Naruto sat in the fading darkness of dawn. In front of him, a black stone etched with the name Umino Iruka. It'd take everything from him to not cry during Iruka's funeral. The academy had been given a week off, before the genin found out their teams. Not only for Iruka but because Mizuki had died, so there was no one to supervise them.
Quietly Naruto began to speak, "Iruka. You are one of my parents in my mind. You cared for me, got me ramen and actually tried to teach me. For you I will continue your legacy. I will become even stronger than you. Not just in power, but in spirit. You were loyal not just to the leaf but to your love for people. Even though you had all the right to capture me or kill me for stealing the scroll, you didn't. You believed me, and you defended me, dying for it. One day, I want to die like you, protecting someone I care for. You are my parent Iruka Umino, and I… I loved you."
Silence filled the air and for a few minutes Naruto stayed there. Then he left. Grabbing his headband, he relieved the memory. However, it did not bother him like it had the day off. It was a reminder that death existed in the shinobi world, and that seriousness was expected.
Within a day, Naruto was back in the academy room. This time a Jounin by the name of Genma was there supervising them.
Genma spoke, quieting the class, "Alright guys. I'm going to announce the teams all here. When we are done you can go on a break before we return to get your jounin sensei."
Naruto tuned out, recalling his fight with Mizuki, there had been red chakra, but he didn't know how to access it. That kind of power was extremely nice, and using it, he could shoot ahead of his teammates in terms of powers. As he thought about this a memory of him and Arashi resurfaced.
It was another sunny day in Konoha and the two were at their normal training ground. Raito was practicing archery when Naruto asked, "Why do you do that? You can't use a bow in a ninja fight."
"Naruto, that's not the purpose. The purpose is precision. Archery requires a quick look, and a quick release. Within thirty seconds or less you have connected your mind with your body and hit the bullseye."
Naruto replied, "But ninjutsu are so much cooler! Doesn't matter your precision if you can't dodge a massive explosion!"
Raito grinned, "Wrong…"
He let an arrow loose striking exactly where the last arrow had been, splitting the first one apart.
"Fine line battles are the most common battles for shinobi. My father once told me, 'Rarely are you given a mission way above your abilities or below. Often it is right above your capability, meaning you have to be the one stepping up.' I believe that Naruto, precision is about right time, right place, right way."
Another arrow loosed, breaking the second one. At this point Naruto was more than surprised.
"Those three things are exemplified by the most basic of shinobi arts. Taijutsu and weapons mastery. Taijutsu is your bodies capability in physical form. Never underutilize it, I think. My mom says that weapons are what kill enemies in close combat. Jutsu are meant only to aid them."
Naruto replied, "Your parents seem smart.."
"Of course. They are almost forty years old, they've been alive a long time. Our clan too, has been alive a long time."
The conversation ended there, but Naruto fondly remembered getting ramen after Raito used a simple Kunai light trick on him and beat him.
He decided instead to perfect the basics, to an extreme degree. So he would not lose to Raito, he'd heard of Raito's exploits and did not like the sound of his rival gaining recognition. So, he needed to do the same. Naruto grinned but before he could make a plan for it, he heard someone approach.
"Naruto, move over!"
Naruto was confused, for he knew Sakura didn't care for him. Turning he saw that he'd sat near Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto grimace and then smirked.
Naruto then spoke loudly, "Genma-sensei. Tell me, does being a fangirl keep you alive in a battle?"
Naruto pointedly looked at Sakura who was completely surprised by Naruto's change in attitude.
"Uh, no Naruto. Kunoichi aren't fangirls and those who are quickly die in the field of battle."
Sakura's face bunched up in anger but before it was released, Naruto stood up and let Sakura through, she was still very pretty. Her pink hair, and green eyes were stunning in his opinion but he had a feeling that Sasuke would have her heart forever.
Then, Genma read out the names and once again Naruto tuned out. This time deciding he should try to train against his shadow clones with the goal of besting them in kunai only combat.
However he tuned back in when he heard his name.
"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."
Sakura was the only one to have a major reaction. Naruto instead, studied his new teammate, Sasuke Uchiha. He remembered that Raito had asked him to befriend the boy and decided now was a good time. After the last two teams were called, Naruto hopped over the table and landed near Sasuke.
"Sasuke-san, what do you say we get some food? Me and you?"
Sasuke thought for a moment. Naruto had apparently been awarded Genin by completing a mission, so he wondered if the kid could be a potential rival. Sasuke decided that he would try with the boy. He wasn't as loud as he had been before, so that was a bonus in his book.
Naruto and Sasuke then went and grabbed food, without Sakura who was devastated at the fact Sasuke left her.
They decided to get Ramen and there Naruto began to talk.
"Sasuke, what do you think of Sakura-chan."
Sasuke looked at Naruto and said, "She doesn't care for you Naruto. I'd suggest using your eyes better to find someone who is better."
Naruto was surprised by the advice and grinned.
"You do talk after all Sasuke!"
Sasuke made a hmn noise and turned as the ramen arrived. They ate in silence and when they were done they began to walk back to the Academy.
On their way, Sasuke decided to ask a question that had admittedly been in his pocket, literally.
"What was Raito-san like?"
Naruto grinned and said, "He was like you, except effortlessly cooler. Smart, powerful, as you know, he beat you in everything in the one year he was here. He was very thought–y."
Sasuke sweat dropped at Naruto's lack of vocabulary before saying, "Philosophical you would say?"
"Yeah, if that's about saying what you believe in."
"Mm."
Naruto then asked the question back, "What was he like to you?"
"He was kind. He was strong, I think if he'd stayed here, he might've been a truly good rival for me."
Naruto grinned as they turned the final corner to the Academy.
He said, "Ha! I don't care where he is, we're gonna meet someday, and I'm gonna show him I wasn't slacking."
Sasuke nodded solemnly and ignored the girls who screamed his name as he entered the building and walked to class. Naruto had pointed out something that Sasuke couldn't deny: Raito wasn't there, but that didn't mean he was dead. The three of them could be rivals.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had been waiting for hours. Yet, their sensei had yet to show.
Naruto didn't care; he was trying to come up with a training schedule for the first half and for the second half, he spoke with Sasuke. The two didn't know how much they wanted to trust one another so they lightly danced around subjects such as the massacre or Naruto's early years.
Sakura did care, Naruto had refused to let her sit next to Sasuke and so she'd been forced to sit below the two and look up at her beloved. Eventually, their sensei did arrive.
Kakashi walked in and, seeing the students' sitting positions, his one eye narrowed. He had a fear this team would be dangerously unbalanced. So he told them to meet him at the roof.
They did, and as they got comfortable, Kakashi spoke.
"Okay… Let's begin with some introductions."
Sakura asked, "What do you wanna know?"
Kakashi said, "How about.. Your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, all that boring stuff."
Naruto replied, "Why don't you go first, show us how it's done?"
Kakasi looked bored and continued, "Me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, and well, you're too young to know my likes and my dislikes are plenty enough. Dreams for the future? Who knows, I go where my career takes me. Hobbies, you definitely are too young for that."
Naruto was surprised by the man telling them nothing, but he didn't say anything. Then Kakashi pointed at Naruto.
Naruto grinned and said, " My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, especially Ichiraku ramen, and my dislikes are people who forget the seriousness of shinobi business and the three minutes it takes cup of ramen to heat up. My dream…"
For a second, Naruto didn't know what to say, then he grinned.
He paraphrased Raito's words, "To be precise so damn well, that I surpass the Hokage. That way, no one can deny me my lifetime supply of ramen!"
Kakashi blinked; he hadn't expected the addition at the end of Naruto's speech. He thought Naruto would be quite interesting.
Naruto finished by saying, "Hobbies, training and pranking people."
Sasuke spoke next, "My name is Uchihia Sasuke, there are a lot of things I dislike and very few things I like. I don't have a dream, I have a future, to restore my clan and kill a certain someone."
Kakashi pointed at Sakura next.
"My name is Haruno Sakura and my hobbies are.." she turned to Sasuke, "My likes are…"
She let out a squeal and then said, "My future goals are.."
Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi all simultaneously sweatdropped.
With that business out of the way Kakashi said, "Come to our training field tomorrow. You have survival training before you become a full-fledged genin."
Naruto grinned, "Yes! We'll kick your ass."
Sasuke nodded in agreement, confirming Kakashi's suspicions about the team's dynamics.
Sakura asked, "What do you mean by full-fledged genin? Are we not genin already?"
"No, you have to pass this test, and there's a 66% fail rate. As we are only allowed to take 9 genin into the shinobi order."
Naruto's face dropped. Such a high fail rate meant they were competing against other teams. If each team had three people, that meant that only three teams could pass. Naruto grimaced and turned to Sasuke.
"We should train tonight, maybe get some synergy between us. We both want that spot, no, we just have to outperform the other genin."
Sasuke nodded and replied, "Alright."
Naruto looked at Sakura and said, "You should come to Sakura-chan. It'd be better for all of us to get some teamwork in."
Sakura replied, "I'll go, but not because of you! Because of Sasuke-kun…"
Naruto nodded, and they were quickly dismissed. Naruto quickly led them to his and Raito's old spot.
The grass was receding, and the ground was firm, but it was good enough until they went to their real training ground.
Sasuke immediately suggested a plan, "What if we do 2 against 1. This allows two people to try to work together to take down their opponent. This could also force the 1 person to improvise and learn how to fight two opponents."
Naruto loved the idea, "That's a great one, Sasuke!"
Sasuke nodded, and Sakura nodded with him.
Naruto said, "I'll be the first. You two come at me with your best."
Internally, Naruto was hoping they would go all out. He needed to push himself as far as he could.
Sasuke started, rushing Naruto with a kunai. Naruto dodged the first slice and the second, and the third. Then, seeing an opening, Naruto shifted to the right of Sasuke's arm. Then grabbed it, thrusting it away from him. Naruto grinned and looked to see where Sakura was. She was standing a bit away, just looking at Sasuke.
Naruto yelled, "Sakura! What are you doing? You and Sasuke need to work together."
Sakura screamed, "Are you doubting Sasuke-kun's capability?!"
Naruto was dumbfounded but continued to spar with the Uchiha. Sasuke was faster, but he was not stronger in physicality. Sasuke had better tactics in battle, but Naruto could match it with innovative movement. The fight ended with Sasuke winning, although it took a great amount of effort, as neither wanted to use ninjutsu.
The next fight was supposed to be Sakura and Naruto against Sasuke, but Sakura refused. Stating that she didn't want to fight against Sasuke. So once again, Sasuke and Naruto sparred; again, Naruto lost, but the gap was closing. He could feel it.
Naruto and Sasuke were teamed up to fight Sakura. Sakura's face paled at that.
She said, "Wait. Do we have to? We did enough training in the Academy."
Sasuke had an idea. One that he decided was good for keeping their teammate working hard.
Sasuke offhandedly said to Naruto, "I want a different teammate. Only strong kunoichi are helpful, I'd like one of those."
Sakura's face fell, and then she went calm. She was beyond dejected, but couldn't deny that Sasuke didn't want her in her current form. So she went into the academy Taijutsu stance.
Naruto and Sasuke beat her with ease. After their training, the group went their separate ways. In time, tomorrow arrived.