Team Selection
Naruto sat beside Kiba, arms crossed, his foot tapping idly against the floor as Iruka spoke at the front of the class. The room smelled of old wood, sweat, and ink—familiar, comforting in a strange way. Iruka was talking about how much he'd enjoyed teaching them, how they'd all grown over the years. Something about how they were entering a new stage of their lives. Naruto half-listened, but his mind drifted.
Four years at the Academy. He'd spent most of it as the dead last. Not because he didn't try—he did. But Mizuki had done everything in his power to make sure Naruto failed. Naruto wasn't stupid. He noticed the way Mizuki's tests always had something extra thrown in for him, how he was always singled out, how his kunai seemed to land just outside the target when he knew his aim was good. But in the end, it hadn't mattered. He was here now.
Iruka started reading off the teams.
"Team One..."
Naruto leaned back, only half-paying attention. He wasn't sure what to expect. He didn't really care who he got as long as they weren't annoying. Maybe Choji. Or Shino. They weren't too bad.
"Team Seven: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki under Jounin Kakashi Hatake."
Naruto blinked.
Sakura let out a high-pitched squeal and fist-pumped the air. Ino slumped in disappointment. Sasuke was—unsurprisingly—indifferent, arms crossed, not even reacting.
Naruto tilted his head. So he was going to be on a team with the broody Uchiha and the pink-haired fangirl? And his sensei would be Inu—no, Kakashi. The guy he hadn't seen in years, the one who read that book and had a habit of appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
This would be... something.
Iruka wrapped up the announcements, thanking them all and wishing them good luck. One by one, sensei after sensei arrived, collecting their new teams. Some were excited, some were nervous, some looked like they were already regretting their lives.
Team 7 waited.
And waited.
The room emptied out. Other teams were long gone, off to meet their sensei and start their new lives as genin.
Naruto leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't in a rush. This was normal. Inu had always been late. He remembered that much.
Sakura huffed loudly. "Why is he so late?"
"Maybe he had an important mission," Naruto offered absently, picking at a loose thread on his sleeve.
"Maybe he's just lazy," Sasuke muttered, eyes closed, arms still crossed.
Naruto picked up a beetle crawling across the desk, inspecting it. Its tiny legs wiggled in protest as it tried to escape his grip. He watched it struggle.
The minutes dragged on.
An hour.
Two hours.
Sakura groaned, slumping over the desk dramatically. Sasuke was still motionless, like a statue. Naruto let the beetle go.
Three hours later, the door finally creaked open.
"Yo."
Sakura practically exploded. "You're late!"
Sasuke shot the man a sharp glare.
Naruto looked him over once before shrugging and going back to watching the beetle crawl away.
Kakashi stood there, hands in his pockets, relaxed, his hitai-ate slanted over one eye, orange book suspiciously absent. His mask covered most of his face, but his visible eye curved up slightly in an amused expression.
"My first impression... you're boring," he said lazily. "Meet me on the rooftop in ten seconds."
Naruto stood up without a word, stepped onto the window frame, and jumped out.
Sakura let out a horrified shriek. "NARUTO!"
He ignored her. The wind rushed past him as he fell. He twisted midair, grabbing onto one of the pipes running along the building. His fingers tightened around the metal as he swung himself up, pushing off the wall with his foot, propelling himself higher. His hands caught the ledge, and he pulled himself up, landing smoothly on the rooftop.
Eight seconds.
Kakashi was already there, watching him with an unreadable expression.
His visible eye curved again. A slow, amused eye-smile.
Kakashi leaned against the railing, eyeing them with that same lazy indifference, hands still stuffed in his pockets. "Alright, introductions. Likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. You go first," he said, nodding toward Sakura.
Sakura straightened up immediately. "Why me first? You're the sensei! Shouldn't you go first?"
Kakashi hummed. "Fair enough. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no interest in telling you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm… I have a few hobbies."
Naruto stared. That was... absolutely nothing. The only useful thing there was his name, which they already knew. Sakura huffed in frustration. Sasuke just stared at him like he was trying to burn a hole through his mask.
Sakura flipped her hair and went next. "Ahem. My name is Sakura Haruno! My likes are—" she glanced at Sasuke and blushed, "—and my dislikes are certain people! My dream for the future is—" she trailed off, giggling to herself.
Naruto sighed.
Sasuke went next, voice as flat as ever. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have few likes, many dislikes. My dream… no, my goal is to kill a certain man."
Naruto didn't even have to guess who that was.
Kakashi nodded slowly. "Alright. That just leaves you."
Naruto leaned back on his hands, thinking for a second before speaking. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like animals and the forest. Eating ramen. I like painting. I…" he paused, "…want to become the Hokage. Dattebane."
Kakashi tilted his head slightly. "Interesting bunch." His tone was unreadable.
Naruto thought they were done, but Kakashi straightened, his entire demeanor shifting. His casual slouch vanished, and the air around him grew heavier.
"Alright, let's get something clear," he said, voice smooth and easy, but with an edge now. "You aren't ninja yet."
Sakura blinked. "What?"
Sasuke frowned.
Naruto remained still.
Kakashi continued, "The real test begins tomorrow. The Academy only determines who can become a genin. Whether or not you actually do is up to your assigned Jounin. If I decide you're not fit to be shinobi, you'll be sent back to the Academy. Or, in most cases, sent home entirely. The failure rate? Roughly sixty-six percent. Two out of three genin teams don't make it."
Sakura's mouth opened and closed. Sasuke's fingers twitched slightly. Naruto just tilted his head.
"You'll meet me tomorrow at Training Ground Seven at five AM for your final test," Kakashi said, then casually added, "Oh, and don't eat breakfast. Or dinner, actually. You might throw up."
With that, he vanished.
There was a long silence.
Sakura groaned. "What kind of test is this?"
Sasuke said nothing.
Naruto stood up, stretching. "I'm getting ramen. You guys coming?"
Sakura made a face. "No way. Too many calories."
Sasuke just shook his head.
Naruto shrugged. "Your loss."
And with that, he headed for Ichiraku's.
—ToT—
No ramen today. The stand was closed, a simple sign hanging where the usual warm lights should have been. Gone to a wedding, be back in two days, it read in Teuchi's neat handwriting. Naruto exhaled slowly. Just his luck. He'd been looking forward to a meal all day, and now he had to find something else.
As he turned away, a small voice caught his attention.
"Food, please?"
Naruto paused. Across the street, huddled against the wall of an alley, were a handful of kids. No older than four, dressed in rags, eyes hollow with hunger. Their tiny hands reached out to passing pedestrians, but everyone ignored them, too caught up in their own world to spare a glance.
Naruto knew this scene. He had lived this scene.
A memory stirred. A past life. A body covered in brown fur, nimble claws scraping at dirt in desperation. Taki, during the famine. No food, no mercy, just hunger. Until he was finally caught—killed by children even more desperate than he was. A tiny squirrel, reduced to nothing but a meal.
The kids swarmed him as soon as they noticed him watching. Small hands tugged at his sleeves, pleading, desperate.
"Please, big brother, just a little food?"
"Anything, just a little bit?"
"Even a single coin, please!"
Naruto reached into his pocket, feeling the familiar shape of a few crumpled bills. He had just enough for himself. 500 ryō. Enough to buy something small to last him until tomorrow. But if he gave it away, he'd be starving too.
His stomach twisted, but not from hunger. He met their eyes—big, round, filled with the kind of hope that had no reason to exist. And Naruto made his decision.
"Come with me," he said.
The kids blinked, startled.
"You're joking, right?" one of them whispered.
He wasn't.
He led them through the village, past the food stalls that would never serve them, past the streets where they weren't welcome, and straight into Akimichi BBQ. The rich scent of sizzling meat filled the air, making Naruto's stomach ache, but he ignored it.
The hostess looked up as he entered, eyebrows raising at the group of ragged kids behind him.
"Table for…?"
"Four," Naruto said.
She hesitated, but she knew who he was, and more importantly, she knew better than to turn down a paying customer. A few minutes later, they were seated in a booth, and Naruto ordered three plates of mutton-roti.
The kids sat stiffly, as if they expected to be thrown out any second. When the food arrived, they hesitated for only a moment before digging in, stuffing their faces with shaking hands.
Naruto watched quietly, stomach growling. He could almost taste the food just by looking at it, but he didn't reach for any of it. He had enough to feed them. Not himself.
The warmth of the restaurant contrasted sharply with the cold glares from a few of the wealthier patrons. Naruto ignored them.
Across the room, he noticed Team 10—Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji—sitting with their sensei, the big bearded man, Asuma. They were eating large dishes, chatting lazily, but every now and then, one of them would glance at Naruto and the kids.
He didn't bother looking back.
The kids finished quickly, wiping their faces with their sleeves, looking both satisfied and a little embarrassed. One of them hesitated before turning to Naruto.
"Thank you."
The others nodded eagerly, their voices overlapping. "Thank you, big brother!"
Naruto just stood up and paid the bill. "Go home."
They ran off, still giggling, voices filled with more life than they had when he found them.
The second they were gone, his stomach twisted painfully, and he winced.
Guess he was starving today.
—ToT—
Naruto dipped his brush into the ink, watching as the black liquid bled into the bristles. The room was quiet except for the soft scratching of the brush against the paper. His hands moved instinctively, tracing out lines that formed the image in his mind. It wasn't something he had seen firsthand, not something he could remember with certainty, but somehow… he knew.
His mother lay in a cave's bed, cradling him in her arms. Her red hair cascaded around her like a blanket, shielding him from the world. She was smiling, exhausted but happy. Beside her, his father sat, looking at both of them with an expression Naruto had never seen on anyone's face before—pride. Love. A quiet, unshakable joy.
The brushstrokes softened as he worked on their features. He had his mother's eyes. Her hair too, though his was spikier. His nose, though… that belonged to his dad. And his ears.
Naruto stared at the painting for a long time once it was done.
He had never met them, not truly. And yet, he had their faces burned into his mind as if he had seen them a thousand times before. Maybe he had, in another life. Or maybe… something deep inside him refused to let him forget.
With slow, careful hands, he set the painting under the window to dry. Dawn was already creeping in, light stretching thin over the rooftops. Time to go.
He pulled on his white jacket, adjusting the collar as he slipped into his blue pants. His fingers worked quickly, securing his shinobi sandals before moving to the small pouch on his waist. He checked his supplies—kunai, shuriken, wire. Enough for whatever Inu had planned.
He stepped outside, the morning air crisp and biting against his skin.
Training Ground 7 awaited.
TBC