By the time the three of them arrived back at the Academy, the orientation was already over, all their classmates were gone, and Naruto looked nothing like he had before lunch break.
His ugly orange tracksuit had been replaced with a real shinobi outfit, all dark blue and black, with a few orange accents. A full load of kunai, shuriken, and even a few scrolls were stored in the new pouches strapped to his legs.
Sasuke had even forced him to buy a proper flak jacket, one made from reinforced fabrics, not the cheap stuff most Genin got.
Now, he at least looked like a real shinobi, not some clown.
As for Sakura, she didn't get anything as Sasuke knew her problem wasn't her inability to buy gear, but her disinterest in it.
And if the only reason she got it was that he bought it for her, he honestly feared she would grow too attached to it to use it.
And what good was a kunai you weren't willing to throw?
So no, she returned the same as she left, just far more confused due to how nicely her beloved Sasuke-kun treated the dead last.
"So, where is our sensei?" Naruto asked as he looked around the empty classroom.
"He's late," Sasuke said, "He is always late, so we might as well get comfortable."
Sasuke found a seat by the window, while Naruto chose to lean against the wall, and Sakura, of course, took the seat right next to Sasuke.
Time passed, and soon, the patience of Naruto and Sakura reached its limits.
"Hey, Sasuke, are you sure our teacher is late?" Naruto couldn't help but ask, driven nearly insane by the boredom.
"Shut up, Naruto! Don't question Sasuke-kun." Sakura quickly defended her crush, "Say, Sasuke-kun, are you sure our teacher didn't come earlier and just saw we weren't here and gave up?"
Sasuke snorted. "Yeah, I learned about our teacher. While he is an elite shinobi, one of the best in the entire village, he is also famous for being late." he explained, not that he didn't share their annoyance.
He could be using this time to train, but instead, he was sitting here and waiting on someone who clearly had no respect for his time.
"So, what's he like?" Naruto asked, now genuinely curious about their new sensei.
"Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja," Sasuke said, as if that answered everything.
Of course, that didn't mean anything to either Naruto or Sakura, both giving him a blank look.
"You seriously don't know?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask, not that he expected them to have read the Bingo Book, but to not even know the name of the Copy Ninja?
"Well, Iruka-sensei only told us his name," Sakura said, "We don't know anything more than that."
Sasuke sighed. He might as well tell them, if nothing else, to pass the time.
"Fine, but I am only going to say this once." He paused to look at them. "Kakashi Hatake is an elite jōnin, rumored to have copied over a thousand ninjutsu."
"A thousand ninjutsu!" they both exclaimed in shock.
Sasuke just nodded, and while the number sounded impressive, it was hardly something shocking. After all, the only reason he had done that was thanks to the Sharingan.
So it wasn't Kakashi that was amazing, but the Sharingan.
"The Hatake clan is famous for its kenjutsu, the most famous of which is Kakashi's own father, a legendary shinobi who once had a chance to become Hokage before he failed a mission," he continued to explain what he had read the day before.
"Almost became Hokage?"
"Our teacher is that amazing?"
"He is probably among the five..." he paused, doing some quick mental math, "Top 10 strongest shinobi of Konoha, so as a teacher, he is indeed among the best."
The two were speechless, though that didn't last long.
"So strong, and still can't be on time? Are you sure it's the same guy?" Naruto couldn't help but ask.
"Of course I'm sure. Do you take me for an idiot?" Sasuke shot back, not appreciating the question.
"Of course not, Sasuke-kun! But it just seems a bit weird, is all." Naruto quickly defended himself.
Sasuke snorted, but didn't say anything, because indeed, what did it matter if he was that impressive if he couldn't even be on time?
Once more, they sank into silence as they waited, and waited...
And waited some more.
It was so boring to sit there waiting that Sasuke almost fell asleep, the only reason he didn't was because Naruto did first, and in doing so, slammed his face down into the desk, causing a loud bang that woke Sasuke back up.
"Wha—?" Naruto said as he looked around, dazed.
"Naruto! How dare you fall asleep! You are so lucky Sasuke-kun is here, otherwise, I would have..." Sakura started to shout.
"Can it," Sasuke said, cutting her off, "I think I hear someone."
Indeed, the sound of footsteps could be heard in the hallway, drawing closer and closer.
The three of them turned towards the door, waiting to see who it was.
Soon, the door slid open, and a man with silver hair walked in. He wore a standard Konoha flak jacket, dark blue pants, and a mask covering the lower half of his face. His most distinctive feature, however, was his headband, which was tilted to cover his left eye.
He looked like he didn't care about being there, as if it was a chore.
"Yo," he said, raising a hand in greeting.
Naruto was the first to react. "You're late!"
Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well, you see, I got lost on the path of life."
Naruto and Sakura's jaws dropped at the excuse, but Sasuke just stared at him. His Sharingan wasn't active, but he was still analyzing him, trying to see if he was lying.
"Lost on the path of life? That's all?" he asked.
Kakashi didn't even bother looking at him. "Yep."
Sasuke didn't know if he was telling the truth or not, but he was not impressed. If that was the best excuse he could come up with, he was not only lazy, but also a bad liar.
"Alright, meet me on the roof," Kakashi said, and vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"Wha!" Naruto exclaimed, "He is gone!"
"That's the substitution jutsu," Sasuke explained, surprised by how cleanly Kakashi had performed it, and with only a handful of leaves at that.
"The substitution jutsu? But doesn't that leave behind a wooden log?" Sakura asked.
"That's for training. A real shinobi can substitute with anything, though to do it with just a few leaves is impressive." Sasuke explained, now having a better understanding of their new teacher's skill level.
"Wow! So he is really strong!" Naruto said, his excitement growing.
Sasuke didn't say anything, just walked towards the door, with Naruto and Sakura following close behind.
As they arrived on the roof, they saw Kakashi leaning against the railing, looking out at the village.
"So, you finally made it," he said as they approached.
"You were the one who made us wait," Naruto grumbled.
Kakashi ignored him. "Alright, first off, let me have you guys introduce yourselves."
"Introduce ourselves... What should we say?" Sakura asked, clearly unsure about what to say.
"Your likes, dislikes, your future dreams, hobbies, things like that." Kakashi said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Naruto looked over his shoulder and over to Sasuke. "Hey, before that, please tell us about yourself," he said as he turned back towards Kakashi, wanting to know if what Sasuke said was true.
"Me?" Kakashi asked, pointing at himself, "My name's Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future... never really thought about it. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies." he said, with a tone that made it clear he had no intention of telling them anything.
"That's useless! He just told us nothing!" Naruto shouted.
Sasuke didn't even bother to react, he already knew Kakashi was an oddball, and what he said just confirmed it.
"Well, he just told us his name," Sakura said, trying to find something positive in his words.
"Alright, now it's your turn. Let's start with you." Kakashi said, pointing to Naruto.
"Alright! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like cup ramen, but I like the ramen at Ichiraku even more! What I dislike is the three minutes you have to wait after you put the ramen in hot water. My hobby is eating and comparing different kinds of ramen, and my dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important!" Naruto explained.
Sasuke watched as Naruto said all of that, he couldn't help but feel a bit of respect for him.
After all, who could remain that pure despite the nasty looks he always got? He didn't know if that meant Naruto was strong, or just too stupid to know he should be angry.
Still, the respect he had for him didn't last long, as he was too honest, he let the whole world know his weakness, that people disrespected him. A shinobi shouldn't let others know their weaknesses like that.
"Okay... next." Kakashi said, looking towards Sakura.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like is... the person I like is..." she said, her cheeks turning red as she glanced at Sasuke.
Sasuke had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Here she went again with her fangirl nonsense.
"And what I hate is Naruto," she said, glaring at the blond.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted.
Sakura ignored him. "My hobbies are..." she said, glancing at Sasuke again.
Sasuke felt a headache coming on. This was getting painful to watch.
"And my dream for the future is..." she said, her cheeks turning even redder.
"To be with Sasuke-kun!" Naruto shouted, finishing her sentence for her.
Sakura's face turned bright red. "Naruto! I'm going to kill you!" she shouted, lunging at him.
"Alright, alright, calm down," Kakashi said, stepping in between them.
Sasuke just shook his head. This team was a mess.
"Alright, next." Kakashi said, looking at him.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are many things I hate, and there are very few things I like. And what I have is not a dream, because a dream is something you have while you are asleep. What I have is an ambition, an ambition that I will make a reality. And to do that, I'm going to avenge my clan and kill a certain someone," he said, his voice cold and filled with hatred.
The silence that followed was heavy, as if the very air had thickened with the weight of his words. Naruto and Sakura stared at him, their expressions a mixture of shock and unease.
Kakashi, however, remained impassive. His visible eye narrowed slightly, the only sign that Sasuke's declaration had any impact at all. He had seen that kind of look before, in the ANBU interrogation rooms, in the faces of men who had lost everything and had nothing left to live for but revenge.
Sasuke held their gaze, daring them to question him, to pity him. He saw none of that in Kakashi's eye, only a cool, professional assessment. Good. The last thing he wanted was pity.
"Alright, that's... a very ambitious goal," Kakashi said, breaking the silence. "Good, the three of you are very distinctive and interesting!" he said, not sounding sincere at all.
"We'll have a mission tomorrow," he continued.
"Yes, sir! What kind of mission?" Naruto asked, all fired up at the mention of a real shinobi mission.
Sasuke barely kept himself from rolling his eyes, since he knew very well what Kakashi was planning.
"First, we'll do what we can with just four people."
"What, what, what?" Naruto completely bit into the bait Kakashi was putting out, his entire body shaking from excitement.
"A survival exercise."
(End of chapter)
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