week."
.
"You've already had your test and passed? Congratulations!"
Hinata smiled as Naruto's clone engulfed her in a hug.
Hopefully the real Naruto would give her another hug when they next met.