Okay, I've had this idea in my head for ages now and I finally decided to give this a shot, so I hope that some one will enjoy it, if they don't then… well… I enjoyed so… yeah…
Anyway, this will be the disclaimer for the whole of this fic, as it is both space and time wasting to rewrite at the top of every single chapter, so let it be known…
Prologue- The events that happened on October tenth, the day Naruto was born, took place four years earlier. His mother is Tsunade and his father is Dan, who was killed a few months before Naruto's birth. Tsunade left Naruto at an orphanage on the day he was born as she couldn't bear to keep him around as he reminded her too much of Dan and the fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. He is currently sixteen and is a jounin. More will be revealed in the story.
Knock, knock…
"Enter."
"You asked to see me Hokage-sama?"
"Yes Naruto, come, sit down." Naruto complied and, when he sat down, he leaned forward to hear what Sarutobi wanted him for.
The third smiled before he spoke. "Naruto… I want you to take on a genin team."
"A genin team? But why have you suddenly decided that I should be a sensei?"
"Now, now, you're more then qualified to be a sensei, besides; there is another reason why I want you to do this… Uchiha Sasuke has now become a genin and he is to be placed on a team… Your team."
"But wouldn't someone like Kakashi be more appropriate for an Uchiha?"
"Maybe, but, Sasuke is obsessed with getting revenge by killing his brother… He would do anything to get the power to do so… He needs someone who has had it like he has. Someone who has had the pains which he has had, who'll be able to remind him that there us more to life, to open his eyes. That is why I want you…"
"I don't know…"
"Luckily, I do. You'll be meeting your team tomorrow at ten at the academy. The other two students will be Haruno Sakura…" At the mention of a Haruno, Naruto rolled his eyes. He knew what Harunos' were like; over obsessive and an inner self. "… and Inuzuka Kiba, who I think will be able to learn quite a bit from you, due to your… style."
Naruto sat there for a while, pondering whether or not to accept, but soon decided that this wasn't optional. "Very well… But this means that I'll be able to choose there final test, right?"
"Yes, but remember that I want you to be their sensei…"
Naruto just waved it off. "Yes, yes…"
"You may go now."
Naruto then stood up and left, on his way back home to prepare for the following day.
The next day…
"Alright everyone, silence please." Iruka then looked around the room but nobody was paying attention. "SHUT UP!" In a split second, everyone was silent. "Good… Now I am very pleased that everyone passed, though I had no doubts that you wouldn't. You'll all be placed into teams of three, all of which will have been made fairly. I'll now call them out…" He began to read out teams one to six. "… Team seven will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Team eight will be made of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Fushigi Hinoiri (for description, look at the bottom of the page)…" "… Team ten will have Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. Alright, that's everyone. Also, your senseis will be…" "… Team seven's will be…" Iruka smiled as he read the name in his head. He knew this person well. "… Uzumaki Naruto. Team eight's will be Yuhi Kurenai…" "… Team ten's will be Sarutobi Asuma. Okay then, your sensei's should all be coming to collect you soon." And with that, the chatter once again began, and Iruka just sat down heavily on his chair and rubbed his temples. On the board behind him, there were three words that were vital to any ninja, 'underneath the underneath'.
One by one, senseis came and teams went until there were only three left, teams three, four and seven. The door opened once again and in came a person in his mid teens who was lean, had platinum blond spiky hair (Ino's hair colour) with a braid between his right ear and right eye, which had a leather thong woven into it with wooden beads as well. There were two silver rings around the top of his right ear and his hitai-ite was tied around the top of his left arm, whilst there was some bandaging around his top right arm. He had deep ocean blue eyes, three whisker-like marks on each cheek. His attire consisted of a pair of black shinobi sandals, a pair of deep purple cargo pants, a fish-net t-shirt with the typical green jounin vest on top, unzipped.
"Hey Iruka. How are things going?"
"Long time no see Naruto… Things have been well… Anyway, I assume you're here to collect your team?"
"Naturally…"
"Alright team seven; this is your sensei, Uzumaki Naruto." At the mention of this, the three members of team seven got plate-sized eyes and their jaws fell to the ground.
"No way! He can't be our sensei! He's not even that much older then we are!" Kiba shouted out, getting barks from Akamaru to back him up.
"If that is how you feel, then I could always leave and you three will have to wait until next year to become genin."
"Now, now, there is no need for that. Team seven, you are lucky to have Naruto as your sensei and you should treat him with respect. He is more then qualified to be your sensei anyway." Iruka shouted.
"It's alright Iruka, I'm more then use to it… Anyway, anyone from team seven who doesn't want to wait until next year to become a genin, meet me up on the roof in ten minutes…" Naruto then began to walk out until he stopped. "See you later Iruka…" And with that, he was gone.
Ten minutes later on the roof…
The three genins were all on the roof top, sitting on the step, waiting for their sensei to arrive. Seconds passed until there was a poof, when the smoke cleared; there stood their sensei, giving off a fox-like grin.
"Glad to know that you all decided to give it a shot. Anyway, why don't we all tell us a little about our selves…"
"Like what?" Sakura questioned.
"Oh, you know… the usual… Your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, interest and dreams… that sort of thing."
"Um, why don't you go first so that we can see how it's done?"
"Okay then, I guess that's fair… My name's Uzumaki Naruto, I have too many likes to name, dislikes… I don't really think I have any… hobbies… well, I like training and the sort I guess, interests… again, there are too many to name and my dream, well, that's kinda personal… Alright, now why don't you go Bubblegum."
"My name's Haruno Sakura, I like…" Looks at Sasuke and giggles. "My dislikes are Ino-pig, my hobbies and interests are…" Looks at Sasuke and giggles again. "As for my dream…" Looks at Sasuke for the third time and giggles.
Naruto sweatdrops, over obsessive… "Um, okay then, very nice… How about you dog-breath?"
Kiba gives Naruto evils before he begins. "My name is Inuzuka Kiba, my likes are hanging with Akamaru, my dislikes are people like you who think they are all that…" Naruto just shakes his head from side to side. "My hobbies are training with Akamaru and my family and my interests are my family's techniques, and my dream… I want to become the head of my clan."
"Good, good… Now it's your turn chicken wire."
Sasuke ignores the comment and begins. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have few likes and many dislikes… I have my hobbies and interest… And my dream, it's more of an ambition, as it will happen… I want to revive my clan… and kill a certain person."
Geez, Sarutobi wasn't kidding with this kid…
"Great, now, tomorrow morning, we'll be meeting at training grounds seven for your final test to see whether or not you're good enough to be genin."
"But we're already genin!"
"No, the tests which you have all done was to see whether or not you would qualify for this test. The test which you will be taking tomorrow will decide whether or not you'll become a genin. The fail rate of this test is well over sixty percent, so you'll have to work much harder."
"But that's not fair."
"Life isn't fair Bubblegum. Now, before I go, I must warn you not to eat breakfast tomorrow, unless, that is, you enjoy being sick everywhere." And with that, Naruto was gone in a poof.
"You think he meant that thing about being sick?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, but I do know that I don't like that guy." Kiba declared. By then, Sasuke had already left and Sakura, after realizing, went in search of him.
The next day…
"Where is our sensei?! He said that we were supposed to be here in the morning, but he isn't even here himself!" Kiba shouted. He was now fuming, his patience, though he had little, was all gone and he had mentally decided to kill their sensei as soon as he arrived.
It was ten thirty before Naruto arrived. The first one to greet him was Kiba.
"Where have you been ?! You told us to meet us here in the morning."
"I know, but I forgot to tell you the time and it's still morning for another one and a half hours. So you don't really have a reason to be angry at me. Anyway, I'm glad that you are all here now so that we can begin." Naruto then took a small bag out of his pocket. "In this bag, there are nine keys; three red, three yellow and three blue. You will all be given two keys each, so that both of your teammates will have the colour key which you're missing. I will have the last set of keys." Naruto paused to make sure that they understood so far.
"You will have until noon to achieve one of each keys', and if you do, then you will pass. However if you don't, then you will be strapped to a tree whilst the ones that did pass, along with myself, will eat our lunches in front of you."
"But why did you tell us that we shouldn't eat breakfast then?"
"It's a simple trick for this test. It's make you all work harder so that you'll be able to eat. It'll also cloud your judgement… Anyway… remember to come at me with the intention to kill, otherwise you'll have no hope of passing." He then took out the keys and gave Sakura a red and a yellow, Sasuke a blue and a yellow and Kiba a red and a blue. He then pulled out the last three keys to prove that he had them. "Alright… BEGIN!" everyone then disappeared into the forest, leaving Naruto alone. He shrugged and then lay down on the ground, falling asleep.
Meanwhile, Kiba was hiding behind a bush, watching his sensei sleeping. He won't know what hit him until it's too late… I'll kick his butt so hard that there won't be anything left…
"You know… You should never show your back to your enemy." Naruto said from behind him, making Kiba spin round so fast that you would have missed it if you blinked.
"What? How?"
"You should never underestimate anyone." But Kiba wasn't listening, he jumped right at Naruto, who disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"How did he…"
"I used a shadow clone." Naruto answered from up high in a tree before Kiba got a chance to finish his question.
"You'll pay for that!" Kiba jumped at Naruto again, but this time Naruto didn't disappear, he simply caught both of Kiba's hands with one and both of Kiba's feet with Naruto's other hand. "You forgot someone!" Kiba said, smirking. Akamaru then appeared from Kiba's jacket. However, Naruto had not forgotten about out furry little friend. He smiled.
"What's so funny?" Kiba demanded, whilst Akamaru made his way towards Naruto's face.
Naruto closed his eyes and, when they opened again, they revealed, not his usual ocean blue eyes, but blood-red eyes with hair thin slits. He also bared his teeth which were now pointed and had a pair of extra long and pointed fangs. Immediately, Akamaru retreated back to where he came from. Naruto closed his eyes and mouth again, returning them to normal.
Kiba had also seen it and he was speechless and shocked, rendering him from moving, which was also helped by the fact that Naruto had him held tight. Naruto just simply smiled and threw Kiba to the other side of the clearing.
"Now, where was I…" Naruto then laid back down on the ground to rest.
In the meantime, Sasuke had been out searching the surround forest of training grounds seven for either Kiba or Sakura to get the missing key off one of the two, that would be the easiest way to pass, which he must do in order to reach his goal.
He had seen where Kiba was, but before he got a chance to attack, Naruto had intervened, so now he was after Sakura, whom he knew he could easily beat.
He finally found her running around the forest, like she was looking for something or someone. He followed her discreetly until she stopped, hiding behind a branch in a tree.
"Oi… Kiba! Get up here!" She whispered loudly. Kiba, who had been down on the ground, got suspicious as to why she wanted him to get up there.
"Why? Do you want to steal my key?"
"No, no… I need to tell you something."
"Fine." So Kiba jumped up into the tree, landing next to Sakura. "So, what is it that you want to tell me exactly?"
"We won't be able to get a key from Naruto-sensei on our own. And don't deny it, I saw you two. Also, we can't take them from each other, that's just wrong."
"Then what should we do?"
"We need to work as a team and get the keys from Naruto. So we have to find Sasuke as well."
"Alright…"
Sasuke had heard the whole thing, and thought that his teammates were being dim, thinking that that would work. So he decided to jump down to them and prove that he didn't need them.
"Sasuke! We're glad that you're here. We have something to tell…"
"… I already heard everything that you said."
"So you agree with us?"
"No… I'm here to show that I don't need anyone to help me. That people will only just slow me down." Sasuke then got into a fighting stance.
Sakura and Kiba however, didn't believe what they were hearing; Sasuke would fight his own teammates so that he could progress forward.
"B-but Sasuke-kun… You can't do that!" Sakura tried, but went ignored. Sasuke leaped, heading towards his two teammates, however, he was stopped in mid-air. Sasuke looked behind him to find that it was their sensei who had stopped him.
"Times up…" Naruto said, his tone indicated that he was disappointed, though no-one knew exactly why.
Minutes later, all four of them were back to where they had been right before the test had begun. The three genins were sitting quietly down on the ground whilst Naruto stood up in front of them, his arms crossed and his eyes shut. He stood there for a while, letting the silence linger around them, thoughts shooting through his head, tying to decide what to do. Finally he spoke.
"Does anyone remember what was written on the board in Iruka's classroom the day when the teams were made?"
No answer.
" 'Underneath the underneath', the key for a ninja… Does anyone know what it means then?"
No answer.
"It means that you must find the hidden truth, rather then going for the obvious or following directly what you have been told… The key to this test was for you to work as a team, not for you to actually get the full set of keys…" Naruto finally opened his eyes and looked at his team.
"A friend of mine believes that 'those who break the rules are trash, but those who don't put their teammates first are lower then trash'… And I agree with him…"
"But Naruto-sensei, why did you then give us all different keys, instead of giving us the same ones?" Sakura asked quietly.
"I wanted to see if you would take the easy route and take away a teammate's chance at passing, or if you gave your key to a teammate so that they could pass, sacrificing yourself for a teammate, or whether you would all work together to obtain the keys from me… If you did the last two, then I would have passed you all, but only two of you would work as a team." Naruto's gaze went over to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, you thought that your teammates would just slow you down and therefore you chose the easiest way by going against them, even when they offered to work as a team with you. That is not the way in which a ninja must work."
"However, since two of you got the idea of this test, I will give you all a second chance to prove yourselves…" Naruto's gaze shifted to the left, where it was held. Everyone else followed it to find that Naruto was looking at three wooden posts on the other end of the clearing. All three genins looked back at their sensei questionably.
Naruto had a smile on his face, slightly devilish. "Sakura, Kiba, both of you will be tied to those stumps over there whilst Sasuke and I will be eating our lunches." Both Sakura's and Kiba's jaws hit the ground.
"B-but… That's not fair!" Kiba began.
"Life isn't fair Kiba." Naruto retorted as he walked over to his bag and pulled out two lengths of rope, using them to tie the two genins to the stumps. He also used another piece of rope to tie Akamaru so that he wouldn't bite threw Kiba's rope. He then brought out two lunch packets, throwing one to Sasuke who caught it. He began to eat swiftly.
Naruto then stood up again. "Sasuke, here, have mine, I have to go off somewhere so there is no point wasting it…" He began to walk off but stopped abruptly. "… And DON'T give ANY to Sakura or Kiba, or you will fail!" And he was off.
Sasuke then began to eat, listening to the groans coming from his teammates' stomachs, getting louder as time went by. He couldn't take it anymore. He took the food packet which Naruto had given him and held it up to his teammates.
"W-what are you dong Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"You're hungry, aren't you? So I'm giving you something to eat."
"Bu… But Naruto-sensei told you not to give any to us!"
"I know… But he's not around, so eat." He held out his chopsticks to both of his teammates, who took the food, thankful to Sasuke.
There was a poof of smoke and there stood Naruto, with an angry, and scary, expression on his face. "SASUKE!"
Sasuke didn't show any obvious signs of fear, but Naruto knew that he was, and mentally smiled. In a blink of an eye, Naruto's facial expression changed and he now had a wide grin on his face and he began to clap his hands. "You all pass…" He said softly.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, his jaw slightly ajar.
"You passed because, even when I explicitly told you not to feed your teammates, you did, meaning that you sacrificed your own chance or passing so that they could eat, which is what I wanted you to do." He said to Sasuke.
"All of you have showed signs of teamwork, so you are now all officially genin. Congratulations." He said softly.
It took a minute for it to sink in, but when it did, Kiba cheered, Akamaru barked, Sakura was smiling like there was no tomorrow and Sasuke nodded his head slightly, though he was very pleased, but he didn't want to show it.
"But remember, you must carry on working as a team, or you will never advance in the ranks of a ninja." Everyone nodded in understanding. But then Kiba remembered something.
"Naruto-sensei?"
"Yes…"
"What was it that you pulled back there… I mean the red eyes and stuff."
"I don't think that you have the right to know that, at least not yet."
"Why? Is it too good for us or something? I bet it was some sort of genjutsu! Yeah, that's it; it was some sort of genjutsu!"
"Kiba, it wasn't a genjutsu. And just so you know this for future references, my genjutsu isn't all that good. However, I make up for it by exceeding in other areas of the field."
"So you're telling me that your not that good a jounin?!"
"No, that's not what I'm saying."
"Then how good are you?!"
"I'd rather not say."
"Why, because you know that you suck?!"
"You know Kiba, just because you're good at something doesn't mean that you have to flaunt it in everyone's faces. Also, like a magician, a ninja must never reveal his tricks."
"Oh, so now you're a magician. I thought that you were supposed to be our sensei!"
"Kiba, that's enough."
Kiba was about to retort until he found that he couldn't, he was frozen in place by fear as Naruto was sending a vast amount of killing intent at him. Both Sakura and Sasuke could also feel it, but they could also feel that it wasn't being directed at them, but something or someone near. They then saw that Kiba was about to piss himself, but the killer intent stopped before it was too late.
"Will you stop now, Kiba? Or will I have to make you wet yourself?"
"No, no… I'm good."
"I'm glad to hear that. Now… everyone, meet me here tomorrow at eleven so that we can begin with our missions… Oh, and before I go, if anyone of you wishes to find me, there are three places to look; my house, Ichiraku ramen stand or at the dingo dango café… Any questions?"
"How will we know where your house is?" Sakura asked.
"You will all have received letters which contain the information which you need, as I have received a letter containing the information which I need about you… Any other questions? No? Good, I'm off then." And he disappeared in a poof.
At the local bar and restaurant…
Kakashi was sitting on a stool by the bar, enjoying a drink after the long day which he had had. He let out a long sigh.
"Hey Kakashi."
Said person turned round to find that it was Naruto who had greeted him.
"Naruto… What are you doing here? You don't drink."
"I had a feeling that you would be here today…" He said.
A light chuckle came from Kakashi. "I heard that the Third made you take on a genin team." He received a nod as Naruto sat on the stool next to him, turning his head towards Kakashi.
"I heard that you were also to take one on… But I guess that it didn't go too well since you got that drink there."
"Right as always… This team was even worse then the last one; two of them began to fight to find out which one of them could go against me first… honestly…"
"I know what you mean… So I guess that you used the bell test again?"
"Of course… What about you?"
"I used the key test… Two of them began to work as a team, except for the Uchiha…" Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "He was going to fight his teammates so that he could advance…"
"So what happened in the end?"
"I gave them a second chance since two of them got the right idea."
"The lunch trick?"
"Yep… And it worked, thank Kami. If it didn't, then I don't know what I would have done."
"Why's that?"
"The Third made sure that I had Sasuke on my team, which was the only reason why I was chosen as a sensei. He wanted me to be his sensei, for more personal reasons…" Kakashi nodded in understanding.
There was silence for a while until Naruto spoke.
"That book of yours is going to be full in no time if you don't pass a genin team soon…" Kakashi just eye-smiled back.
Fushigi Hinoiri (Miracle Sunset) :
Hair: light brown, short around the sides but long around and within the crown of his head
Eyes: amber, with hints of brown in them
Height: same as Shikamaru's
Clothing: thin, dark beige jacket; brown t-shirt; dark brown trousers; blue shinobi sandals; blue hitai-ite around his right arm
Birthday: 17th March
Personality: pleasant; doesn't take much seriously; hates being insulted; forgetful; loyal
Skills: None, but his genjutsu is better then his taijutsu and ninjutsu. Average aim; in both kunai and shurikan. Academic test results: average
Family: non-shinobi family; his mother died when she gave birth to his younger sister and his father owns a bakery/café. Names (age): mother-Sora (died at 31); father-Etaishin (40); older brother-Kioi (17); younger sister-Shizukesa (7). They live in decent sized house in the middle of town.
This is only a minor character in the story, but he will have a few short appearances later on in the fic, though nothing too important. He was simply made as I was in need of another genin and well, I could either make an OC or use someone like Hanabi, but I didn't really want to use her as that might make this fic harder to write.
And another thing, his name doesn't mean anything in the fic, I just thought that it sounded good so yeah, that was kinda it…
Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed the first chapter and I will try and update as soon as I can, without making it seemed rush…
Until Next Time…