Kalopsia

Two girls stumbled into the classroom, a pink-haired one and a blonde one. 

“Goal!” They both shouted at the same time.

Akira stopped paying attention to their bickering. 

Their annoying and high-pitched voices did nothing good on the throbbing headache she already had. Unlike Akira, her brother was beaming, even with the lack of sleep, he was still a bubble of energy.

The pink-haired girl walked closer to them and the blush on Naruto’s face deepened. 

“Good morning, Sakura!” Naruto greeted, only to be pushed aside by the girl. 

“Get out of my way!” Sakura warned.

Akira grunted and covered her ears.

Muffled voices still reached her ears but she didn’t pay them much attention. Well until, everyone was looking at the same place. She couldn’t help but turn around to look at the source of the commotion. 

Akira burst into full-out laughter, Naruto was kissing another boy. The girls’ faces were priceless. Akira pulled on Naruto’s collar and put him in his seat beside her.

The girls came closer to the both of them with angry expressions, but when they caught a glimpse of the death stare that Akira wore on her face, they all froze and sat back at their place without any further inconvenience.

“Starting today, you are all official ninjas, but you all still are new genins. It’s going to get harder from here. You all will be in a group of three or four, where you will accomplish missions under a jōnin-sensei.” The mention of teams created agitation in the class, still, Iruka kept on going with his speech.

“We’ve arranged the groups such that overall abilities are equivalent. I will now announce them.

“Team 1:  Moronoru Arihata,  Kamanobu Rabira,  Motan Mifumi, Yakachi Fumaya.

“Team 2: Aratsuki Kunori, Hanakaki Haruni, Kanezuki Inatsu.”

Akira didn’t pay attention to the next few teams since they were mostly made of civilian-born kids that she didn’t know the existence of. 

“Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Akira, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke.” A smile appeared on the Uzumaki’s faces, that’ll be quite a team.

“Team 8: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino.

“Team 9: Ashitsumi Konogi, Masabaru Tadazen, Wagiri Matsuhisa.

“Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji.

“That’s all for the groups.” As soon as Iruka finished, Naruto began shouting complaints about being in the same team as Sasuke. 

“Will you shut it for once!” Akira smacked Naruto’s arm. Laughter echoed in the room before dying down suddenly when killing intent leaked out of Akira.

“I’m going to introduce the jōnin-senseis in the afternoon. Meeting adjourned until then!”

***

“He’s not going to see that coming, believe it!” Naruto rubs his hands together in a wicked way.

“Ruto, I swear if you put us both in trouble again, I’m going to beat-” 

“I’m not! Stop worrying so much!” Naruto interrupted her.

“Alright, alright. Do as you please.”

Naruto jumped on the rooftop and silently etched closer to the window where Sasuke was before jumping in.

“Naruto, you’re going to get it if you hurt Sasuke!” A voice shouted close to Akira. 

“Hey!” Akira screamed back to get the attention of the girl on the balcony. As she climbed on the rooftop, Akira tripped on something and fell face first.

Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt, it was almost like her fall was cushioned?

“I can’t breathe.” A muffled voice spoke from under her. Wait under ?

Akira jumped to her feet.

“Crap, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to fall on you!” She blurted.

“Troublesome…” The boy mumbled under his breath.

“What is Naruto doing!” The blonde girl complained.

“Who cares.” Akira rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I’m Uzumaki Akira if you didn’t already know and you are?”

“I’m Yamanaka Ino.”

“Akimichi Chōji, nice to meet you!” The boy said with a sweet smile. The three of them turned around to the last boy who didn’t identify himself yet. He huffed before laying on his back to admire the clouds.

“Shikamaru.”

“You're the girl in Sasuke's team right?” Ino asked Akira with a hint of reproach in her voice.

“The rude black-haired boy? Yeah.” 

“Hey! Don’t you dare insult-”

“For Kami’s sake, cut me some slack. Who cares about him anyway.” Akira laid down beside Shikamaru. 

“Look! I knew that Sasuke wouldn’t have had trouble beating up Naruto.” Ino snickered.

Akira ignored her remark and changed the subject of the conversation.

“So, you are all in the same team right?”

“Yeah! We’re Team 10.” Chōji confirmed.

“I hope that in the future will be able to train together.” Akira added as she rose to her feet.

“Well, as much as I like being with you all, I need to go help my brother. See ya!” She waved before jumping off the balcony to the rooftop.

She sneaked in through the window just like Naruto previously did and when she was finally in the apartment, her eyes fell on a boy with his hands and feet bound together. By his chakra signature, Akira already knew that Naruto got away even before she entered by the window, but she was surprised that Naruto was able to tie Sasuke up.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”Akira taunted.

The raven-haired boy frowned in answer and began to stir up.

“Geez, calm down. I’m not going to hurt you, I’m here to untie you dumbass.” She crouched down and ripped the tape off Sasuke’s mouth.

“I don’t need your help.” Sasuke spat at her angrily. 

“Oh, don’t worry I know that much. I’m here for my own benefit.”  

Sasuke raised an eyebrow quizzically. Well, technically she wasn't lying. Akira knew perfectly well that even without her help, Sasuke would have been fine. But if an adult caught him tied up like that, Naruto would’ve been in trouble. Akira reached for the kunai she always kept hidden on herself - you're never too cautious - and cut through the ropes.

Sasuke rubbed his wrist to get the blood back in his hands. “What do we say when someone helps you? You know it starts with a ‘t’...” Akira mocked, earning a grunt from the boy. She rolled her eyes dramatically at him. 

“What did you mean about being here for your benefit?”

“Meh, nothing important. I’m just trying to avoid trouble.” Akira shrugged.

“Where did the loser go?” Sasuke asked Akira, anger and annoyance, lacing his voice.

“Don’t call him that.” She frowned. “I don’t know, just wait a minute.” 

Akira made a single hand sign that helped with concentration and she focused on the chakra signatures she could feel around her. Soon enough, she recognized Naruto’s chakra and the chakra signature of another student in the academy. She guessed it was probably Sakura’s, but since Akira had never been in direct contact with Sakura’s chakra it was hard to tell. Sasuke looked even more confused than he previously did. A smirk made its way on her face at the sight.

“About a five-minute walk from here, he’s with someone else.  Probably Sakura.” She explained.

Akira began to walk away, but she realized that Sasuke wasn’t following her.

“You’re coming or not?” She asked. “You’re the one who asked where Naruto was after all.” Sasuke huffed as he buried his hand in his pocket before following Akira.

***

Akira leaned back in her chair as she recalled the past event. Sasuke and her finally found Sakura, but Naruto wasn’t with her anymore. Akira then concentrated on pinpointing Naruto's location. As they walked in front of Sakura, the girl seemed to have said or done something that caught Sasuke’s attention since the boy stopped walking. Akira didn’t stop like Sasuke did, instead, she focused on Naruto’s chakra signature and kept walking.

Naruto’s complaints brought her out of her thoughts.

“He’s late.” Her brother lamented. 

“Naruto, why don’t you sit still?” Sakura asked annoyed.

“But why is the teacher for the seventh group the only one late? All the other groups went somewhere with their new teachers already, and Iruka already went home!” 

“Even if you keep complaining about him being late, it won’t change the fact that he isn’t there.” Akira pointed out as she rolled her eyes.

“Hey, what are you doing, Naruto!” Sakura asked.

Naruto was perched on her chair as he placed the chalkboard eraser on the top of the door. Naruto and Sakura started bickering about the fact that a jōnin would never get caught in such a silly prank when Akira felt someone approaching the classroom. The door slid open and someone’s head peaked through, causing the eraser to fall on his head. Naruto burst out laughing as Sakura made excuses about the genin behaviour. Like always, Sasuke's face was stone cold which made Akira sighed. 

“Ruto, I swear if you don’t apologize in the next few seconds to him-” Akira said as she pointed to the man that entered the classroom. “-you’re no better than dead. Sakura stop making excuses, if you really felt bad, you wouldn’t have let Naruto put the prank in place for starters. And for you Sasuke, you know that you could crack a smile sometimes? You know like everyone does?”

Naruto apologized to the white-haired man and sat back at his place. Akira could fell the eye of the jōnin burning holes in her skull, but she still didn't turn around to make eye contact with him.

“How should I say this…” The shinobi started. “My first impressions of you guys are: I hate you.” Akira leaned back further in her seat with a sigh.

“Let’s meet up on the rooftop in...5 seconds.” The jōnin added before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

In a flash, Akira jumped through the window and climbed the wall with chakra she infused to the bottom of her feet. When she arrived on the roof, the white-haired shinobi was already there. A few seconds later, Sasuke arrived followed by Sakura and finally Naruto. The four genins sat in the stairs while the jōnin was leaning back against the railing.

“Let’s see, why don’t you introduce yourselves?” The shinobi proposed.

“Introduce ourselves? What should we say?” Sakura asked.

“What you like, hate, your dreams, and hobbies. Something like that.”

“Hey, hey. Why don’t you introduce yourself first, sensei?” Naruto retorted.

“Me? I’m Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream… And, I have few hobbies.”

“So all we found out was his name.” Sakura pointed out.

“Now, it’s your turn. You first” Kakashi tilt his head in Naruto’s direction.

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup ramens. But I like the ramens at Ichiraku that Iruka-sensei brought for me even more. Oh, and I like spending time with Kira. I hate the three minutes that I have to wait after I put in the hot water. My hobbies are to eat and compare cup ramens! And my dream is to become greater than the Hokages! I’m going to make all the villagers recognize my existence.” Naruto explained proudly.

Akira didn’t miss the way that Kakashi seemed disturbed or almost disappointed. She made a mental note to find out why.

“Okay, next.”

“I’m Haruno Sakura!” The girl exclaimed. “I like...well, the person I like is…” Sakura looked at Sasuke. “And my hobbies are… well, my dream is to…” Akira pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“And? What do you hate?” Kakashi asked.

“Naruto.” Sakura answered bluntly. If I glare could kill, Sakura would drop dead under Akira’s.

“Next.”

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are many things I hate, and there aren’t a lot of things I like. Also, I have an ambition that I have no intention to leave as just a dream. The revival of my clan and to...kill a certain man.” The atmosphere tensed up as the Uchiha spoke.

“Last one.” 

“I’m Uzumaki Akira.” 

“Like and dislikes? Hobbies? Dreams?” Kakashi insisted.

“Why would I need to answer if you didn’t even do it? And it’s not like Sakura did either, Ruto only spoke about ramens and don’t get me started on the creepy introduction of the emo kid.” 

Kakashi’s eyebrow furrowed ever-so-slightly in discontentment. Akira couldn’t care less if Kakashi liked her or not, either way, they were stuck together until they turned chūnin.

“Alright, you have all unique personalities, I like that. We’re going to begin a mission starting tomorrow.” The jōnin said.

“What kind of mission is that?” Naruto demanded.

“First, we’re going to do something that we five can do.” Kakashi began only to be, once again, interrupted by Naruto.

“What, what, what, what is it?”

“Survival training.” Kakashi admitted.

Sakura and Naruto started complaining, although Kakashi seemed completely unfazed by them.

“This is no ordinary training.” Kakashi began to explain.

“Then, then what kind of training?” Naruto butted in.

Akira elbowed her brother in the ribs  “Ruto, don’t you see that he’s trying to explain? I know that you’re excited, but I don’t want to be here for the next five hours because you keep interrupting.”

“Sorry…” Naruto grumbled.

Kakashi began to chuckle.

“Hey, what’s so funny, sensei?” Sakura asked with a hint of frustration in her voice.

“Well, if I say this, I’m sure you four are going to be surprised. Usually, out of 27 graduates, only nine are going to become genins. The other 18 will be sent back to the Academy. In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test with a dropout rate of 66%.” Sasuke, Sakura and her brother tensed up beside Akira.

"Usually?" Akira repeated with curiosity.

"Well, have you ever heard of a team of four before? The test, this year, is much different you see." Kakashi answered.

“Get to the point. What’s the test?” Akira huffed.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to determine whether you pass or fail at the training ground. Bring your ninja equipment and meet at 5 a.m.” The other three genins were deep in the thoughts. Akira rolled her eyes for what felt like a thousand times today. Didn't they realize that Kakashi was only trying to scare them? The test was probably not going to be that bad in all honesty. It was most certainly going to be a test that will play with your brain.

“Now then, meeting over. Oh yeah, don’t eat breakfast. You’re going to throw up if you do.” Kakashi added before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Akira climbed to her feet before walking away. “You coming?” She asked Naruto, who scrambled to his feet and ran in her direction.

Tomorrow was going to be quite a day.