After the "whole" class graduated from school, Iruka told them that they needed to go one more time.
These days, Naruto is always with a smile on his face. He's pleased that after all these years, he finally became a ninja, and the best part is Guy-sensei was there and took him to eat.
Playing with the headband in his hand, he's deep in his imagination, going on missions with Guy-sensei.
"Hehe~ Guy-sensei seemed proud that day. I need to continue with the hard work!" Cheering up and putting the headband on his forehead, Naruto left the house and went to school.
He noticed that today most of the classrooms are almost empty, but he can see a few of his classmates in them.
"Hmm, I thought we all were meeting up. Maybe it's for the team leader?" Naruto thought.
Arriving at the classroom, he noticed that it was empty. He realized that he was the first to arrive.
Seeing this, he doesn't want to waste his time.
Entering, Naruto makes some space and starts to meditate in the center.
Time flew by as he was busy with what he enjoyed.
But even Naruto felt that something was wrong.
Why had nobody arrived?
Well, maybe he had arrived too early.
He decided to wait a little longer.
-----|-----|-----|-----|-----
While Naruto continued meditating in the classroom, on the other side, veins were popping out on Iruka's forehead.
Why hadn't Naruto arrived? After the first year, he always arrived on time.
Iruka felt mad, but the two kids in front of him weren't any better.
"He didn't come because he's still mad about the things we told him?" Sakura didn't know how to deal with Naruto. In her first years, she had been afraid to be near him. Her father had told her that Naruto was a demon, and she couldn't get closer to him.
But after these years, she knows him better, well, at least better than his parents. He's annoying and is always on the defensive to reply to anything the group tells him.
"Iruka-sensei, will he not come because he didn't want to make a group with us?..." Sakura talked to Iruka in a shy voice.
"Ah, I hadn't thought that way, but he doesn't know who's making a group with him" Iruka replied as he scratched his cheek.
"Doesn't it make it worse? He didn't know, so if he didn't come, it's because he doesn't want to meet any of the class," Sakura said, lowering her voice as she spoke.
"..." Sasuke and Iruka thought that maybe that's the case.
"Haaah... Iruka-sensei, Sakura. Wait here for a moment, I think I know where this idiot is." Leaving his seat, Sasuke left the hall and went in another direction.
Sakura and Iruka can only see the door. They would wait for them, and if they didn't come, the group couldn't be created.
Passing through the corridor, Sasuke started to search for a classroom number similar to the one they were in.
After a few minutes, he's on the other side of the school.
Looking in the halls, he's searching for the yellow head.
He found him, that bastard, in the center of the classroom, sleeping.
Sasuke opened the door and walked towards him. He's ready to land a punch on his head.
"Hey, you idiot, you made us wait for..."
When the punch almost hit his head, Naruto opened his eyes and grabbed the hand upon his head.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to hit your stupid head to help you form a thought," Sasuke replies with a blank gaze. "Iruka-sensei, Sakura, and I have been waiting for you for almost an hour, and you're just sleeping here."
"I'm not sleeping"
"You're just standing here with your eyes closed to look cool? Sasuke replies, growling.
"Ujum, don't you read these books where the masters are always with their eyes closed? One day I will be like that!" Naruto left the hall and followed Sasuke.
"The world would be a tragic place if a master could be someone like you"
"Hey! stop right there, deadpan! you can't insult me and pretend nothing happened!"
They continued arguing all the way.
Sakura and Iruka felt hopeless. Even after all this time, Naruto wouldn't appear.
When Sakura is about to cry, she hears the voices of both Sasuke and Naruto.
Hearing the same, Iruka waited until they entered the hall.
"Where the hell have you been, Naruto?"
"Oh, Iruka-sensei. I was waiting in another classroom, when I arrived there was no one; so, I started meditating while waiting, but I forgot"
Hearing Naruto say that while rubbing the back of his head gave him a sharp pang of frustration.
"Sigh, come, take a seat. You too, Sasuke"
"First, I want to congratulate you three, but you need to continue striving for your goals."
The kids replied with a smile on their faces.
"Now, I tell you who your team leader will be: Kakashi Hatake. And your team is called Team 7".
"Iruka-sensei, can we change the name?"
"No, don't ask me for this; the Hokage is who decides these things. "
Saying that, he takes a step back, and a white-haired man with a mask appears from nowhere.
"Hey, I'm your team leader.
We meet tomorrow on the outskirts at 9 am. Don't eat too much before the meeting, that's all."
The man told them with a tired voice, and then he disappeared again.
"..."
"...Go home, please" Covering his face, Iruka told them with shame.
-----|-------|-------|------|-------|-----
"Maybe I need to ask Guy-sensei if he knew my team leader" shrugging his shoulders, he continued to his home "Well, last time Guy-sensei told me that we needed to meet next week to learn the technique."
"Hehe, I wonder how powerful the technique the strongest man uses will be?" Fantasizing, Naruto arrived home.
When he was going to open the door, he heard sounds from inside.
Ready to fight, he entered and looked everywhere to find the intruder, but when he looked at the dinner table, he found it: the third Hokage, Hiruzen.
"Old man, what are you doing here? You didn't wait for me to return to my OWN house before you entered?"
Hiruzen hadn't been there for a while, and he was looking everywhere.
Hearing Naruto's voice, Hiruzen wants to say something, but the "old man" comment made the smile on his face falter a bit.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Pretending that nothing happened, Hiruzen said "It's been a while, Naruto."
He paused for a moment and continued "I heard that you graduated from school, and I want to give you something"
"Ah, yes! Look!" pointing to his forehead, Naruto shows his headband.
"Now I'm a ninja!"
"I'm happy for you, Naruto" he tries to reach Naruto's head, but this time Naruto moved a little.
Withdrawing his hand, Hiruzen took a parchment from his robe and gave it to Naruto. "This is my gift for you, it's something that only you can use"
"What's this? A Jutsu?" receiving the parchment, Naruto asked.
Hiruzen nodded.
"Yes, it's a bit hard to learn, but it would help you in everything"
"Thanks, old man!
Then, both of them fell into silence.
Naruto was waiting for him to say something else.
Hiruzen was waiting for him to tell him what he did.
The Third Hokage didn't show it, but the disappointment hidden in his eyes showed how he felt about the situation.
Naruto was in the same situation; he had been waiting years for him to tell the truth, but it seemed that wasn't enough.
"Then I'll go, take care, Naruto" Hiruzen stood up and walked to the door.
Naruto didn't say anything; he's still waiting.
"See you later, old man."
Noticing he won't say anything, Naruto went to his room, leaving those words.
"I'm going to find out the truth. Everyone in the village owes me- even you, old man."
Hiruzen stopped for a moment, then he continued his way.
Seeing that he's gone, Naruto opens the parchment.
"Multiple Shadow Clone"
"Clone? Like the one I did?"
Mmm it seems weak"
The description is short; it doesn't seem like it's a strong technique.
"Took a diminutive part(seeds) of your mind combined with to create a life-based chakra.
Use your chakra to fill the cocoon.
This requires talent and a massive amount of chakra to feed the seeds
You can do it as much as you want, but when you dissipate it, you will feel all the information at the same time
Be careful."
"¿Eh? It seems easy. Let's do it!" Without thinking much, Naruto went to the forest to try it.
In the forest, he didn't wait and started to try it.
He's excited to learn a new Jutsu, but he will not risk himself for that, so he only uses one seed.
"¡Multiple Shadow Clones!" The moment he made the hand seal, he felt something small popping out of his head, and in less than a second, it took the same form as him.
"Yo, what 's up?" The clone raises his hand and speaks as if it were natural.
"What?! Can you talk?!" At first, Naruto thought it would be the same as the clone the school taught him.
"Why couldn't I? I'm the best clone, you know hahaha!"
Naruto was speechless seeing this, but soon started laughing with him.
"Yeah! You're my clone after all! Hahahah!"
"Uf, you can dissolve yourself, or I need to do it?"
"I think so, let me try" as the clone spoke, a smokescreen rose.
"Oh! let's do it again, to see if it's the same"
"¡Multiple Shadow Clones!"
"Hey, original. Do you need something?"
"Are you the same? The one that dissipated before" Naruto is really curious.
"Nope, he's there" the clone pointed at Naruto's head.
"Oh, I see. Byeee, I'll call you guys later!" This time, Naruto dispelled the Jutsu.
Let's go home. Tomorrow will be a busy day.
-----|-------|-------|------|-------|-----
The next day, Naruto goes early to the first encounter with his team. At 8:30 am, he's already there. He brought a box of food with him because he wanted to eat with them.
10 minutes later, he sees Sasuke walking with his stomach bloated.
Looks like someone ate a lot this morning.
Taking a seat in the opposite direction, Sasuke closed his eyes to rest a bit.
This time, Sakura is the last one to arrive; she sits near Sasuke.
When it was 9 am, the three of them opened their eyes, waiting to see their team leader.
The clock keeps ticking, but no one appears.
After 15 minutes, they started to do other things.
Naruto didn't care and started to meditate as always.
Sasuke is lost in his thoughts.
And Sakura's thinking about his team leader and how she can have a better relationship with his teammates.
One and a half hours had passed, but nobody appeared. Sasuke and Sakura felt impatient.
What kind of idiot is that white-haired?
That's one thing, but the curiosity they feel towards Naruto is increasing. What's this dude doing all the time? Every time they see him in that position, it seems like he's sleeping, but when someone approaches him, he opens his eyes.
"Sasuke-kun, what's he doing? He's been like that for over an hour"
"You don't know? I think you have been with him these years" Sasuke asked, confused.
"Hum, nobody knows what he does, he stopped going to school in the 3rd grade..." Sakura feels ashamed that she doesn't know anything about his teammate.
Sasuke's wordless.
"Sigh, let's ask him"
He stood up and walked to Naruto.
When he saw that he opened his eyes, he asked.
"What are you doing? You're always like that"
"Just meditating," Naruto didn't know why he was asking that.
"And what's the purpose of that?" Sasuke realized that his first question was stupid.
"Helps me to control my chakra"
"What? Who taught you that?" This time Sasuke is confused. He knows a bit about chakra control, but he doesn't know anyone who does this.
"Eh? The book, he taught me many things"
Hearing Naruto answer him happily, Sasuke doesn't know what to think.
Sakura is in the same situation, but she took it more seriously; the entire class being dominated by Naruto is sufficient proof that he knows what he's doing.
Not being able to understand what Naruto told them, they returned to their places.
Sasuke doesn't mind it, but Sakura wants to try that.
Another hour has passed, but Kakashi still has not appeared.
Sasuke is now seeing the sky with dead eyes, and Sakura has already gotten up. She didn't understand what Naruto was supposed to do.
Naruto is still in his place, but now he's eating. Meditating for almost two hours made him feel hungry.
"Hey, wanna eat? I have more" pointing at the box, Naruto offered.
Sasuke took the amount.
Sakura moved fast to grab it; it seems that she's hungry. She took the words that idiot said seriously.
Finishing the training, Naruto feels his inner, after all these months, he's near 80%. After he finds out about the his training progress is like riding a rocket. It must be taken into account that the progress became harder every time he got a bit.
While they were eating, the white-haired man appeared near them.
"What did I say about not eating?"
Suddenly hearing a new voice, Sakura screamed.
Nobody expected that, but they can notice a bit of shame in the man's eyes.
"Haha, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you"
"It's almost midday, where the hell have you been?"
"If I don't bring my box with me, we will be starving until you appear!"
This time, Naruto and Sasuke agreed.
Kakashi's mouth trembles when he sees Naruto pointing at that giant box.
How many lunches can fit in there?
"Ok, I already apologized. Let's continue.
Everyone introduces themselves, what you like, you dislike, your hobbies and your dreams for the future. You start, Sakura"
"I like one person, I don't know what I dislike. My hobbies are studying and learning about flowers. My dream is to become a great ninja to earn money and help my parents" Like the first time she was introduced in the school, she answered, but this time she can do it without being shy.
"That's a good dream, now you two"
Sasuke and Naruto remained in silence, no one wanted to be the first. If they're the first, they lose.
"Do it, deadpan"
"No, disabled people come first"
Kakashi and Sakura feel a headache seeing these two idiots; they don't know each other very well, but it's always the same.
"Sigh, decide who goes first with a coin" rubbing his forehead, Kakashi proposed.
"I choose heads"
"I'll go with tails"
"Sakura, be the judge"
Taking a coin from his pocket, Sakura threw it.
Feeling that everyone is looking at his hands, she's sweating.
Raising his hand, she saw it. It was Heads.
"Haha! You would never beat me as long as the power of youth is on my side, you moron!"
Seeing Sasuke with veins popping on his forehead, Sakura didn't know what to do; she wanted to cry.
"...Youth?" Kakashi didn't pay attention to that, but that word came to his head like a hammer.
Oh god.
Trying to get the horrible image out of his head, Kakashi called them.
"Fine, just do it Sasuke"
Visibly taking a deep breath, Sasuke calmed his nerves.
"I don't like or dislike anything specifically. I just want to find out what happened to my clan" after saying that, Sasuke fell into silence.
"Good luck with that, it looks hard" Kakashi knew what happened, but he couldn't say it to the guy.
"Now your turn, Naruto"
"Fine, I like training, cleaning my house, and reading books!"
Naruto's face turned serious as he spoke "I don't like people who lie, and I don't like those who mock me. My hobbies are the same as the things I like: training, meditating, and learning new things.
And my dreams are two right now: knowing the truth everyone hides from me and being forever young like my master"
When he says the last sentence, Naruto's voice feels better, not as serious as the other things he said.
"The truth?" Sasuke and Sakura feel confused; they don't know what he refers to.
But Kakashi doesn't know what to feel seeing the kid whose dream is to know the truth.
"Okay. That's all, now comes the test I do to know if you're able to be my student" taking a pair of bells from his bag, he continued, "There are only two bells, only two of you can pass the test, the other will go home to cry.
Fight like you wanna kill me.
I give you 5 minutes to think about it"
Kakashi closes his eyes and covers his face with the small book he has carried since he arrived.
The group is confused; it's always like that? One of them just can't become a Ninja?
Naruto was the first to say "I don't believe this. Even if before we had differences, now we are a team, so we'll do it together"
Sasuke didn't think much about it, his mother had already taught him that.
And Sakura feels complicated, last year she didn't mock him, but before that she made fun of him like the others did.
"Naruto... I'm sorry for the things I said to you before" With her head down Sakura apologizes.
"It's okay, I don't do it for you. I knew that's what your parents told you, now it doesn't matter. But I accept your apology" Naruto grinned.
And Kakashi once again interrupted the moment.
"Cough! Time is running out"
"Now for this trial. I need you to cooperate with me, and don't worry about it, Sakura. I don't believe he can take you off the team.
"I'm stronger, right?" This time, they didn't respond to him, but seeing the presumptuous face he has, Sasuke wants to punch him.
"It seems that you're okay with that. I will create opportunities for both; Sasuke can assist me in closed combat using shurikens, and Sakura can support us from afar with kunai and explosive seals"
With seriousness on his face, Naruto spoke to them.
"Fine, if you make us lose, I'll beat you"
"Okay! I'm counting on you guys"
With a big smile on his face, Naruto turned to the white-haired man.
"Kakashi-sensei, we are ready. We can use everything within our reach, right?"
"Sure, just come to me" Kakashi won't change his tired voice, and now knowing that Naruto is Might-Guy's disciple, he feels even more tired.
"Okay! Be careful, Kakashi-sensei!"
-----|------|------|------|------|-----
¡Hey!
Naruto knew that soon the book could take him "out" of the village, so he would not continue hiding his desire.
Hiruzen doesn't know that, and he feels complicated about the kid who grew up under his eyes.
Next ch we can see a bit of how powerful Naruto is after all these years of training.
Sakura isn't the same as the OG, she likes Sasuke, but being away from him for 3 years has let her grow better with her friends.
Multiple shadow clones will be interesting when he finally can use the enhanced version.
Sasuke isn't inaccessible because he has his mother.
And all that meditation Naruto has done over these years will be rewarded.
Naruto keeps a lot inside.
Soon, he will need to take a breath.
-----|------|------|------|------|-----
Thanks for reading!
Have a nice day.
And please leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts.