Chapter Text
The light from the window shines through into the academy, lighting up the already lit classroom. You have your elbows on the desk, face in hands, staring blankly at the chalkboard. Watching Iruka Sensei teach, yet barely listening to anything he is saying. I already got my Ninja headband, why do I need to be here? You just wanted to go back into the woods and start training again. Ever since you were younger you always wanted to be a ninja. Hearing stories from your mom about her missions used to be the highlight of your day. She would always teach you tips and tricks about throwing and aiming kunai knives, memorizing had signs, even teaching you some of her genjustu. You never wanted to become Hokage, like Naruto always goes on about, but you want to become one of the powerful ninjas, protecting the leaf village and fight off people who threaten to hurt the ones you love. Well, loved it. Past tense. Ever since your mom passed away on a mission. you have never been the same. And everyone in the village sees it too. You have never met your biological father since he left before you were even born. You used to dream about finding him, but you kind of just stopped caring for a while. Your mom was enough for you. And you were enough for her...
Until she met Hiroji, your step-dad.
You first met him in a restaurant mom picked out. She told you she had some she "wanted you to meet." At first, you thought he was just another shinobi that she is close with since you've been out to dinner with her and other shinobis too. But you saw the way they looked at each other, and when they held hands under the table too. You already didn't like this guy just by the fact that he was touching your mom so lovingly like they have known each other for years. Once she told you that she was dating him at the end of the night, you put up a fake smile. Crossing your fingers, begging this guy is going to be around just for a couple of months.
But things never turn out the way they want them to.
He's been your stepdad for about 2 and a half years and it's been just under a year since your mom passed away. He came around your house a lot. He tried to talk to you, but you only gave back one-word answers. You didn't complain about hi to your mom since you could tell he made her happy, but still. It felt like he was taking her away from you before she was even gone. He moved in right before mom passed away and let's just say you were not happy about this. You tried to tell him you could live on your own but he wanted to take care of you, for whatever reason.
You now live with him in your 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom small house in Konoha. You're rarely home though since your always in the woods practicing your knife throwing and genjustu or at mom's grave if you're not at school anyway.
"Psst" you hear in our left ear, taking you out of your trance and back into the classroom. You turn your head to the left and see Shikamaru, your childhood best friend, and Choji, your new but still close friend, looking at you, about to ask a question. The noise came from Shikamaru, who's in between you, and Choi, while Choji is sitting on the far side, is just eating chips and smiling contently. "We're picking teams now, so stop sleeping."
"Ugh, says you Mr. 'what a drag' ."You say in the best Shikamaru voice you can muster, half smirking while looking at him with lidded eyes. Choji chuckles being his bag of chips as Shikamaru glares at you playfully.
"Alright class," Iruka Sensei says “I'll be reading out your Ninja teams now. There will be 3 people in each team, except for one Team which has 4, sounds good?"
You sit up in your seat waiting for your name to be called. Although, It's hard to concentrate on hearing your name when the girls are just fawning over Sasuke. "I wanna sit next to Sasuke" "No, It's my turn to sit next to Sasuke" "Shut up, forehead!" "No, you shut up, Ino - pig". You thought you would get used to the bickering by now but, alas, you still find yourself having to hold yourself back on punching them in the face. You admit, Sasuke's attractive. But, jeez, all this bickering for a boy who has absolutely no interest in you? Come on ladies, you can do better.
You turn your gaze from the fight on the other side of the room since you are sitting by the door, to Iruka Sensei, who has his right hand over his eyes, rubbing his temples with his middle finger and thumb. This makes you laugh, as this isn't the first time you've seen this picture before. Iruka Sensei turns to you, almost as if he can feel your gaze.
"Having a rough day Iruka Sensei?" You ask with a small smirk, already knowing the answer given by his eye bags and facial expression. He gives you a blank, irritated face.
"You have no idea. You kids are crazy sometimes". The bickering continues, with now Naruto joining in, glaring at Sasuke. You never had a problem with Naruto. Actually, you thought he was funny sometimes. Other kids treated him like he was trash, always talking behind his back. Sure, you lie to tease and make fun of people. But not like this. Your mom always told you this when you would talk about kids a school, 'you don't have to be friends with everyone, hell, you don't even have to like everyone! However, you have to respect everybody. No matter how weird, how annoying, or how crazy they are’
So that's what you did. You never talked bad about him, and you never would either. Sure, being Hokage sounds hard as hell and very unlikely, but you respect it. Kids would sometimes make fun of you for having no dad or sometimes even about mom dying, telling me 'how are you gonna become a ninja if people just keep leaving you?' or 'I guess you're next, see you in another life!!' The first time a kid said something bad about your mom, saying 'she was horrible shinobi anyway, she deserved to die, just like you do'. You may have punched him in the face and threatened him by saying 'oh really? Well if I deserve to die, why don't you die with me? I'm sure my mom would love to see that I made a new friend" and I just maybe had to extra work and stay after class in the academy and had to have a serious talk with a Hokage.... just maybe.
Before you notice, Naruto and Sasuke lock lips which have the whole class in shock and disbelief, except for you just laughing in the corner with Shikamaru and Choji. Naruto and Sasuke start spitting in disgust, which makes you laugh hard. You decide to tease them a little, just to see the look on their faces.
"My, my. No wonder Sasuke always rejects the other girls, he's been bat-ing for the other team this whole time." You say while hiding your laugh behind your hand as the whole class laughs while Naruto and Sasuke turn to you, giving you death glares.
"You jerk...Naruto! I'll kill you! You too y/n!" You scoff at the threat, while Shikamaru gives you a warning look, silently telling you to chill with the jokes. You agree and put your hand up surrender, still sitting in your seat, body turned towards Sasuke and the crowd of girls.
"I was just messing around, no harm intended." However, the small smile on your face tells otherwise, however, Sasuke just drops it and moves back to glaring at Naruto.
"Oh yeah? Then go ahead a try! I'll beat you! Easy!" Naruto shouts, putting his fists up as if he is about to box someone the class starts shouting, while the girls start cheering for Sasuke to win an-
"Enough!"
The whole class finally dials down as Iruka Sensei stands the front of the class, hand on hips, with a burning glare. This sends everyone back to their seats. "Sorry Iruka Sensei", Most of the class mutters.
"It's alright," he says with a sigh "These are your official teams. You will be assigned one Sensei per team. After I give you your teams and where you will be sitting, you go on ahead for lunch. Everyone understands?"
"Yes!"
"Good, now let's get started.." he starts calling out names and assigning them a table. Eventually, Iruka sensei says "Ok now, next is the team with 4 people. This is Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki,"
Naruto picks his head up, listening to who his other teammates are gonna be.
"Haruno Sakura.." Naruto cheers and screams hooray, which you chuckle at. This kid has way too much energy for it being 11 in the morning.
"I'm with...Naruto?" Sakura asks gloomily, although already knowing the answer.
"And...Sasuke Uchiha". Sakura cheers as Naruto stares solemnly and Iruka Sensei, giving a 'why did you do this to me?' look.
"I'm with...Sasuke?"
"Oh and also f/n l/n."
You stare at Iruka Sensei, thinking it was a mistake. "Since Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are already sitting together, y/n go ahead and go over to them."
Oh. So it wasn't a mistake...fan-fuckin'-tastic.
Shikamaru and Choji try to hide their laughs while you mutter an 'oh be quiet you two' while walking around their chairs. As your walking up a couple of steps, Sakura gives you a small smile, which you appreciate, and gives a small wave back.
You have never been close with Sakura. You used to play with her when you were younger, and your parents were good friends, but that's all there was to it. Sakura is kind of crazy over Sasuke, as is Ino, so that's gonna be a problem for the future. But otherwise, she seems like a good teammate.
However the other two...they're gonna be a problem.
Naruto, being too upset with the fact Sasuke's on his team, barely even notices you. However, when he does, he stands up, turns to you with one hand on his hip and the other pointing a thumb at his smiling face, and says "Hi y/n! you're lucky to be on a team with me, the future Hokage!"
This makes you chuckle and you respond with "You're right, I've been blessed." However, Naruto doesn't seem to really care, since he puffs out his chest, puts on foot the chair he was sitting on, making him seem taller than he actually is.
"You better believe it!" he says with another smile. I don't know how he keeps smiling when both of his parents are gone and nobody talks to him. If it wasn't for Shikamaru and Choji, I'd probably be dead. in a ditch by now.
You snap out of your thoughts when Sakura screams "Oh be quiet Naruto! And sit your butt down!" what a loud group we are, huh?
You finally turn your gaze to Sasuke, seeing him stare blankly at the wall. He feels your gaze on him which makes him turn. You were about to say hi, but he turns right back around, gazing at the wall and window.
You decided to bother him a little more, moving so your back is up against the wall, so he has no choice but to look up at you. You smirk at him, as he glares in your eyes as a silent 'hi' but also an 'i really don't like you go away. he turns his head facing front as you keep on leaning on the wall.
You look up to find Choji and Shikamaru paired up with Ino. Choji feels a gaze on him and turns to see you frowning. You give him a shrug of your shoulders as if to say 'it is was it is. And Choji, being the sweetheart that he is, mouths with making any sound, "do you wanna go get food later with me and Shikamaru?" This makes you smile and nod back at him. he gives you a thumbs up a turns back to his Team. You're extremely glad you met Choji, as he quickly became your close friend after cloud gazing with him and Shikamaru. You have soft spot for him and you always will.
Everyone in the class is now together in groups of 3. Iruka Sensei walks out of the classroom. You walk over to Shikamaru and Choji, as it is now lunchtime. You eat in the classroom with them every day since it's usually quiet enough here. You eat an onigiri with them and talk about where we should eat later and what we hope our sensei will be like.
Eventually, everyone comes back from lunch. You say goodbye to your two boys and walk back to your Team.
"Being a ninja is such a drag. Seriously, why can't we just catch a break for once?" Shikamaru complains. You, Choji, and Shikamaru are all sitting together in a booth at the grill place Choji likes. You and Choji chuckle while eating your steak. Damn, this is good, I now get why Choji comes here all of the time.
You finish chewing the steak and set it down on your plate while Choji keeps eats. You put a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder in a comforting way. But since he knows you well, he doesn't expect any comforting coming out of your mouth.
You look a Choji across from you, then turn back Shikamaru and say, "Aw, c'mon Shikamaru. It's not that bad. Although, if you wanna take a break, by all means, go ahead. But don't expect me and Choji to wait up for you. We'll be fighting tons of bad guys." You and Choji high-five as Shikamaru scoffs.
"Oh shut up. I could totally beat you in a fight." Shikamaru challenges.
"Ohhh is that challenge, Mr. Nara?" you turn your body towards him, smirking at him. He was about to respond, but Choji chimes in.
"Enough with the bickering you two! Let's save all our energy to show our sensei what we're made of!" he states with a big smile on his face. This makes both of you a Shikamaru smile.
"Hell yeah Choji! That's the spirit!" You say, getting more pumped up about tomorrow.
After eating with them, you head back home since it's dark out, hoping to get some good sleep for tomorrow. You open the door, trying to be as quick as possible so you can avoid conversation with Hiroji. You almost make it to the stairs when he pops out of the kitchen. "Hey, how was ninja training?"
You mentally sigh. Gotta be faster next time. " Oh, it was fine, I guess." You say, clearly not in the mood talking.
"Well, come on! tell me more!" he walks closer to you, puts a hand on your back, and leads you into the kitchen.
"I mean, it was fine. We got our teams and stuff." You say as he goes back to what he was cooking.
"Oh, nice! Do you like the team?" Ughh, more questions.
"I guess." You say with a sigh. He finished what he is cooking and puts it on a plate. Before he sits down and eats, he turns to you. He bends down to your height, puts both hands on your shoulders, and just looks in your eyes for about 10 seconds. Just staring.
"Wow. You look more and more like your mother every day I see you," he whispered like it was a secret. You don't why, but it unsettled you. It also bothered you by the fact he was so close, and how he brought up mom again. When she first died, he was a mess. He couldn't even look at you for the first few months. Eventually, he accepted her death. He's been pretty normal for the past few months.
But this..?
He's never looked at you like this. Whatever it was, it creeped you out. So you grabbed his hands from your shoulders and placed them back at his sides. "Hey, Hiroji I'm gonna go to bed. I'm kinda tired and I wanna save up my energy for tomorrow, okay?" You gave him a weak chuckle, trying to make things less awkward.
His gaze stayed the same. "Oh yeah, sure. Get a good night's sleep."
"Goodnight." You say as you turn around to make your way to the stairs, still feeling his gaze on you.
You wake up the stairs into your room, releasing a breath you didn't know you were even holding. You change into a comfortable t-shirt and regular shorts. Your room is pretty simple, with a twin bed near your window, a dresser across your bed with a simple nightstand, and a bookshelf in between both of them up against your wall. You have a lot of old books your mom left about different types of jutsus. Above your dresser, you have a circle mirror you barely use. On top of your dresser, you have most of your kunai knives and shurikens are placed. Next to them, you have a book about genjustu, which you re-read pretty often. Genjustu has always been your favorite. No matter how good you get at the other justsus, genjustu will always be the coolest to you. Taijutsu is also super cool. Your chest fills with pride, as you take off your ninja headband. You place it on your desk. Excitement and nervousness build up in your stomach as you think about the possibilities of tomorrow.
You lay down on your bed and look at your bedside table. You have a small lamp, a picture of you, Shikamaru, and Choji smiling with your arms around each other, and finally, and picture of you and your mom about 3 years ago. She had you on her back, giving you a piggy-back ride as you threw your hand up into the air, happy as ever. Your eyes soften as you smile.
"Goodnight mom," you say to yourself.
You turn off your lamp and try to head to sleep, excited for tomorrow.