Chapter 20

-0-

"Alright then class." Zae called clapping thrice as she set her books down on the desk. "Today is the last day! And all of you will now be assigned to teams where you'll most likely be paired up with at least one member of this class who you can't stand and you'll all have to look at eachother and work together every day for the next few years. Aren't you all excited?"

Naruto fought down a snicker. That was fairly accurate all things considered.

She left out the part of how the teams eventually grow to consider each-other family though...

"Alright now lets get this started Team one-"

"This is so exciting!" Shizune whispered beside him and he has to smile a little more. He could barely remember the day he was assigned to teams. But he did remember the excitement, the anticipation rushing through his limbs.

He keeps that moment for as long as he can; grips it. Every good memory is something he tries to hold onto as much as possible.

Otherwise the bad ones will overwhelm him when those moments come where he can't just...block them out anymore...

And those moments are there, circling like ravenous wolves, waiting to sink their fangs deep into his flesh.

"Team four-" Zae calls. "Kato Shizune, Inuzuka Katsuye and Yoshinari Itsue. Your sensei will be Muneyori Oshika."

"Oh, that's me! That's me Naru-chan." She hugged him, so suddenly he almost slid off his chair as she squealed into his hair.

He was happy for her.

It seemed for a moment she was torn between hugging him and waiting out for his own team to be announced and leaving with hers.

Soon enough though, she left with hers.

"Team eight. Naruto Uzumaki-"

His ears practically swiveled forward to hear better.

"Naotora Ryoko and Koritsuru Hachiba."

'Ryoko.' He thought, turning to look at the girl he'd beaten in the practice ring just a few weeks ago, his first opponent in it. The class dead last.

That means that-

"Congratulations Mr. Uzumaki you've not only managed to graduate within a year but you also managed to snag the top spot." Zae remarked.

"As expected of my future student." A voice hissed from somewhere behind him.

Naruto's blood went cold at that unmistakeable voice.

'No...'

Turning to look at the back of the class Naruto found none other than the snake sannin morphing out of a wall, smirking at him.

-0-

The first words out of Naruto's mouth the second he got to the designated meeting place at the village edge was a vehement query.

"Was this your idea the entire time?"

The snake sannin paused, lips pursing, almost in displeasure for a moment before he schooled his features. "Does it matter?"

He guessed it didn't. He was still stuck in the same boat regardless. And it'd been him that had showed off his "memories" to get Orochimaru to nominate him. He knew that there was an ulterior motive. He just assumed it was glory seeking at nominating a strong candidate for the academy, not to actually be his sensei and take even greater glory when he assumed the credit for having taught said strong candidate.

He guessed the motive, he'd just deduced the wrong method.

"So you're really gonna be our sensei then?" Ryoko asked staring up at the man, not with a little bit of awe. While Orochimaru was a known recluse in the village, his prowess as a ninja was known world wide.

He wondered how long it would be before everyone knew him as a sicko and a power mad lunatic.

"Sweet! We're getting the best of the sannin as our sensei!" Hachiba grinned, adjusting his new forehead protector.

Orochimaru's smile seemed innocent enough but it made Naruto's skin crawl all the same. "The best? Perhaps. But my teaching you remains to be seen team eight."

The two gennin looked confused before the sannin clarified. "The academy merely judges if you children have the faintest potential to actually become gennin. I am the one that gets the final say on whether they were right or wrong today. So, you're going to take something of a test..."

"What kind of test?" Ryoko grinned. "We'll beat it no problem if it gets you as our sensei."

Now his smile was clearly predatory, even to them. "We'll see..."

-0-

It didn't take him long to realize where they were headed. He should have expected it really.

The first place he met this bastard is the place where he decides to hold his gennin test.

Training ground 44, better known as the Forest of death, loomed over them like a monolithic beast in its own right.

"We're going in there?" Hachiba asked.

As an answer, Orochimaru forms two clones each one grabbing a gennin by the shoulder as he places his hand atop Naruto's head before the youth can react.

Then they're gone in the blur of a shunshin jutsu!

When they appear again, they're in the very heart of the forest, thickened trees hundreds of feet high blot out the sun, a dreary gloom hangs over the place like a pall.

"This is your test." The serpent says as his shadow clones dispel and he takes a few steps forward, away from them.

Naruto looks around, searching for danger while trying to keep his eyes fixed on the snake.

.

.

.

If you want to access advanced chapters, wait no more and subscribe to my Patreon, where you can buy books in completely downloadable PDF format.

🤩patreon.com/Shihao123🤩