7 Chapter 7

A/N: I realized that my writing style was complex so I changed it a little, I hope you like it

***

It was early morning; the sun hadn't even risen yet. But one Uzumaki Naruto was already up and about, getting ready for his first day as a ninja. After a quick rinse in the shower, and a… somewhat decent breakfast of eggs and toast, Naruto was ready to start the day.

He looked himself over in the mirror, checking his clothing and equipment to make sure everything looked good. He wanted every one of his classmates, former classmates he reminded himself, to leave with a good impression of him. He looked at his bo staff attached to his back, angling over his shoulder slightly for easy access. Nodding to himself, the blond genin left and began making his way towards the academy.

He had decided to walk to the academy instead of roof hopping, even though he had come to enjoy the activity. There were not many people out at this time, being so early that the sun was just beginning to rise, so Naruto did not have to suffer through any glares this morning and since it was so early he could afford to take his time.

However, as Naruto turned around a corner he stopped when he noticed a small section of the fence that was dirtier than the others. And sideways. And had a pair of feet sticking out of the bottom, a pair of hands-on on either side, and a tuft of hair sticking out at the top. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺. Naruto thought as he started walking forward again. Just as he passed the sheet, Naruto pulled out four kunai, tossing each one into a corner of the sheet, pinning his 'rival' to the fence.

"Ga! Hey! What the- let me go! Get me out of here!" Came to the muffled response from inside of the cloth.

Naruto grinned as he walked up and wrapped his knuckles against Konohamaru's helmeted head, making the currently complaining kid quiet down. "So can I help you Konohamaru?" he asked, amusement leaking from his voice.

"Ha! You saw through my disguise again! That's why I respect you as my rival!" Konohamaru tried to get out of the restraining cloth by slipping through the sides, but the kunai had stretched the sheet enough so that they were too tight to slip through and in too deep to pull out from his position. "Now can you let me out!"

Naruto grinned as he grabbed the kunai and pulled them out, letting the covering drop to the ground. "So… I take it there's something you want from me?" the blond asked.

"I challenge you!" Konohamaru shouted as he pointed at Naruto.

Naruto laughed at the kid. "Sorry but I can't, remember I have to head over to the academy today to get assigned my jonin sensei."

"Ohh yeah," Konohamaru said, his eyes getting stars in them. "Man, that's so cool! I wish I was a ninja."

"Well just make sure you work hard and don't slack off." Naruto looked up at the sky and saw the sun had risen. He would have to hurry now if he wanted to get to the academy before the glares started coming his way. "Anyways I need to head over to the academy or I'll be late. See ya!" Naruto tossed the energetic kid a wave as he ran off.

***

Naruto ended up getting to the academy a tad later than he had expected due to the interruption. However, it was still early enough that he doubted anyone else was there. Making his way to his homeroom, Naruto walked up to the door. Opening just as Iruka was about to walk out.

Iruka blinked in surprise when he laid eyes on Naruto and for a moment, didn't recognize him.

"Oh, morning Iruka-sensei." Naruto greeted his teacher with a large grin.

Iruka blinked once, twice, thrice. "Naruto?" he asked, getting a nod in response the scarred chunin academy teacher looked his former student up and down, taking notice of the rather large cloak covering the blond frame. "You look… different," Iruka smirked a bit. "You actually look like a real shinobi now."

"Hey!" Naruto said indignantly. "Are you saying I didn't look like a-" he stopped, took a deep breath, and started again. "I mean uh… thanks Iruka-sensei, hehe."

The chunin instructor raised an eyebrow at the small turnaround in emotion but just chalked it up to Naruto being Naruto. "You're here a lot earlier than I expected."

"Yeah well…" Naruto trailed off for a moment as he tried to come up with an excuse for being so early. It would not do if he said he felt like walking and did not want to be subject to the villager's glares on the day he became a ninja. "I guess I was just too excited to wait. I've been waiting a whole week you know."

Iruka chuckled. "And waiting was never one of your strong points."

Naruto's left eye twitched but he quickly calmed himself down, he was a ninja, and he refused to let himself get so worked up over something as trivial as this. Instead, he plastered a large grin on his face. "Yeah, I guess I did. But I've gotten a lot more patient now."

"Really? That's good; I look forward to seeing this 'patients' you're talking about." Iruka resisted the urge to chuckle when Naruto's left eyebrow began twitching. "Anyways, why don't you go have a seat? I have some things I need to get, so I'll be back a little later."

"Right, see ya sensei," Naruto said as he walked inside. Looking around Naruto decided to choose a seat in the back right corner, where he could remain inconspicuous. Not that he did not want to be seen by his peers or anything. But he had read in a book called Ninja Basics for Dummies that a ninja should always remain aware of his surroundings in order to gather information. Naruto figured that he could practice this by using the better view that seat offered so he could find out more about his potential teammates from there. Taking off his staff, Naruto leaned it against the wall, before taking out a book and sitting down.

He flipped the book, which was called Intermediate Level Fuiinjutsu, level one, a book written by a man called Jiraiya, and began to read while he waited for the orientation to start. Slowly but surely people trickled in, giving him a curious glance, but because his head was buried in his book, no one really knew it was him and just wrote him off.

Naruto flipped another page in his book as he continued reading, this chapter being about seals that affected the body, namely training seals. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦, 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵. 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥. He sighed however when he noticed that there was no example of resistance or gravity seals and that this chapter was only talking about what seals can do to affect the body.

Naruto continued reading as more and more students came into the class, ignoring most of the conversation around him as he read. However, he paused when he felt and heard an odd rumbling sound that increased in volume as time went on. It sounded almost like a stampede.

He turned his head just in time to see two familiar girls burst through the door. Yamanaka Ino, a girl with long blond hair done up in a ponytail and bangs on the right side of her face. She had a purple sleeveless shirt, purple arm warmers, and a purple skirt with cuts on the side and bandages covering her legs from mid-thigh, which moved down into a pair of blue shinobi sandals.

Ino was a member of the famed Yamanaka clan, which was made famous during the Third Great Shinobi War due to Ino's father Inoichi who had been a member of the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio. A team that had used phenomenal teamwork to defeat enemies and opponents far tougher than they were, making them one of the more feared people during the war. The Yamanaka Clan was also well known for their jutsu that allowed them to invade the minds of their opponents, making them wonderful interrogation experts. Despite the fact that Ino came from a powerful Clan, she was just like all of the other girls in class. More concerned with being her hair and dieting to be twig-like thin in order to impress the resident Emo Sasuke.

The second girl to appear within the doorway was Haruno Sakura, both held up their hands as soon as they entered the room.

"I WIN!" they both yelled at the same time, causing a few people, Naruto included to sweatdrop.

"Hah! Beat that Forehead girl! My foot was in the door first!" Ino shouted with a smirk.

"What are you talking about Ino-pig?" Sakura asked with a sneer. "My foot was at least a quarter of an inch in the door before yours!"

Were they always this loud? Naruto wondered to himself. He watched as the two walked up to Sasuke, who had taken his usual spot at the front of the room on the right side next to the window.

"Sasuke-Kun would you like to sit by me today?" Sakura asked as she walked up to Sasuke with a smile that she hoped was cute.

Naruto sighed as Sasuke ignored the girl like she did not even exist. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵… he shook his head, he had not actually thought about the girl who he had a crush on this past week. What, with all the time he had been spending with Anko. 𝘈𝘯𝘬𝘰'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯… Naruto blinked for a moment as he set his book down. Where had that come from?

He shook his head and was just about to start reading when Ino decided to make her displeasure of letting Sakura sit next to Sasuke known.

"You can't sit next to Sasuke-Kun, because I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-Kun!" Ino screamed, before turning to say the raven-haired boy. "Right Sasuke-Kun?"

Once again the Uchiha ignored her.

"Hah! Sasuke-Kun doesn't want to sit next to you Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled. "I'm the only one he wants to sit next to!"

Naruto sighed as he put the book down, finding it impossible to concentrate with all the noise they were making. He had never really paid much attention to it before, but for whatever reason, the amount of noise they were generating was starting to bother him. Of course, he had also never tried to read before, so maybe it was just that they were distracting him from his book.

Standing up, the blond made his way over to the two bickering girls. "Excuse me," he said getting their attention, as well as that of the rest of the class who, after noticing his whisker marks stared at him in shock. "But you do both realize that there are two available seats next to him." Naruto pointed at the seat on Sasuke's right, away from the isle. "So neither of you has to actually fight for a seat."

Naruto looked at everyone as they stared at him, surprise and recognition in their eyes. He would have smirked but held the urge in, it would not be cool if he gave them the impression that he enjoyed seeing the surprise on their faces.

"Naruto!" Sakura asked as she noticed his whisker marks. It quickly changed to a sneer of disgust as she decided to berate him. "What are you doing here? In case you didn't notice this is only for people who graduated, gra-du-at-ed, not for failures like you!"

As the class laughed at Sakura's words, Naruto frowned. He had expected this, to be honest, but had kind of been hoping that his new look would change her opinion of him. Guess not. He sighed lightly, before deciding that he didn't want to put up with her abusive words right now, especially since for whatever reason they hurt more.

"If you had used those two eyes stuck in your orbital sockets to look up you would see that I have a headband." Naruto pointed to his head where Iruka's headband sat. "So I have graduated, thank you very much, perhaps you're not as smart as I thought."

Naruto walked off and moved back up to his seat, leaving a stunned crowd behind.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘮𝘦? Asked Sakura as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. That had never happened before, Naruto would always ask her out, and she would always hit him because it made her feel better about herself. Sakura felt an odd sense of emptiness as she wondered if Naruto had decided that he didn't like her.

𝘏𝘌'𝘚 𝘑𝘜𝘚𝘛 𝘛𝘙𝘠𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘛𝘖 𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘍𝘌𝘌𝘓 𝘉𝘈𝘋 𝘚𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘈𝘙𝘖! Sakura's inner persona shouted. Getting Sakura to snap out of her shock.

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵! 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘰-𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦! 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬! Sakura sat on Sasuke's right as she and Ino once again began to fight over said Uchiha.

As the rest of the class got back to what they were doing one girl kept her eyes on Naruto. 𝘐- 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘕-𝘯-𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘰-𝘬𝘶𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧-𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥. Hinata looked at Naruto, who had gone back to his reading with a blush.

𝘐- 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵.

***

In the special spying room located within the Hokage tower, Sarutobi and nine Jonin were gathered around the crystal orb. These Jonin were the ones who had been assigned as the jonin senseis for the newly graduated genin. Though only three would end up getting that position.

"Well, that was slightly unexpected." One of the jonin in the room said, a man with spiky silver hair, wearing the standard jonin attire named Hatake Kakashi. He looked into the spy orb with a lazy expression, though if one looked close enough they could see him analyzing everything. "Hmm… and that one must be Uchiha Sasuke, the most promising student and Rookie of the Year."

"Yes the one with the dark hair and blue shirt is Uchiha Sasuke," Sarutobi replied evenly. Truthfully he did not think Sasuke was deserving of his title, especially when the teachers in class handed the boy everything, but he would not deny the boy was at least mildly talented.

"He's the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan." Spoke up a jonin with curly black hair and exotic red eyes. She was a new jonin but had quickly risen as the most prominent Genjutsu expert. Her name was Yuuhi Kurenai.

"Hmm… at least the only Uchiha who 'he' chose to spare" Sarutobi countered, making the red-eyed woman wince.

The crystal ball changed the view to close in on some of the genin, one such view showing Naruto who had gone back to his seat and picked up his book.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Kakashi muttered to himself.

***

Naruto frowned as he continued to read his book, doing his best to ignore the new stares he was getting. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? Naruto wondered as he thought about what he had said to Sakura. He had never actually insulted anyone before, and Sakura was the last person he would have expected to insult.

Yet something about what she had said just then had rubbed him the wrong way. Her words had hurt, of course, even more than they normally did. But he couldn't just chalk it up to that. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘺𝘶𝘶𝘣𝘪…he considered that thought. After learning about Kyuubi being sealed inside of him the villager's hatred made sense. However, that still couldn't quite explain why he had been rude to Sakura, after all, from what Jiji said only the adults knew of his status as a Jinchurikki.

Like most of the kids in his class, Sakura often berated him. In fact, out of all the people in the class, she was the one who treated him the worst. But it had not always been like that. The first time he had met her she had been getting picked on by some bullies due to her large forehead, and Naruto had seen it and chased them off. After that, she had spent the day with him.

It had been the first and only time he had gotten to spend with someone his own age, and the first time he had really had any fun in his childhood. Sakura had even promised to be his best friend during their time together. However, when her mom had seen them together, she took Sakura away and told her to never go near the blond again.

And the rest was the History...

Naruto shook his head, thinking about things too much made his head hurt, so he decided to just let whatever he was feeling run its course.

A few minutes later Iruka came into the room and noticed that it was oddly quiet, only a few people huddled about whispering to each other. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘥𝘥, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Deciding not to think about Iruka coughed to get the attention of the newly graduated class on him as he began his speech. "As of today you are no longer academy students, but full-fledged ninja. But in the ranks of ninja, you all are only genin, the lowest ranking in the ninja hierarchy. However, the first step has now been made and you're greatest challenges are now ahead of you." Iruka paused and pulled out a clipboard. "For the next stage, you twenty-seven genin will be assigned into three-man squads, with each squad being assigned a jonin sensei, who will supervise and continue to train you from here on out."

Several students looked up with surprise etched on their faces, as they heard they were being assigned into groups.

Naruto looked up when he heard that, but only spared the thought a moment before he went back to his reading. He had already known he would be assigned a team when he had recently read a book on shinobi basics.

Sakura and Ino were busy ribbing each other and making comments about who would get to be with 'their Sasuke-Kun. Much too said Brooders annoyance since he was in between the pair and had to listen to them.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he heard Iruka's words and tried to ignore the two useless fan girls bickering. 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Iruka coughed into his hand before he continued. "Now then, the squads have been arranged to give each team a balance of abilities and skills. I will now read the roster, so pay attention to when your name is called, and who you will be teamed up with." Iruka looked at his clipboard and began to call out names. "Team 1 will be…"

Naruto stopped reading and began paying attention as the genin squads were called, not wanting to miss who his teammates were. 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘫𝘪 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘬, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘒𝘪𝘣𝘢, 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢…he shook his head of his thoughts and just concentrated on paying attention.

"Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke…" Iruka was forced to stop and wince as Sakura let loose an earsplitting victory screech. "… and Uzumaki Naruto!"

"WHAT!" Came the voices of both Naruto and Sakura.

"Iruka-sensei how could you even think of putting me in the same team as him!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at Sasuke. 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘥! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸! "We don't get along, we can't work together, we aren't friends! Now I'll concede to you the teme isn't friends with anyone, he seems to enjoy spending more time sticking that twenty-foot-long metal pole further up his ass and practicing his brooding pose. But out of all the people in this class, we get along the least!"

The guys in the class laughed when they heard Naruto's words, well everyone except for Sasuke who scowled intently at the blond. Meanwhile, the girls were fuming at the insult to their Sasuke-Kun; they began leaking a pathetic amount of killing intent at Naruto who ignored it, having gotten far worse from Anko.

"Naruto," Iruka said with a sigh. "As I said these squads are assigned to balance out. Sasuke got the best scores in class, you got the worst." Naruto's head slumped down a bit as the class now snickered at him. "The Hokage assigned these squads, and they are not negotiable. I'm sorry but you'll just have to deal with it. Now team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba. Team 9 is still in circulation so team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akamachi Chouji…"

Naruto sighed as he slumped into his chair. Despite his slight outburst at her earlier he still wouldn't mind being with Sakura. However, Sasuke was a different story. Throughout his entire time at the academy he had considered Sasuke his rival, always trying to outdo the raven-haired ninja, who in turn always ignored the blond like he was not even worth his time. The last thing Naruto wanted to do was be at the same time as him.

"Now then, you'll all meet your Jonin sensei after lunch. Until then, class dismissed." Iruka said, gathering his stuff and leaving.

The assembled genin all got up and hurried out of the room.

*****End