September 1st - Shinobi Academy - Konoha
'Troublesome,' a certain lazy Nara thought, 'why couldn't I just sleep in. Another year of boring lessons, dragful practical exams and proclamations of true love towards the Uchiha. It's just such a waste of time.'
Shikamaru was a simple eleven-soon to be twelve year old boy. He had black hair, styled in a spiky ponytail and black eyes. He wore a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the rudimentary Nara clan symbol on the back, under which is a green-lined mesh armour T-shirt. Like mentioned he is a simple boy, lazy to a fault, loves to sleep or watching clouds and his only real passion are shogi and go.
But sadly as a heir of a clan as famous as the Nara Clan and his father being Jonin-Commander, he kinda is forced to become a shinobi. And that would have been fine with him, if it weren't so troublesome. Next to him sat his best friend since forever Choji, happily eating some chips.
Like other Akimichi, Chōji has a rotund build and markings on his cheeks in the form of swirls. He has spiky, brown hair that sticks upward. He wore a green, short-sleeved haori with a long, white scarf over a light-green shirt , with the kanji for "food" on it. The last person in the row was another friend of his. Kiba Inuzuka, who was currently playing with his puppy Akamaru.
Like most of his clan, he had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils and pronounced canine teeth. He also has the distinctive red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks. His clothings consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat. He considered those two his closest friends in the village, bonding over the few times they were skipping classes.
As he turned his head to look if it was already time to cover his ears, he saw two other classmates he somewhat considered friends sitting in the last row. Shino Aburame was the most interesting one of his classmates. He couldn't figure the boy out. He was quiet and polite, rarely spoke and was incredibly smart. Both knew that the other one was holding back, not wanting to gather unnecessary attention. That and the few games of Shogi they played against each other, made Shikamaru to believe that they had some kind of friendship.
The Aburame wore a light grey jacket with a high, upturned collar. Shino is a fair-skinned boy and the tallest member of his class. He has dark, bushy, brown hair and his eyes were covered by sunglasses. He looked as much like an Aburame than any could look like. The other person in the row was probably the only girl in his class that didn't waste her time fawning over the Uchiha. The kind, gentle and shy Hyuga heiress Hinata.
Hinata was a slender girl with short dark blue hair. She wore a cream-coloured hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem. She also wears navy blue pants. The most noticeable feature of the petite girl was her lavender colored eyes, the prized bloodline of the Hyuga Clan, the Byakugan. In Shikamaru's mind, she was the most talented kunoichi in this class but was held back by her shy nature. The two, while rarely speaking with each other, were on friendly terms with each other.
But sadly the silence ended here. "I'm first forehead. I get to sit next to Sasuke this time." "In your dream Ino-pig. I was clearly first." And here we are. The two leaders of the Sasuke Uchiha fanclub. His childhood friend Ino Yamanaka and the only not completely hopeless civilian student of the class, Sakura Haruno. The two most troublesome people in his life, aside from his mother, were arguing like usual, who can sit next to the Uchiha.
Ino has fair skin, light blue eyes and long platinum blonde hair worn in a ponytail, with bangs framing the right side of her face. She wore a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt and had bandages on her abdomen and legs. If she wouldn't waste her time chasing the Uchiha, Shikamaru was sure she would be a talented kunoichi considering her being the heir of the Yamanaka Clan. But sadly she wasn't and his childhood friend kinda disappeared.
The other girl, Sakura, had fair skin, green eyes, and long pink hair. Sakura wore a red qipao dress with slits along the sides accompanied by a zipper and white circular designs. She also wears tight dark green bike shorts. She also had a very big forehead and he remembers other kids making fun of it. Sakura was the highest ranked civilian student of his class by large margin. Not that it meant anything. The girl had book smarts but her physical skills were average at best.
Shikamaru just turned his head towards their object of desire, Sasuke Uchiha. The last Uchiha was his usual clam self, while broodingly stared outside of the window. He tried to pity the boy, after all he could only imagine how it must feel to lose your entire family at the hands of your own brother. But to be honest Shikamaru didn't like him one bit, especially not after nearly breaking Choji's arm in a spar.
The Uchiha had black eyes and spiky black hair with a blue tint. He wore a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar, white shorts, and, for a time, white arm warmers. The Uchiha crest was proudly displayed on the back of his shirt.
'Troublesome girls,' were Shikamaru's thoughts when his two teachers entered. Both wore the standard uniform of Konoha shinobi. Dark blue shinobi pants and long sleeved shirt under the standard shinobi flak jacket. One had black hair that was styled in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. The other man had white shoulder-length hair and green eyes. Those were Iruka Umino, the head teacher of this class and his assistant Mizuki.
"Welcome back everyone," Iruka tried to get the attention of everyone, but sadly the girls still fought over who got to sit next to Sasuke. "Shut up you brat's!" Shikamaru's ear drums nearly exploded. 'Troublesome Iruka-sensei.'
"Now that I got everyone's attention, I welcome you all back to your hopefully last year as a student of this academy," Iruka began but before he could start his lecture he was interrupted by a knock at the door. After opening the door, three children around his age entered the class. It was a tall boy with white hair and two red dots on his forehead, a cute girl with long black hair and a above average tall boy with sunny blond hair and three lines on his face. The three peaked his interest and he wasn't the only one as he heard girls whisper about how cute the blond was.
"I'm sorry sensei. We tried not to be late but," the girl started to explain but got interrupted by the tallest boy. "Naruto overslept," to which the now named Naruto let out a loud "Oi!" 'Why are all blonds so damn troublesome.'
Noticing Iruka's confused look the girl handed him a piece of paper. After reading it, Iruka looked at the children with a stunned look. The girl and Naruto nodded their heads as in a confirmation while the other boy just plainly stared at the Chunin. "Okay students, met your new classmates," Iruka started before being interrupted by Kiba.
"Are you kidding me Iruka-sensei. We needed to go through 4 years of the academy already and those three just got an extra pass?" It was a viable argument. Kiba wasn't the only one upset that they would get special treatment. Most of this class felt like this.
"The order comes directly from our Hokage," Iruka answered, still shocked who he was going to teach for this year, "why don't you introduce yourselves to your classmates?"
The white haired boy went first, simply saying "Kimimaro Kaguya," and staring at the rest of the class. His female friend was a little bit more polite.
"Haku Yuki. Please take care of me," she finished her introduction with a small bow. Shikamaru felt his cheeks heating up and he wasn't the only one. Seems like the entire male part of the class, even Sasuke, were blushing at the pretty girl.
The blond, Naruto, just gave the biggest smile imaginable and Shikamaru noticed hearts in the eyes of his female classmates. "Naruto Senju, at your service."
And this shocked the entire class, Shikamaru included but it was someone no one expected to address the elephant in the room. "Senju? How? You aren't from this village," Sasuke Uchiha asked, shocked to meet someone who might be worthy to be his rival.
"Uchiha right? Well I was raised by grandmother Tsunade outside of the village."
"Lady Tsunade is your grandmother?" came the question from Iruka-sensei.
"Well not really. I mean she has taken care of me since the day I was born. Her grandfather Hashirama is my great great grandfather. Although grandpa says that I have more in common with Uncle Tobi than grandpa," the blond finished. His two friends just nodded at their friend. Shikamaru guessed the two were also raised by the slug sannin.
"Grandpa?" came the question from Shino.
"Yeah grandpa you know the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi," the blond just casually answered the question. "Ara, look how shocked they are Naruto," Haku giggled at how the class looked at them with wide eyes, "I do wonder however that no one has guessed your father yet. I mean Roshi immediately guessed who he was."
"His father?" Iruka voiced his question. Iruka knew that nothing would surprise him. To think he would start to teach the legacy of the Shodaime, a boy who called their Hokage grandpa, on top of two members of dead clans from the Land of Water. Iruka needed a drink.
"Yeah my father was the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze. Sensei, grandpa and Kakashi always say that I look like he did in his youth." Ignoring the fact that the boy apparently had also a relationship with Konoha's top Jonin Kakashi Hatake and apparently was the lost son of their late Yondaime, the shocked Mizuki asked anyway, "Sensei?"
"Master Jiraiya," the young Kaguya just stated it like it was the most normal thing in the world. As Iruka asked his new student to take a seat, Shikamaru noticed three things. One the Sasuke Uchiha fan club apparently split into a second one for Naruto. The second thing was how Hinata looked at the blond with wide eyes ever since he entered the room. Did they know each other? And the last thing was, that Naruto and Sasuke just stared at each other, etching to fight against one another. 'Of course they would immediately revive the Uchiha-Senju rivalry. Why are blonds so damn troublesome?'
The same day after launch - Training grounds of the Academy
After having a morning of lessons, Naruto could only think of three words to describe the academy. Waste of time. Oh boy, Iruka-sensei's lessons were boring. He couldn't understand how Haku managed to listen to him without falling asleep. He didn't most certainly didn't manage to and neither did Kimimaro. What was even worse was that Iruka-sensei didn't take it kindly to them sleeping. It took a complete retelling of how the village was founded from Naruto to shut him up. At least they weren't the only one sleeping.
Lunch was kinda nice too. While Naruto, Haku and Kimimaro got to know some of their classmates. Shikamaru and Choji were cool in his books and although he was a little bothered by the way Kiba looked at Haku, he figured they could become friends too. Shino was weirdly keeping his distance, but after Haku invited him to eat with them, they got to know him too. While he was kinda creeped out by his bugs, he also found the Aburame's ability very interesting. Kimimaro instantly befriended the boy though.
Other than that, he was kinda bothered by the rest of the girls of his class, looking at him like he was some piece of meat. Jiraiya-sensei warned him about this but Naruto can't help him. He couldn't hide his insanely good looks. He figured that Haku was more bothered by this, since she was glaring at every girl that tried to come close.
He also noticed that a girl was watching him from afar. It was kinda creepy but he guessed she was also interested in getting to know the newcomer's and Haku sending death glares to any girl trying to get close was scary. So he couldn't really fault her, but she kinda looked familiar like he met her before.
He didn't see the Uchiha at all. He guessed he was a loner. Pity they maybe could become friends, given that both of them were the hopes of their once famous clans. Didn't mean he wouldn't like to beat him up.
After lunch concluded, Iruka and Mizuki decided it was time to examine the progress of they're students over the summer and how advanced the three newcomers were.
The practical examination contained two parts. The first one would be the shurikenjutsu of their student. It was just an accuracy test throwing 10 shuriken or kunai at a human sized target. To get a passing grade in the graduation exam, one had to hit at least 5 in places that could lead to death. Most civilians either hit less or exactly 5 targets, with Sakura hitting 7 of her shuriken.
The clan children on the other hand scored more than enough to pass. Shikamaru only hit the required 5, but after Iruka lightly scolded him for not improving at all, the Nara just answered how troublesome it would be to perform better. Naruto had never met someone as lazy as Shikamaru in his entire life, no doubt about it. Other than that the only thing that caught the attention of the young Senju, was that Shino hit his first 7 throws, just to miss his other three. He was definitely holding back.
Now Haku and Kimimaro both scored the highest grades, with both hitting 9 from their 10 shuriken. Well till he was up. Iruka decided to let the newcomer go last and Naruto let his friend go before him.
Sasuke's pride wasn't in the best shape. He was the best of his age group and he knew it. Since day one, he was on top of the leaderboards. Never in his life was he not the number one in his class. Well till now. Both Haku and Kimimaro scored better than him. He was disappointed in himself at only hitting 8 targets, but to think that both outscored him. No that couldn't be, he needs to be the best or he wouldn't have a chance to kill him.
But Sasuke's world view crumbled again, after he saw Naruto hitting all ten shuriken, dead in the center. What made it even worse was the fact that he didn't even look at the target's. He just picked up the shuriken and threw them, hitting every single one with perfect accuracy. He was the best wasn't he? Oh he would show the Senju, how much stronger he was in the taijutsu examination.
The taijutsu examination wasn't something special. It was rather simple. Iruka would call the name of a student. Said student would then draw a name from the bag Mizuki held, which in turn would be his opponent. After that the two would spar for 3 minutes, simply using taijutsu.
Iruka decided to let the newcomer's go first and called up Kimimaro. The stoic boy just stepped forward, slightly nodding at the encouragement of his two best friends. He just drew a name. "Kiba Inuzuka," came his calm voice.
"Alright!" came the energetic reply of the dog lover. This was his chance to show the new girl what an alpha he was. He was sure she would notice how cool and strong he was, after he defeated his opponent. So what that he apparently was raised by a legendary sannin. Kiba was sure he was far stronger than him. Although he would lie, if he would say that he wasn't kinda scared of the Kaguya. His blank stare creeped him out a bit.
After Mizuki started the match, Kiba wasted no time sprinting at his opponent. He was very fast for his age and his taijutsu was some of the best in the entire class. He would end this quickly. Being close to his opponent, the Inuzuka pulled back his hand to punch and…
"AH!" Kiba just screamed in pain. Kimimaro easily blocked his punch, letting Kiba hit his reinforced bones. "What's up dog boy? Are you hurt?"
Kiba couldn't come up with a comeback. His hand hurt like hell. 'How? Why are his bones so hard?' but his thoughts were interrupted by a harsh kick into his midsection, throwing him into the ground. "Having enough mutt?" Kimimaro just continued his trash talk. Jiraiya always went on about how trash talk was a big weapon in battles.
Seeing how Kiba struggled to get up, Mizuki decided to call the match in Kimimaro's favor. To say he was shocked was an understatement. Kiba was one one of the best taijutsu users in the class. To see him getting destroyed by the new kid intrigued him, especially the reaction of Kiba upon hitting his opponent's hand.
Seeing how the match was over, Kimimaro went over to Kiba, offering his hand to stand up. Although Kiba's pride was damaged by this fight, he accepted. Kimimaro was alright in his eyes and he wasn't an asshole like the Uchiha. Plus his mother would kill him, if he would be rude to new students. "That was a good match. What the hell are your bones made off. They are harder than a rock."
He didn't get a reply. Kimimaro just stared at him calmly and it did creep Kiba out. After Kimimaro gave him a nod of respect, the Kaguya went back to his friend who congratulated him upon his victory.
Shikamaru was intrigued about the match. Never in his life did he see Kiba getting decimated like that in a taijutsu battle. As a matter of fact, Kiba lost only to Sasuke but never this harshly. He also wondered about the reaction Kiba had upon hitting his opponents bones. 'What are you?' he asked himself while looking at the white haired teen, who in turn got fussed over by Haku.
Sasuke's thoughts were similar to Shikamaru. He knew first hand how good Kiba was in taijutsu. Even if the Inuzuka was an idiot, he was physically gifted and the only one that could kinda keep up with him in taijutsu. To think he would get so totally destroyed, wondered how he would fare against Kimimaro. 'Finally some competition,' ran through his mind. As arrogant as he was and as high he thought of himself, Sasuke knew that strong competition would just force himself to work harder to remain on top. 'I wonder how strong you are Senju?'
"Haku Yuki," Iruka called the new girl up. He too was more than impressed how easily Kimimaro defeated Kiba. Iruka also had an idea why Kiba hurt himself as much on hitting the other boy. Now it was time for the only girl of the group to prove herself. He was intrigued how good Master Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade raised the three.
After Haku heard her name getting called, she stopped her treatment of Kimimaro. Not that he needed any but she healed more injuries on 'her boys' than she could count. "Looks like my time is now. Wish me luck Naruto?" she asked with a smile and skipped over to Iruka, ignoring the jealous looks the other girls, sans one, sent her. Drawing her opponent she read "Ino Yamanaka."
'Checkpot,' thought the Yamanaka. The platinum blonde couldn't believe her luck. She could prove herself not only to her Sasuke but also to the new kid Naruto and got to defeat someone trained by a sannin. After her victory, she could only imagine how both Naruto and Sasuke would fight over her.
"Are you ready to lose?" Ino confidently taunted her opponent. "Someone like you could never hope to beat me," she continued her taunt. It always did manage to intimidate Hinata, the only real competition she had.
"Ara, thinking highly of yourself?" came the sickly sweet reply from the Ice-user. Both Naruto and the normally stoic Kimimaro gulped at that tone. As sweet and kind as Haku was, she could easily be the scariest of the three. The only time she used that tone was when she was pissed. 'Oh boy. I wonder if she goes for physical or psychological destruction,' ran through Kimimaro's mind.
After Mizuki began the match, Ino wasted no time in waiting and straight up attacked her opponent, who in turn easily blocked her. 'Is this it?' Haku asked herself. Both Kimimaro and Naruto had similar thoughts. Ino's taijutsu was terrible to say the least. 'Are every one of the girls so weak?' Haku couldn't comprehend how weak her opponent truly was. Taijutsu was by no means her strong suit but compared to Ino, a member from a ninja clan, she was a master in hand to hand combat.
"Is that everything?" she asked her opponent directly, who got a little bit angry. She couldn't land a single hit on the Yuki. How was she supposed to impress the Senju and Uchiha, if she couldn't keep up with her? And that question of her angered her even more. But before she could reply, Haku continued, "Pity. I guess I'll end this."
Deciding to completely crush her opponent and show the other girl's not to mess with her, she delivered a hard punch to the face. "You," another punch into Ino's midsection, "Are," was followed up by a roundhouse kick to the face "Pathetic." And with that Ino laid on the ground, bodied and bruised with her confidence being crushed. She lost in front of not only her crush, but also that cute new kid.
And her confidence got another huge blow. After Mizuki called the match in favour of Haku, the Yuki spoke some harsh words "To think that someone from a clan could be so pathetically weak. I don't want to know how weak those clanless girls are. Maybe if you would put your mind on becoming a capable kunoichi instead of fawning over some boy. You are without a doubt a disgrace to every kunoichi in the world."
After telling her those words Haku was ready to go off the pitch, leaving a crying Ino behind. Despite being an old friend of Ino, Shikamaru couldn't really find a way to defend her. She was a sorry excuse of a kunoichi in training. Haku just harshly stated the truth.
"Hey who do you think you are?" the voice belonged to Sakura. She, like a lot of the other girls, was shocked at how easy Ino got crushed. Haku's word's also hurt her. She was clanless but she was head to head with Ino as the top ranked kunoichi. But before she could say anything she froze. Haku looked at her with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Ara does Pinky want to say something?" she asked the pink haired. Haku was certain that she would be even more pathetic than the Yamanka. Seeing her scared face Haku continued "Why don't you go back in line before I freeze you," she continued in a kind, sadistic way while patting her cheeks.
With that being said, she left the pinkette standing shocked and skipped over to Kimimaro and Naruto. "Did you watch me Naruto? Did you see how I defeated her?" she asked in a happy voice, making everyone wide eyed at how quickly she transformed from a scarry kunoichi to happy young girl.
"Yeah truly impressive Haku. Although did you need to be so harsh to her?"
"Not really. You have to admit how pathetic she is, don't you?"
"I guess," Naruto replied. "Your taijutsu improved," came the quiet praise from Kimimaro, "looks like our extra hours did something."
"Yeah thank you Kimi for the help," Haku kindly answered her friend, who in turn just gave her one of his rare smiles.
Seeing how Ino managed to leave the pitch, Iruka decided it was time for Naruto to fight. He was more than impressed at how well Haku performed. 'Looks like Lady Tsunade raised a fine kunoichi.'
Hearing his name get called, Naruto was enthusiastic to prove himself. "Yosh! Now it's my time."
"Good luck Naruto," came the good luck wish from Haku, while Kimimaro noded to his best friend. Walking towards his sensei, Naruto tried to ignore the encouragement from the girls in the class, who seemingly completely forgot the harsh advice from Haku. Drawing his opponents name, Naruto was ecstatic at who his opponent was.
"Sasuke Uchiha."
AN: And that's it for this chapter, ending on a cliffhanger. So this chapter saw the introduction of the Konoha 9 and some interaction between our three protagonists and their new classmates. I decided to use Shikamaru as the character to introduce us to the other rookies because I think he would be the most observant aside from Shino. And to be honest who doesn't like Shikamaru?
So next chapter we will dive more into the interactions between the rookies during their last year at the academy. So till then stay tuned.