Disclaimer: I (wish I could) own Naruto.

Naruto, somewhat uncharacteristically, watched as the others of his class filed into the classroom in silence. Sasuke looked over to his male teammate (and potential bodyguard against fangirls) with a confused, somewhat apprehensive look. "You're quiet," he spoke, getting the blond's attention. "You're never quiet. Is this a sign of the world ending?"

The younger boy gave the older a nasty look, but turned his eyes back to the door. "Just thinkin'."

Pause.

"Is this a sign of the world ending?"

"Go fuck yourself!"

"N-Naruto…" Hinata tapped her friend on the shoulder, drawing him out of his ire at Sasuke. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just…" Naruto gave Sasuke one last look, before turning to Hinata and scratching at his birthmarks. "I'm wonderin' what our sensei's gonna be like. I mean, you said that Miss Kurenai was good at Genjutsu, right?" Both the Last Uchiha and the Hyuuga Princess nodded. "That's just one person though. And there's, like, ten teams. So what're the other nine like?"

"Loathe as I am to admit it out loud, Naruto has a point." Sasuke glanced at the door just as the last of the graduates entered the classroom. "There's virtually no chance that all ten Jonin will all specialize in Genjutsu. There's bound to be those who excel in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu. Hell, maybe even a swordsman or two."

The sole female of Team 7 nodded as the sound of footsteps resounded outside of the room. A few seconds after, a man with silver hair and a bandana stuck his head in the door, scrutinizing the kids with what seemed to be a bored look, before removing the senbon needle from his mouth and calling for team 2. Time seemed to pass by quick as Jonin after Jonin picked up their team. About 2 hours after that, only three kids were left in the room.

"Hinata."

The heiress turned her head to the visibly annoyed blond. "N-Naruto? What is it?"

Naruto didn't answer for a second. Then, "Imma prank sensei when they show up. Really thoroughly."

Sasuke snorted at the asinine comment, and was about to call Naruto out on his juvenile anger, when he was beaten to the punch by a stern "No, Naruto."

"But I'm this close to blowing something up, y'know!" The blond turned begging eyes to the girl, who didn't flinch (earning her brownie points with Sasuke). Naruto groaned in defeat and flopped onto a bench, burying his head into his arms.

The Last Uchiha turned to the Hyuuga. "And what, exactly, was that? Because it sounded like Naruto wasn't going to just prank our instructor."

The girl's stern façade broke as she looked off to the side in embarrassment. "Er, well… He was going to, in a way… It's just, his normal pranks aren't designed to physically harm anyone, and…"

"This one would've been harmful," Sasuke finished. She nodded in confirmation. Naruto stood up and walked over to the front of the room, grabbing an eraser and the chair, catching the two heirs' attentions. "Naruto, what are you doing?" the male asked.

"Givin' sensei a normal—" Naruto was cut off as the door opened up to reveal a tall, silver haired man with 75% of his face covered by a mask and his headband. All three kids stared incredulously.

"Well, I see that all of you kids are patient." His lone visible eye turned to Naruto, who was shaking in barely controlled rage. "Well, most of you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes, please."

He vanished in smoke a half second before the eraser that was in the blond's hand would have collided with his face.

"That…lousy…fucking…"

"Naruto, please, calm down…" Hinata walked over to the boy and laid a hand on his shoulder, drawing byzantium eyes to her. After a second, said eyes shut and Naruto let out a long breath, before opening them up and giving his friend a smile.

"Thanks, Hinata. Nearly lost myself there."

The girl smiled back with a blush. She nodded to the door, where Sasuke was waiting with his arms crossed. "Now come on, let's go meet Sensei. I'm not exactly happy with him, either, but we should make a good impression on him."

The two friends walked over to the silent Uchiha, and Team 7 headed up to the roof, where the scarecrow-like man was sitting on the edge rail in front of some steps, reading. The kids sat down in front of him and the Jonin put the orange book away. "Alright, then," the oldest one there spoke up. "Since we're all here, how about we introduce ourselves?"

"Erm, Sensei…" Naruto rose a hand. "What'cha mean by 'introduce'? Could ya show us?"

"Show you?" The man blinked, then shrugged. "Sure, I don't see any harm in that." He leveled a lazy eye at the three Genin. "My name is Kakashi Hatatke. My likes and dislikes are none of your business. Dreams for the future…" He paused for a moment, as if thinking. He then shrugged, as if giving up trying to find an answer. "I have a lot of hobbies, also."

The three kids all stared in uncontained shock. Naruto himself had his jaw open.

"You…just told us your name…"

"Did I?" Kakashi blinked at Naruto's observation, as if shocked. "Strange; I normally don't give away so much information. I must be slipping in my old age." He watched as the Jinchuriki's eyes flash crimson for a second, before returning to cerulean. "Why don't you go next, Spikes?"

The blond snapped his mouth shut, glaring at the man (who, in his opinion, had no room to talk), and pushed his locks down. They didn't stay down.

"Fine, I guess. Name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like my ramen, hangin' out with Hinata, and my scarf." He fingered the red fabric on his neck. "I dislike anyone who'd make judgements of people without gettin' to know 'em, and the three minutes it takes ramen to cook. My hobbies are gardening and training. And my dream is to be the best Hokage this village has seen, and prove to everyone I'm not some wild demon."

So he knows about the Nine-Tails, then? Kakashi gave him a critical stare, before he turned his eye to the girl in the center. "Why don't you go next?"

"Ah." Hinata shook herself of her distraction, and nodded. "My name is Hinata Hyuuga. My likes include spending time with Naruto, and flowers. I dislike people who would prematurely judge others, and the divide in the Hyuuga clan. My hobbies consist of pressing flowers, and training with Naruto, or my younger sister. And my dreams are to bring the Hyuuga clan into one big family, as well as…" She trailed off and shot lavender eyes over to the blond on her right, before blushing lightly. "Erm, my second dream is personal…"

Hoo, boy; a crush. Kakashi nodded and looked at the last Genin. "And you, Duckhair."

Hinata suppressed a giggle, and Naruto barked out a laugh, causing Sasuke glare at the blond, before moving the glare to the Jonin. The glare left his face with a sigh. "My name's Sasuke Uchiha. There's not a lot I like besides training, and I dislike a lot of things. Such as Naruto's childish humor." The accused just snorted in amusement. "My dream…no. My ambition, because I will make it happen. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone."

Itachi really did a number on him…

K-Kill?

Shit; hope he ain't talking about me.

"Alrighty, we got that out of the way." Kakashi clapped once, bringing six eyes to him. "So tomorrow, we'll all meet at Training Ground 7, the one with the three posts next to the river? Meet there at about 8 o'clock. We'll have a sort of mock mission, just us four." He smiled. Well, his eye smiled.

"Seriously? Awesome!" Naruto jumped to his feet in excitement. "What're we gonna do, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Survival training."

Everything seemed to stagnate at that sentence. Sasuke had a sinking feeling in his gut, despite Kakashi not moving in the slightest. "…Survival training? We…did that in school."

"Yes, but you see, this is going to be a bit different." Kakashi opened his eye and pinned the kids down with a stern stare. "You three will be fighting against me. And if you fail to impress me, you'll be sent back here," he poked the rail he was seated on, "for remedial classes."

"WHAT!?" Naruto shot up. "That's bullshit, y'know! All of us passed the graduation exam!"

"By doing what? Performing the Clone Jutsu. And that was it." Naruto sank back down. "That won't be enough to keep you guys alive when you take on real missions. At best, only nine of the 30 kids that passed the exam will continue on as Genin, if not less. The other 21 plus will come back here for another year." One of the kids audibly gulped. "But, I like you guys, so I'll give you some advice.

"Don't eat any breakfast tomorrow, or you'll puke it right back up during the test." Kakashi eye-smiled again and waved. "See you then!"

A silence washed over the three kids.

"We'll pass." The Hyuuga Princess and Last Uchiha turned to the blond, who had spoken quietly. "We'll pass sensei's damn test, an' show 'im we're not a bunch of morons." He returned the pair's look with a smirk. "We'll kick his ass."

"Hmph." Sasuke smirked back and closed his eyes. "I'll hold you to that, Naruto. See you two in the morning." The Uchiha turned and walked back into the building, heading home.

Naruto turned to give Hinata a small smile. "Hey, you wanna get something to eat?"

The girl blushed, but nodded anyway, smiling back. Almost teasingly, Naruto noted. "Something like Ramen Ichiraku?" The blond coughed into a fist and blushed himself. "I know somewhere that serves amazing steaks. We can go there." Naruto stared at the girl, as if silently protesting. Her smile didn't falter. "Father bought the restaurant out, so if the staff have any misgivings about serving us, they can speak with him."

The blond blinked, before grinning and rubbing a finger under his nose. "Heh. Mr. Hiashi's a cool guy. C'mon, let's go." The two stood up. Naruto hesitated, but grabbed Hinata's hand and gave it a squeeze, sending blood straight to her cheeks. He let go with a small blush of his own, and the two left the Academy rooftop.

Ow my brain hurts.

Sorry, guys, but between this persistent writer's block, and me having a real life (shocking, I know), it's hard to do this. I'm not gonna quit, but I have to slow down my pacing, or I'll fry something in my head.

This story is easier to write out than Ripple, mainly because I backed myself into a corner with the Wave mission, so until I figure something out, that's on an official hiatus. Again, sorry guys. I'm not exactly happy with myself either.

As far as this story goes, I made a reference to the Nine-Tailed Fox's seal having enough of a weakness to make some visible changes…

Wrong. I made two references. One's fairly obvious; the other is a bit more subtle. Here's a hint: the changes happened to the same feature. Internet cookies for those who find it.

So be sure to review, favorite, follow, and trope the hell out of both my stories!

Yonde kurete arigatō!