Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Ties to Humanity ❯ Team 7 ( Chapter 4 )

Naruto woke up with a start. The dream reminded him of the worst day of his life. The day Iruka died and a minor detail of him being the container of Kyuubi. To him, he didn't understand why it was such a big deal, despite the fact that most if not all the villagers and shinobi of this village hates him.

He sighed and looked at the black uniform that sat on his dresser. Today was Iruka's funeral, and he was supposed to attend. But how could he, he couldn't face his old sensei not yet.

Forming familiar hand seals he whispered,” Kage Bunshin no Jutsu”

 

Sarutobi stood there as Iruka's friends spoke of how brave and special Iruka was. He noticed that Naruto was silent, eyes blank not showing any emotion. Something told him, that there was something out of place. Then he noticed a slight heat shimmer in the air next to Naruto. It was then did he conclude the Naruto visible was a clone and the shimmer was the real Naruto. He sighed; it was a sad world when a child could not go to his best friend's funeral without harassment. He nodded slightly towards Naruto direction and returned his attention to the speaker.

 

Naruto sighed as he sat on the hill. The funeral ended and now he had nothing to do. He held the headband in his hand, clenching it ever so often.

It wasn't fair he decided.

Then again, nothing was fair. Naruto mentally reviewed over all the jutsu he knew and grinned slightly. At least Iruka would be happy that he knew so many jutsu he thought.

He examined the weights on his legs and arms. They too were a memento from Iruka. In his will, it was stated that Naruto get his ninja tools. Now Naruto was going to use them in memory of his precious person.

Standing up he walked back to the village, readying himself for more pain and disappointment. Since Iruka's death life was a bleak world, and nothing will make it better.

 

Shikamaru was bored out of his mind, as he waited for Takura-sensei to come in. Since today was the day where the Genins were to be assigned into their teams, they were allowed to come later as both the teachers and their prospective Jounin-senseis to be were preparing the team assignments.

`I should've flunked the exam like Naruto…' He thought. That way he would not have to put up with his mother's incessant nagging to wake up. At least his dad was not like his mom, seriously how did his dad put up with her.

Shikamaru decided to drop his head into his arms for a quick nap. After a minute or so, there was a loud gasp of surprise and he woke up. He saw someone take the free seat next to him, wearing extremely bright orange.

“Eh? Naruto?” Shikamaru squinted, his vision blurry. There was something different about this Naruto...Ah! He had a hitai-ate, he realized at last.

Normally, Shikamaru did not ask questions that he already knew the answers to, but he wanted to make sure the boy in front of him wasn't a hallucination. “So you passed?”

“Yeah.”

Looking around, he saw a lot of his classmates sharing the same incredulous looks as they stared at Naruto. He would be doing the same too, if it wasn't so damn troublesome.

Naruto nodded silently, just as Takura-sensei walked into the room. Word came that Mizuki killed Iruka and a new replacement teacher was going to announce the teams.

“Okay, Brats, listen up!” The man yelled, ceasing all conversations between the students. “I will now begin to read out your Team assignments. Your Jounin-Sensei will be coming to pick you all up soon. Team 1…”

 

This continued for some time until there was only Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, Chouji and Sasuke. The pine-apple haired boy was fervently hoping that Ino wasn't going to be on his team. She had nagged and grumbled about him almost as much as his mother had done.

"Next, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino!”

`Maybe I should've failed that test.' Shikamaru thought, eyeing the glaring girl nervously, `Girls can be so troublesome…'

 

They waited for half an hour, two hours, and then Takua-sensei had to go back to do some paperwork which was due in by the evening. Finally, the clock hand turned.

Ding!

As it now stands, they had waited for three hours, a new record in tardiness for the new and apparently anonymous Jounin-Sensei.

Uchiha Sasuke was not amused, he was ticked off.

After seeing that his `team-mates' consisted of a dead last who somehow managed to pass and a seriously annoying kunoichi/fanfgirl who kept gushing over him, Sasuke had serious doubts to their abilities.

He found Uzumaki to be quite a strange one. Ever since his first days in the Academy, he had seen Naruto be an obnoxious idiot. Sasuke had been the top student in the class whereas Naruto was dead last. By accident, he found Naruto and Iruka training and found that Naruto was not loud at all. In fact he was quiet and attentive, something he never showed in class. Other than that, he concluded Naruto was a regular ninja not worth his time.

Naruto frowned. It had been three hours since the last batch of students have left, leaving him along with his new team-mates.

To start it off simply, he knew that Sakura had graduated with top honors as the best Kunoichi. He also knew that Sasuke had come in first with the highest marks in the whole class, whereas he scored the lowest. He was not bothered by it however, like many other things in his life, he accepted it and tried to make do in best way he could.

Unlike the rest of his fellow ninjas, Naruto did not wish to strive for greatness. He wanted to be acknowledged, not shunned. But now, he was going to be a shinobi for Iruka. The door opened and out walked a person.

The teacher walked in.

The door to their left opened, and a white-haired jounin calmly strode into the room. He had both of his hands in his pockets, and his left eye was covered by a sagging forehead protector. The rest of his face from the bridge of his nose down was obscured by a mask.

“Sorry I'm late, guys. I got lost on the way here...”

“WHAT A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A SHINOBI! YOU LIVE HERE AND YOU ARE A JONIN! HAVE YOU NO SHAME!” That was Sakura.

Naruto glared at him along with Sasuke. Sasuke was a little less obvious in showing his discontentment but anyone with half a brain could tell from his stare. It seemed that patience was not their strong suit, he noted.

Their still unnamed teacher sweat-dropped.

“Perhaps we should go to the roof...”

Kakashi watched as his new team made themselves comfortable. He took this opportunity to evaluate them.

`Let's see…we've the foxbrat, avenger boyand the fan-girl. Wow, I always get the weird ones huh.'

“Anyway, the name's Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire whatsoever to tell you guys what I like or dislike. My dreams for future...? I can't really tell you guys but what you can know is that I have many hobbies...”

He ignored the looks of disbelief, yelling and irritation at his blatant attempt at secrecy. If they wished to know more about him, they should work for it, not wait for it to be handed on a silver platter.

Taking advantage of their shock, he started. “You there. Name, hobbies, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Whatever.” He pointed Sakura who was startled out of her staring. Narrowing his only visible eye slightly, he noted that the girl at this age was probably more concerned about love than the practical stuff that compasses a ninja's life.

“Well, I'm Haruno Sakura and my dream is…” She broke off, her eyes averting from the ground to the oblivious raven-haired boy who sat nearby. The girl did the same thing with every sub-catalog he had given except for the `Dislikes' part. She was blushing quite badly by the end of it.

`Is she actually serious about becoming a shinobi?' Kakashi set his lips into a grimace, although it wasn't visible.

“Ok, what about you, the one on the left?” He pointed to the raven-haired boy who Sakura was drooling over. Kakashi noted that the boy's face was set as if permanently in a frown, which was always bad in the long run. Children were supposed to act like children and let life run its course. “Any hobbies, likes, dislikes or dreams?”

“It is my goal is to revive my dead clan, and,” Sasuke declared, his hands folded in front of him which muffled his voice, “And to kill a certain man.” Kakashi did not need to guess whom the boy was referring to. He nodded faintly, before turning to the last of the group.

“What about you?”

The boy grinned a humongous huge bright shiny grin. “My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I dislike bad people. And I like ramen and I WILL BECOME HOKAGE.” Kakashi winced slightly at the noise. Hmm, Iruka's death did notdampenhis spirits, maybe he is…..though Kakashi.

“Ok, that will be all for today. Meet me tomorrow at Training Field 7 at nine'o clock tomorrow, and don't eat breakfast either.” Kakashi glanced at his watch. “You will throw up. It's survival training so bring all your tools too. Team dismissed.”

Sakura left huffily leaving the two boys standing there alone.

Sasuke was pissed; they got a stupid teacher and he didn't even get a chance to practice yet.

“Oi, Uzumaki!” Sasuke called suddenly, standing up to face the blonde. He wanted to find out how good the boy was, no matter what the scores had said. He wouldn't hurt him too bad. Sakura was just too weak for him, a girl, and she left. “Want to spar?” He asked with a casual arrogance in his voice.

Naruto looked a bit confused at the request, before screaming at Sauke. “Ha, say your prayers dumb ass.”

He rushed at Naruto, a fist raised to strike the boy. Naruto just side-stepped, grabbing the fist and an elbow for good measure before tossing the Uchiha at a tree. Sasuke stopped himself from crashing, landing with as much finesse as he could. He smirked.

“Better, Uzumaki.” At this, Naruto scowled, dark eyes staring at him.

The pair exchanged blows and counters, neither of them getting pass each other's defenses.

`For one who's been a dead last, he's not bad…'

`But not good enough,' He thought, as his fish slammed into the tree next to Naruto's head.

It was a blink but Sasuke thought he saw a sudden change in Naruto's eyes and froze for a moment. Did they just…..? He didn't have time to think as the boy vanish from his sight for a second.

There was a slight rustle from his right.

`There!' He turned to find no one.

`What the...' His skin tingled and he moved, barely able to dodge a blurred shape.

Crack!

Naruto's fist hit his jaw, sending him flying. He crashed against a tree only to find a kunai pressed against his skin and a stern eyed Naruto glaring at him.

“Don't touch me.”

Then to his surprise Naruto stepped back and ran. Sasuke massaged his face and watched the retreating Naruto in surprise.

“What the..”

 

 

Naruto stood there gazing at the hero's monument in silence. He was there for a good six hours just standing there looking at Iruka's name carved on the stone. In order to skip class he sent a clone to take it for him. His ears pricked as his clone came, looking flustered.

“What happened?”

So the clone told Naruto everything that happened and the fight with Sasuke.

“Does he suspect anything?”

“No, I don't think so. I was forced to hit him so he wouldn't dispel me.”

“Good.” With that, Naruto dispelled the clone. He looked at the monument and walked away.

I'll be back tomorrow Iruka-sensei.

 

Hmm, this one was very difficult. A bit more than the last. Gawd, my brain is shriveling up.

Naruto, seemed to still live in the past, if he doesn't shake himself out of it, he may do something he may regret or DIE!!!

Ah, well. Stay tuned for the next chapter.