Nukenin

In the morning after I woke up, I stood in front of my mirror and was wondering where I should put my headband. People normally wear like on their forehead so the symbol is clearly visible, but it just seemed so uncomfortable. At the end I decided to just tie it around my neck. If I am lucky, I won’t choke on it on some occasion. When I finally got ready, I headed to an academy, where they were supposed to separate us to the teams and get us our new senseis.

In the classroom I sat right next to the window and was looking outside, not caring about other people getting inside. I wanted to interact with them, back then. But now. Now I was rather on my own out of my own will. And it wasn’t like I was alone. Kurama was with me all the time, even though he was asleep most of the time. I knew that inside me he didn’t have many things to do, but I still didn’t understand how he could sleep that much.

Then suddenly I heard yelling. Girl’s yelling and it meant only one thing. Uchiha arrived. When we were kids, I saw him as my number one rival. He had everything I didn’t. He had a nice family, he was smart, he was good at everything he was doing, and he was popular. It took me some time to realize he was not worth all the problems that our rivalry costed.

After that night. That was when his whole clan was killed. People around didn’t talk about it. Just whispered, so we wouldn’t hear what they were saying. Uchiha changed after that. He was still popular and did the best at school but started to avoid people. Talk less. But it was understandable, he lost his whole family during just one night and it was his brother who caused it.

But still I could say that I hated him when we were kids. He was always acting like if he was something more. But I learned to ignore him, like any other. Well, mostly. I didn't talk to him, but sometimes I caught myself looking at him. Not sure why. I was just thinking about my things and when I again started to notice my surroundings, I realized that I was staring. But I didn’t think much about it.

After like ten minutes, Iruka-sensei finally arrived and started reading about which team we were in. It was taking him so long and I felt that I would fall asleep before he gets to my name. During his speech, some people were moving their seats to get together with their new teammates.

“Team number seven. Uzumaki Naruto, …” At that moment I started to pay some attention. “…, Haruno Sakura, …” Oh, this girl. Also with one long-hair blond was Uchiha’s biggest fan. They were the ones that always yelled the most, when he arrived somewhere and needed to know where he was at any time. What I remember is that they used to be friends, but their fanaticism over Uchiha separated them.

Sakura was also my childhood love. At least now I knew, how stupid I was as a kid. She was one of the people that get angry the most easily. And because I had to fight with Uchiha all the time, she was getting angry mostly at me. So getting stuck with her for the next few years didn’t sound so good.

“… and Uchiha Sasuke.” Of course, how could he miss in this mess. What they were thinking when they were getting our team together. I just pressed my forehead against the desk as I heard Sakura’s yell of happiness. Some of her dreams probably came true. Now she would be waiting only for the ring and marriage.

As much as I didn’t like Uchiha, I felt sorry for him. He was going to have hell from our time together. She would be clinging to him at any opportunity, for sure. But that wasn’t my problem to solve. I was just going to be sure that I would stay as far from Sakura as possible and talk to her as little as possible.

The only other thing that Iruka said to us was, who our sensei was. Some Hatake Kakashi. I didn’t know him, but this time was coming soon. Once Iruka was done, senseis started coming for their new students. People were leaving and class was getting empty. In the end it was only us three who stayed there. One hour passed, then a second hour passed, and Hatake was nowhere to see.

It took another half an hour, before the door opened again, and someone went inside. The first two things I noticed on him were his silver hair sticking to all directions and mask on his face. Besides his hair he looked quite young. But if he wasn’t looking weird enough, he had his headband low on one side, so it covered his eyes. Well, apparently the most strangely assembled team needed the strangest sensei.

He looked at us, like if he was regretting his whole life, and told us to get up and follow him. Once we were out, we had to sit down again. Like, what was the point of going somewhere else if he wanted just to talk. “Alright. We will spend lots of time together from now on, so it would be only good If I know something about you. Like, if you have some goal or dream probably.”

He nodded toward Sakura, signalling that she was going first. As a first thing she told him her name. Why do we even have to tell him this? He for sure had our file with information or something similar. But then Sakura looked at Uchiha with the expression of a person looking at god and started talking. It was all about her love (more like obsession) to Uchiha. Probably not exactly what Hatake wanted to hear.

But I have to admit that Sakura is really persevering with this. Most of the girls from the village tried their luck to get at least one date with him, but he rejected every one of them. And honestly, I think that he even built an aversion towards her.

Then Hatake looked at me. “I don’t really have any goal or dream.” I know, boring but it was true. I still remember how I was bragging about becoming Hokage, but that was mostly to get attention. I thought that people would act differently if I proved that I’m capable of something. Yeah, I was so naive.

Hatake’s expression didn’t change, even when Uchiha spoke. Just Sakura looked frightened. “I want to kill one man.” He sounded serious. I know that his family drama didn’t help him much, but really? We are twelve and he wants to kill already? Well, everyone has their hobby, I guess.

After this ‘thing’, sensei gave us some instructions for tomorrow. Nothing interesting, just to get on the training ground at six in the morning. It surprised me a little, why so early, but we are not here to ask. So the next day my alarm clock woke me up when it was mostly still dark outside. With a groan I got up and went to get something for breakfast.

Way to the training ground took me only a few minutes only to see that I was the first one who arrived. I didn’t even see anyone that would be coming so I just sat under the tree and waited. As a second arrived Uchiha. He didn’t say anything and stood next to the tree, not even looking at me. After him, there was Sakura, who instantly ran toward him.

But sensei was nowhere. It took him three hours before he got there at nine. We probably should have expected that, after yesterday, but still. If he was going to continue coming like this, I would be getting up later. But for now, we finally could start. “I have a little test for you. You have time till noon and your task is to steal these jingle bells from me.” He waved with them in front of our eyes.

“Those one who will manage it will stay, the one who won’t, will go back to the academy.” It was easy to see where he was getting with it. He had only two jingle bells and there were three of us. So not only were we supposed to go against someone much stronger than we were, but he also wanted us to fight each other. And nobody wanted to return to the academy, so this could be interesting, if it was this easy.

He set the alarm and the test started and we hid in the bushes around the training ground. I decided to observe for a while to know how strong our sensei really is. And of course to think more about our task. Nothing was happening and he was just standing in the middle of the area. After about ten minutes something finally started to happen.

Sasuke threw a few kunais and attacked. Hatake easily defended himself, as if he wasn’t even trying. But it still gave Sakura some self-confidence because she moved no longer after. Also without any effect. For an hour I was looking at them as they were trying to do at least some damage, but without success.

And was thinking. Sensei knew that we don’t have enough abilities to get near enough to him to get jingle bells. Moreover, he had them tied to his belt around waist. So why this test? Then it clicked and I couldn't believe that I didn’t think about it sooner. There are always four people in one team. Never only three.

I waited a little, until Hatake was farther away and went to find Uchiha and Sakura. They looked confused, when I got them to one place, hid so we wouldn’t be seen. We didn’t have much time left and they weren’t pleased that I wanted to waste the rest of it. So I quickly explained it to them and assured them that this is the only way to success. They didn’t seem to believe me. People never saw me as someone smart after all. But it was visible that they were desperate.

I needed them to distract sensei for a while, so I could do my things and had a chance to get to the jingle bells. They didn’t really trust me, but in the end they agreed. It was all or nothing. And they knew already that they couldn’t do it on their own.

We moved to separate places around the place where he stood, still hidden. With signal they both ran at the same time and attacked. It seemed that distraction worked, so I got ready. There was this one technique that Kurama taught me. Similar one was used by my father. It is sad that without Kurama I wouldn’t even know who my parents were.

Anyway, basically thanks to this technique I could move extremely fast. Like, someone would see only blurred smudge instead of a running person. Maybe Uchiha would be able to see me with his Sharingan, but I wasn’t sure about this one.

In second I took both jingle bells and went to hide again. Then I made another signal to tell them to back off. At that moment the alarm rang. It was noon and with it the end of our test. All three of us stood in front of sensei. I took bells from my pocket and tossed one of them to two others. It didn’t matter who had it after all.

Hatake looked surprised and moved his hand to his belt. He probably didn’t even feel it when I took them. “I have to admit you surprised me, but in a good way, of course. Actually, you are my first team that was able to take bells and even pass the test.”

Sakura and Uchiha looked confused once again. They didn’t really have any clue. If they couldn’t solve something this simple, then it would be interesting in this team. “This task has only one purpose. Test you if you can work together even if some of you will be disadvantaged. You’re in one team and teamwork is the most important thing. Only together you have a chance against a stronger opponent. And since you all passed, no one has to return to the academy.”

Oh, these inspirational speeches. Why does everyone have this need to do them? But I was still glad that I was right. And sensei had a point. Team that didn’t cooperate was a dead team. Before we could go, he told us that from tomorrow, we were going to start to go on a normal mission. These were still going to be in the village, but it was better than nothing. This was only the start.