Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fenrir and the Fox ❯ Meet Team Ten ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6:

Meet Team Ten

 

The next day in class almost everyone was surprised to see Naruto walk in wearing a leaf forehead protector. Every one had seen him run out of the examination room the other day and most weren't really sure what to make of it. The room soon became filled with barely audible whispers as they tried to understand what Naruto was doing there.

 

The blonde boy walked towards his usual spot near the back of the class and sat next to Jinra, who seemed to be the only one who wasn't the least bit curious about what had happened the previous day. When Naruto looked at him Jinra couldn't help but smile before saying, “Congratulations Naruto. I knew you could do it.”

 

Naruto couldn't help but wonder at how Jinra seemed to be so accepting of the situation, but gave one of his signature grins anyway. “Of course I could do it! After all, I'm going to be Hokage someday!”

 

Their conversation was cut short by the entrance of their teacher Iruka Umino. “Good morning class. As you know today is the day that you will all be assigned to your genin teams. Typically these teams are in groups of three, but this year we happen to have one more graduate than usual.” At this, Iruka looked in Naruto's direction and gave a small pride-filled smile before continuing on. “Because of this, one of this year's teams is going to have an extra person.” A low murmuring could be heard throughout the classroom as people began to speculate as to which team would get the extra person. The murmuring only stopped when Iruka slammed his hand on the table in front of him. As soon as it was quiet Iruka gave a small sigh before picking up the folder where he had written down the team assignments and began to read from it.

 

The sorting of the teams was fairly straightforward. Each team was given a number that ranged from one to ten in no specific order. Iruka would state the number of the team, read the names of the people on said team, and then the jounin, which had been assigned to teach them, would eventually show up and lead the three genins away. Teams One through Six were all people that Jinra had very little contact with in the academy, so he didn't bother paying attention to them as they exited the room. Team Seven consisted of a shy, pale girl named Hinata, the stoic looking Shino, and the still feral looking Kiba. Judging from what Jinra knew about each of them, he assumed they were made to be a reconnaissance team. Team Eight was assigned Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, which wasn't really surprising considering Jinra had heard about how their clan abilities complimented each other. The only real surprise was when the members of Team Ten were announced.

 

“And last but not least: Team Ten will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Ozuma Jinra.”

 

The reactions from the three newly announced teammates were almost priceless to behold. Sakura squealed in delight as her eyes darted from Sasuke, to Jinra, and then surprisingly enough, lingering on Naruto. Sasuke had a slightly devious smirk on his face, as he now knew that his rival would always be within his sight, meaning that he could challenge Jinra whenever he wanted to. Naruto had an expression that seemed to flash from angry, to thrilled, to smug as he thought about who his new teammates were. He didn't like Sasuke but he loved Sakura and respected his friend/rival Jinra, so as far as he was concerned he came out a winner. Jinra's expression, however, was the funniest one of all. His eyes had bulged, his jaw had dropped, and it seemed as if he was fighting the urge to fall out of his chair. His thoughts began to race frantically, trying to recall just what he had done to deserve this. `WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THESE THREE!!!!' he screamed mentally.

 

Jinra had been very careful about avoiding being with these three specific people at the same time ever since his start at the academy. As individuals they were all good people, except maybe Sasuke, who was a little too driven for his liking. However, if you put Naruto and Sasuke together it was like fire and gunpowder, and adding Sakura to the mix was like throwing in a drunk holding an overly full jug of gasoline. The combination was more than likely to be explosive.

 

Iruka had to resist the urge to chuckle as he saw Jinra's reaction. He was well aware of how volatile this team had the potential to be, but he really had little choice in the matter. When the jounins had decided who would take which student, one of them in particular had made a request for two specific genins, namely Uchiha Sasuke and Ozuma Jinra. Iruka was against the idea because those two were the top students of the class and would overpower their team if put together, but for some reason the Hokage had agreed to the idea.

 

Since he had no choice but to put those two on a team, and he knew that there was going to be a four-man team anyway, Iruka chose to pick two of the less promising genin and put them with Jinra and Sasuke in hopes of evening the team out. The first choice was obviously Naruto, who was the dead last of this year's class, but the second choice was a little bit tricky. He was tempted to choose Shikamaru, who was second to last in the class, but the academy guidelines demanded that there be at least one female for every two males on any given team.

 

After much searching, Iruka had found that the three most likely female candidates were Hyuuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and Haruno Sakura. Hinata couldn't be chosen because her bloodline ability and meek demeanor made her more suitable for a reconnaissance based team. Ino would have been chosen had it not been for the fact that her father had requested that she be on the same team as Chouji and Shikamaru. That left Sakura, who was brilliant when it came to book smarts, but lacked the chakra capacity and physical strength for anything other than the most basic ninja techniques.

 

When you considered their abilities, Iruka knew his choice was tactically sound, but it was their personalities that were the problem. He just hoped that their instructor could handle the mess that Iruka had left him. As he left the room he wondered just how long Kakashi would make them wait before arriving.

 

Break

 

Three hours…

 

They had been waiting three whole hours for their instructor to show up, and the waiting had done very little to improve their team morale.

 

After the first hour Sakura had finally broken away from her happy daze and began ranting about the tardiness of their new teacher. About thirty minutes after that Naruto had gotten out of his chair, set up a dusty eraser on top of the cracked door to the classroom, and promptly went to sleep on top of the teacher's desk. Jinra watched the antics of the others with a small smile and a glint of amusement within his silver eyes as Sasuke steadily grew more and more irritated, something that was only indicated by a slight twitch in his eyebrow.

 

After the third hour of waiting had finally been drawn to a close, the newly formed Team Ten heard footsteps heading towards the classroom. Jinra quickly headed towards the desk and nudged Naruto awake, Sakura stopped her ranting and glared at the door, and Sasuke did nothing, although the twitch in his eyebrow grew almost unnoticeably.

 

The door opened and a figure began to enter, only to have the precariously perched eraser fall of top of his head, covering him in chalk dust. The silver haired jounin was someone that Jinra recognized instantly. “Kakashi-san? You're going to be out teacher?”

 

Kakashi brushed himself off lightly before replying. “Yes Jinra, I am. And I have to say that my first impression of you four is that you are extremely annoying.” His one eye roamed the classroom before he spoke again. “Meet me on top of the roof of the academy; there we can get to know each other better.” With those words, Kakashi teleported out of the room, leaving a cloud of ninja smoke in his wake.

 

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto all looked at their silver haired teammate, their eyes asking a single question: “You know this guy?”

 

“We met a few years ago, before I came to the academy,” Jinra explained. “Actually, it was his suggestion that I come to the academy in the first place.”

 

“Do you know anything about him?” Sakura asked.

 

“Not really; the guy is about as forthcoming as a brick wall.”

 

“Maybe we'll find out more about him when we get to the roof,” Sasuke said, heading towards the door.

 

“Somehow, I doubt that,” Jinra muttered as they walked out of the classroom and up the stairs towards the roof of the building.

 

When they finally got there, they found Kakashi sitting there, reading an orange book that Jinra didn't recognize, but judging from the perverted sounding giggles that were coming from under Kakashi's mask, it was probably not the sort of thing one should be reading in public. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard Naruto shout to the right of him, “Hey pervert! Put the porno book away and pay attention to us!”

 

Kakashi let out a disappointed sigh and put the offending orange book in one of the pouches of his vest. He then returned his attention to the three genins standing in front of him.

 

“Okay, now is the time where we get to know each other. When I point to you I want you to tell me your names, likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams.”

 

“Why don't you go first Kakashi-sensei?” Jinra said. “After all, as your students we're supposed to follow your example.”

 

Kakashi arched an eyebrow. “Very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your concern. I have hopes, but no dreams. Now it's your turn Pinkie,” he said, pointing to Sakura.

 

“What!? All you really told us was your name!” Sakura yelled. When Kakashi refused to elaborate, she just let out an exasperated sigh and began to tell the other about herself.

 

“My name is Haruno Sakura. I dislike when people make fun of my skills as a ninja and my overly large forehead.” At this point a scowl marred her otherwise pretty face, but it faded quickly. “My likes, hopes, and dreams all revolve around the same thing, but I'd rather not talk about it.” At the end of that statement Sakura's eyes flickered over to Naruto for a moment before her cheeks flushed a mild crimson. Kakashi was the only one who noticed. `So the Haruno girl is interested in the demon container. This might be interesting.'

 

“How about you?” he said, gesturing towards Sasuke. Sasuke paused for a moment before replying.

 

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training and getting stronger. I dislike people who hold me back and get in my way. I have no hopes, but my dream…” Sasuke paused for a moment, a deep scowl appearing on his face “…my ambition, is to kill a certain man and restore my clan.”

 

Kakashi frowned slightly. `The boy is still seeking revenge against the one who decimated his clan a few years ago. I just hope he doesn't let his ambition consume him.'

 

“How about you, Blondie?” Naruto snarled at the name, but shrugged it off.

 

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and learning new jutsus. I dislike people who have an irrational fear or hatred of others. My dream is to one day become Hokage and be respected and admired by the village!” He ended the statement by bringing a dramatic fist into the air. Kakashi chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm and, although he would never admit it, felt slightly inspired. He then turned towards the last member of his squad. Of all of them he had known this boy the longest, yet he knew so little about him. “What about you, Jinra?”

 

Jinra turned towards the others. “My name is Jinra. As I have said before I have no real last name, but my father's name was Ozuma, so I choose to use that. I like learning and dislike people who try to use me for their own selfish purposes. I hope to one day find out who I am and where I come from, and the only dream I've ever known is to find my father so I can ask him some questions.”

 

Kakashi and the others stared at him when he finished with his introduction. In all the time any of them had known him that was probably the most he had ever said about his past. Kakashi in particular was surprised because the boy had never mentioned anything about his family before and could only imagine what questions the boy might have.

 

There was an odd silence after Jinra's statement until Kakashi decided to bring their meeting to a close. “Okay, that's good enough for today. Tomorrow I want you all to meet at the bridge near the training grounds at 9:00 am so we can go through some survival training. Oh, and don't bother eating breakfast, you'll just throw up.” Just as he had so many other times, Kakashi teleported away without so much as a gesture, leaving Team Ten alone once more.

 

After Kakashi had left, Jinra was the first to speak. “So, does any one want to go out to eat or something? You know, do some more team bonding and such?”

 

Naruto looked at Jinra excitedly. “Can we get ramen!?”

 

“Idiot,” Sasuke sneered, “There are other foods out there.”

 

“Yeah, but nothing is as good as ramen!” he whined.

 

“I actually wouldn't mind getting some ramen,” Sakura said with a small smile.

 

“Neither would I,” Jinra said plainly. “I hear there's this great little stand a few blocks from the school. I think it's called Ichiraku Ramen or something.”

 

“Yes!!! Ichiraku is the best ramen ever!!!” Naruto was now almost jumping with joy.

 

“So how about it Sasuke? Care to spend a little time with your team? We promise we won't hold you back,” Jinra said with a smirk. Sasuke considered this a moment, before finally caving in. “Fine.”

 

“Yes!” Naruto bellowed. “RamenRamenRamenRamenRamen!!!”

 

As Naruto jumped about he looked like a five year old on the ultimate sugar high, and Sakura found herself giggling at his antics while Jinra and Sasuke looked on in confusion. After more than a little pulling from Naruto, the four of them made their way to the nearby ramen stand, unaware of the single eye watching them from a nearby rooftop.

 

Kakashi grinned underneath his mask. `These four have a lot of potential as a team. Who knows, they might just reset my record and be the first genins to ever become my students.'

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