Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Naruto woke up to the heavenly smell of ramen and immediately knew that it was a special day.
Yawning, the twelve year old left the bed and took off his toad-shaped sleeping cap ―jiji-chan had brought it for him two or three years back and he’d never slept without it since.
Still in his pyjama, he hurried to the kitchen to find his brother setting the table for them both, the smell of coffee coming strong from a lightly smoking cup and a plate of toast not far, covered with some oil and salt.
“Good morning, Naruto. I was just about to go wake you up.” Greeted the redhead, setting a carton of milk next to the coffee.
“Good morning.” Returned the blonde automatically, his eyes latching onto the cup of instant ramen left in the counter.
Akira followed his stare and felt a small streak of curiosity and mischief light up in his head. He snatched up the cup of instant noodles putting care not to get burnt and dangled it before his brother. When he moved it to the right, Naruto’s eyes followed it and the blonde went as far as to whine when he pulled it back a bit. The redhead snickered.
“Don’t tease. It’s too early for that.” Whined Naruto still following the ramen with intent eyes.
Akira smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, unintentionally messing up his hair even more than it already was.
“Sorry, nii-chan.”
“You’ve made ramen, so you’re forgiven.” Replied the blonde simply.
Akira contained a laugh at his brother’s rather simplistic view of the world and set the noodles on the table. Naruto took a seat and soon followed.
“Dig in.”
Naruto wasted no time in doing as told and starting to basically breathe in his food. On the other side of the table, Akira reached for a piece of toast before pouring himself a glass of milk, eating at a more sedate pace.
“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you make me ramen?” asked Naruto once half the cup was gone.
He was curious because, as much as his brother loved ramen, he thought it wasn’t a proper breakfast food ―much to the blonde’s horror and eternal lamentations. Therefore, Akira only made it for breakfast on special occasions such as their birthdays or Christmas.
The redheaded child tilted his head to the right cutely.
“Have you forgotten?”
“Forgotten what?” muttered the blonde, his brow creasing in concentration.
“Today we’ll be assigned a team.” Answered the minutes-younger boy.
Naruto’s face lit up as he remembered that, yes, Iruka-sensei had said so soon after they had got registered as shinobi.
“Right! That’s going to be so cool! We’re genin! I’m one step closer to being Hokage!” exclaimed the excitable blonde. “Who do you think will be in our team?”
“Iruka-sensei said that we might not be on the same team.” Reminded him Akira in a quiet voice.
“I’ve been thinking about that: if they split us up, we’ll just prank our jonin-sensei and jij-chan until they put us back together, dattebayo!”
Akira smiled as his brother’s verbal tic made its presence known; he’d always found it cute, even though it seemed to do nothing but annoy other people.
Inside, though, Naruto wished he could feel as confident as he tried to seem. They weren’t so naïve as to believe everything could be solved by pranking people or bribing them with ramen as he always said― everything would be much easier if that were the case― but it made him feel better just saying it. Planning pranks always helped too. Especially since he’d actually probably go through with pranking their senseis if they did get separated.
“So? If you could choose, who would you prefer as our third teammate?”
Akira nibbled on a piece of toast as he thought ―the redhead preferring lighter foods for his breakfast― and Naruto reached for one himself after having practically inhaled the ramen and drunk the coffee. His brother was the best.
“Not Haruno.” Finally said Akira.
Naruto grimaced. Haruno Sakura was a pretty pink-haired girl from their class. She was really smart, but she was also obsessed with Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto had had a crush on her a few years back, but it had mostly disappeared. He still thought she was pretty and everything, but he didn’t like the way she treated them.
He hadn’t seen at first, her behaviour not all that different from the way most villagers treated them, just lacking their coldness. Akira had been the one to point it out to him and it was only when she hit Akira on the head when his brother got in the middle of them that it really started to sink in.
“Actually, make that into no fangirl.”
“So no girl.” Snorted Naruto.
“Hmmm… no. Hinata’s not bad, even if she’s a bit shy.”
“But she is a bit strange: she goes all red in the face whenever I look at her.”
“That’s true.”
The boys exchanged a confused look as they remembered the meek girl’s behaviour. Once, Akira had been so worried he’d asked if she was sick and she had ‘eeped’ before running away.
“I hope it’s not the Uchiha-teme either. He’s all broody and sour and he thinks he’s the best at everything…” Naruto made a face at the memory of the slightly older boy that he’d yet to beat at anything and wrinkled his nose. “And we’d have to deal with his fangirls.”
“Shikamaru-kun is smart.” Mused Akira.
“Yeah, but he’s also lazy.”
“And he’d rather be paired up with Choji, I’m sure. I think I wouldn’t mind it if we were paired up with Shino.”
“Who’s that?” asked Naruto, frowning. He didn’t remember anyone in their class by that name.”
“Aburame Shino.” Elaborated Akira, seeing he still looked confused: “He sits behind me.”
“Ah, that weird boy… I always forget about him.” Replied Naruto. “He’s also kind of creepy.”
“I still wouldn’t mind being in his team. He’s smart and sort of quiet.”
“I guess it’s better than getting Kiba.” Groused the blonde, much to his brother’s amusement.
Then Akira looked up at the small beaten clock on the wall and blinked at the time.
“Right, you’d better get dressed or we’ll be late. I’ll clean up here.”
Naruto nodded ―his brother didn’t like leaving without making sure everything was clean and tidy― and went to put on his favourite orange jumpsuit. By the time Akira entered the bathroom, he was dressed and in the process of adjusting his goggles on top of his head. His brother handed him something and he paused.
The metal plate of his brand new hitai-ate gleamed, its surface unblemished but for the engraved design of a leaf. The band was a deep blue, still unwrinkled.
“You’re going to have to drop the goggles if you want to wear this on your forehead.” Said Akira, his own hitai-ate was hanging from his other hand.
With his help, Naruto took off his goggles and tied up his new shiny hitai-ate around his head. Then he reached for the brush and turned to the youngest.
As long as he could remember, Naruto had admired his brother’s red hair. He spent quite a bit of time petting it when they were smaller. When the other children mocked or bullied him for it, Naruto always defended him and made sure to tell him how pretty he thought it was. However, his hair was almost as spiky as Naruto’s own and it was messy as hell. Akira had grown it out in hopes of it being easier to deal with, but it only got a bit more manageable.
Therefore, every morning the blond would spend a few minutes brushing it and gathering it into a ponytail or a simple braid.
“I’ll have to cut it soon.”
“Why?” pouted Naruto as he finished tying up the hitai-ate with a knot under the red tail, Akira adjusting it so it was well centred on the middle of his forehead.
“It’s getting too long. I need to trim it a bit.”
Indeed his hair, even tied up as it was, already reached past his shoulders. It didn’t mean Naruto had to like it.
“I’ve prepared the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner to take with us for lunch. Can you get the bag whilst I get my jacket? We have to leave soon if we don’t want to be the last to arrive.”
Naruto nodded enthusiastically, perking up at the reminder of the important day ahead of them, and bounced towards the kitchen to get their food.
Today he’d be one step closer to becoming Hokage.
HPNHPNHPNHPN
The twins had thought they would be amongst the first to arrive at the Academy, but that was not the case. Everyone was eager to get started and find out just who they would have for teammates. And since they weren’t going to have any more classes, they each sat wherever they wanted. As such, their usual table in the second row near the door was already occupied by the time they got there.
Akira wasted no time in dragging his brother to the opposite side of the room, taking the only table still free, the one at the front near the window. Naruto wasn’t thrilled that Sasuke was right behind them, but didn’t complain.
“Eh? What are you doing here, Naruto? You did not pass the exam.”
Of course, even though none of their classmates were supposed to know the mess that had ended with his graduation, Naruto still took exception to being reminded of his failure.
“Well, this here says otherwise. It looks good on me, right, Shikamaru?” said the blond pointing at his new shiny hitai-ate.
“Ugh, what a drag…” groaned the other boy. “I’d rather not know. Mind if I sit here, though?”
Only then did they notice that the class was already full, with only a couple of people still missing. A cursory look around showed that Chōji was sitting at the front next to the door with a couple of their classmates.
When both boys indicated they didn’t mind, the Nara flopped down onto the free chair at their table and leant his head down for a short nap that finished before it began at the sound of a commotion at the door.
It was Ino and Sakura, who surprisingly enough, were the last to arrive, fighting to get through the door and then to the other side of the room before the other.
Soon enough, the three boys were regretting sitting in front of the Uchiha, their previous peace broken by the gaggle of fangirls arguing over who’s sit next to the brooding child. When their voices reached an all-time high pitch, the blond snapped at them. The girls glared at him as one and he winced, already anticipating a beating.
Akira yanked Shikamaru and Naruto down before Sakura’s fist made contact with their heads in a move so fast it was nearly a blur.
“Hey! What was that for?” asked the black-haired boy glaring up at the girl.
“Thanks, Akira!” said Naruto at the same time.
The redhead sighed and shrugged self-consciously as various pairs of eyes focused on him, amongst them a glaring girl. Before she had a chance to say anything, though, the sound of a throat clearing rung through the class and they turned to see Iruka-sensei standing at the front of the room looking a bit miffed.
“I don’t want to know.” Decided the Academy instructor. “Please, take a seat everyone so we can get on with today’s matter.”
They all obeyed, not wanting to risk Iruka-sensei’s anger on such an important day. They still hadn’t figured out whether his trick to make his head look bigger was a ninjutsu or just an overly elaborate genjutsu: a few of them had tried to release it with a muttered ‘kai’ and it had yielded no results.
After a short scuffle, Ino and Sakura sat behind them, next to a silently brooding Sasuke ―the guy seemed to only have two natural states of being: brooding or arrogant― and Iruka-sensei got started.
HPNHPNHPNHPN
Meanwhile, that year’s jōnin-senseis were all gathered in the Hokage’s office at his residence. The old man had activated his Tomegane no Jutsu and they were all watching the events taking place at the Academy, evaluating the genin’s behaviours now that they were alone in the classroom.
“Looks like you’re going to have your job cut out for you, Kakashi.” Said Asuma after watching the genin interact for a few minutes. “Team dynamics are going to be-”
“They’ve got to pass the test before I’ll need to worry about that.” Cut him off the white-haired shinobi.
“And they already don’t look like they have a lot of chances.” Commented another jōnin, knowing of Kakashi’s reputation as never having passed a team.
“Naruto can’t help getting into trouble.” Sighed the Hokage, watching as a group of previously arguing fangirls turned on the blond and, simply for standing in the way to him, the Nara Heir.
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully, lone eye stuck to the crystal ball as the events progressed.
“And that’s the fourth member of Team 7?” asked Kurenai, curious.
“Uzumaki Akira.” Confirmed Hiruzen.
“Naruto and he are twins, right? They don’t look very alike.”
“Not all twins are. Akira’s appearance is much more representative of their Uzumaki heritage.” Explained the old man exchanging a look with Kakashi.
Akira’s red hair was a dead ringer for the Uzumaki, which put the boy at more risk than his brother. Most people would not catch onto the connection between Naruto and the Uzumaki clan despite his surname because he hadn’t inherited the physical traits that would make him easily recognisable. Akira had no such advantage. Anyone would easily make the connection with the lost clan and he’d be targeted as a larger threat than others his age, much like it would happen with the last Uchiha.
When they turned their attention back to the crystal ball, the chūnin at the Academy had started to read the team formations aloud and the reactions of the genin varied greatly, much to the jōnin’s entertainment.