I think scars are like battle wounds - beautiful, in a way. They show what you've been through and how strong you are for coming out of it. - Demi Lovato
Naruko's first day at the Academy was an interesting one. Everyone had begun whispering about her and the mask she wore.
"I think she's just trying to act cool," some girl said to her friends.
"Maybe she's really taking the ninja thing seriously. But most ninja don't really wear masks," a boy whispered.
It wasn't even the beginning of class yet! People were pointing and staring at her and she promptly ignored them. They were all wastes of air in her opinion. She'd seen some of them before and they had ignored her, so, she was returning past actions and no one seemed to like it.
More students walked into the room. Naruko took in their appearances. A chubby kid who was holding a bag of chips, was talking to a spiky haired kid that kept yawning. There was a boy with brown hair and red facial markings that was crowding around a girl who was stuttering badly.
Off the the side of the room, stood a boy in a long jacket, wearing a pair of sunglasses. Naruko noticed how some of the kids were pointing at him and saying cruel things. The boy ignored them.
A girl with short platinum blond hair and blue eyes ran into the room, towing a pink haired girl with green eyes along with her. They ran up the the chubby boy and talked for a bit.
The door opened again, and in walked a dark haired boy. He turned to face the person behind him and smiled a small smile. The person, who looked a lot like him, patted his head and wished him a good day.
Naruko watched as the girls immediately looked at the boy. Every girl in the room was staring at him in a really weird way. Naruko felt a shiver of disgust run up her spine. They were fangirls. Bleck!
The boy noticed the stares he was getting and began looking around the room frantically.
Naruko did the same, to see all the girls were patting their seats and smiling like idiots. What was wrong with them? He was just a boy. She didn't see what was so important about him that they were acting like fools. Briefly, she felt a sliver of pity for the unknown boy. What a great few years he was going to have.
The empty seat next to her moved and she looked to see the boy sitting next to her. Why?! She looked around to see the death glare of the girls fixed on her. Wonderful.
She decided to block them out and pulled out her MP3 player. Putting on the loudest music in her playlist, she sat back and waited for the teacher to arrive.
When he did, she had to hold back her laughter. He was pretty young, maybe seventeen or eighteen and looked a little embarrassed to be there. He tried to call the class to order, but no one heard him. He gave it another go and still they didn't hear him. Finally he couldn't take it and exploded on the students. He was so loud that Naruko could actually hear him over her music!
She sighed and put the MP3 away, intending to pull it out at lunch. The teacher introduced himself as Iruka Umino and stated that he liked ramen from Ichiraku's and that his goal in life was to be a great Academy teacher. He then took role by calling their names in alphabetical order and asking them to say something about themselves.
"Akimichi Choji!"
The chubby boy from earlier stood, "I like food!" The class laughed and he glared at them, "I also like to hang out with Shikamaru and I want to be the best clan head my clan has ever seen!"
Iruka nodded, "Very nice Choji." He then listed some other names that didn't interest Naruko all that much. "Shino Aburame!"
The coat boy stood, "I like insects." The girls all blanched at the admission. "I want to create a hybrid specie of beetle that can live extremely long and can perform jutsu with just natural chakra and not my own," said the boy as he sat down.
Iruka smiled, "I hope you can do that one day Shino."
The list moved on. Naruko was still staring at Shino, feeling a little bad for him. Everyone avoided because he liked bugs? Seriously? How petty can some people get?
"Sakura Haruno!"
The pink haired girl stood and twiddled her thumbs. "I like flowers and Ino. I, I want to be a good kunoichi." She sat down quickly.
Iruka gave a small chuckle, "Good. Hinata Hyuga!"
The stuttering girl stood, "I, I l-like pressing f-flowers and I w-wish to g-gain the c-confidence I n-need so that I c-can fight my f-father like an e-equal, and u-unite the Main and Side Branches w-when I b-become the clan head."
Naruko looked at the girl in a new light. She wanted to believe in herself and have her father view her as someone worthy. Since the girl was a Hyuga and the heir, she had a lot of expectations placed on her. Her goal was admirable.
"Kiba Inuzuka!"
"Yahoo!" the boy with red marks on her face jumped up. "I love dogs!" At his shout, a white puppy popped out of his coat and barked. Some of the girls squealed at how cute it was. "As the heir, I want to make my clan larger and well known in the ninja world."
"Good for you Kiba!" Iruka said, then called out some more names.
"Shikamaru Nara!"
There was no reaction and Iruka repeated himself.
Choji poked the boy sitting next to him several times. The spiky haired kid raised his head, "I like cloud gazing and hanging out with Choji. I want to marry a normal girl and have two kids, one boy and one girl. I'll retire when my daughter marries a respectable guy and my son becomes a successful ninja. Then spend the rest of days laying about watching the clouds. I think talking is a drag."
Choji laughed bit as his friend fell asleep and apologised to Iruka.
Iruka was a little shocked at how detailed the young Nara was concerning his future. He wasn't shocked to see the laziness though. That was a Nara trait.
A couple names later, "Naruko Uzumaki!"
Naruko stood as a hush came over the room, "I like ramen from Ichiraku's. I plan to be the most powerful ninja to have ever graced the shinobi nations." She sat down and folded her arms, ignoring the looks she received from her speech.
Iruka seemed a little blown away with what she said. His eyes were wide as he nodded absent-mindedly. He looked back at his list and called out, "Sasuke Uchiha!"
A roar of girlish squeals rang through the room. Naruko flinched at the loudness. How annoying!
The boy that had sat next to her stood, "I like some things and I hate fangirls. I long to defeat my elder brother in a spar."
With that, he sat down. Naruko smirked beneath her mask. He wasn't giving out much information to the fans and even said that he didn't like them. That didn't deter any of them of course as they cheered for the young Uchiha.
"Ino Yamanaka!"
The blonde girl who had dragged Sakura into the room, stood with a large smile, "I love shopping and flowers. I plan to make our family's shop much larger as well as follow my fathers footsteps and enter the Konoha Intelligence Division."
"An admirable goal Ino!" Iruka placed his clipboard down. "Now that we know a little bit about each other, lets get on with the first lesson. Who can tell me what chakra is?"
No one raised their hand. Iruka looked around the room, his eyes stopped on Naruko. "Naruko, do you know what Chakra is?" he asked looking worried.
Naruko sighed, "Chakra is the moulding of life, physical and spiritual energy. Once it is properly moulded, it can be focused through the Chakra Network by sheer will power or the forming of a hand sign to center the balance. There are five types of Chakra Natures. Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water. Each has an element that they are superior to and an element that they are inferior to. Chakra can be many different colors depending on the level of control one may have or what they are using the Chakra for. Chakra must be used in Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Medical Jutsu and Dojutsu. There are some Taijutsu techniques that require chakra, but normally, it isn't needed. The kinds of Chakra are, Miko, Yami, Star, Senjutsu, Gift of the Sages and Bijuu Chakra, which each have a different method for usage. Everyone has a different Chakra Signature which makes them different from everyone else. No two people can possess the same Chakra Signature. I can go on, but that would take forever."
Everyone sat in shock and awe. Sure some of them probably knew the basics, but nothing like that. Iruka was beside himself. He didn't know that she would know that much! No child should know that much! "Yes, Naruko. You were spot on! Good job."
She smirked to herself. First day of school and she was already the smartest. Good.
Just think, five more years of this.
I'll be top kunoichi all the way through.
After lunch, they were taken outside and given a few tests. Just to see where they were. The obstacle course was pretty large and each student was timed. Then they had to test their aim and accuracy with target practice. Finally, they each had to fight Iruka and determine where they needed to do better.
The girls complained about everything, which got on Naruko's nerves! Why did they have to whine about everything? She had no problem with any of it, so why did they?
They're more worried about their looks.
What looks? They're seven!
Kyuubi didn't answer and she just shrugged.
When it was her turn, she breezed through the obstacle course with no problem. The girls weren't happy and the boys were shocked.
"You are a girl right?" one of them asked.
Kiba had decided to answer for her, "She is! Akamaru says so!"
Iruka just watched them with wide eyes.
When it came to precision and accuracy, Naruko beat everyone again, which got varied reactions. Finally, she fought Iruka. Each kid had five minutes to get a hit in. She got him in one minute and the girls called her a cheater.
She turned to them, "If you took life seriously and trained like I do, you'd be able to do it too. But you don't and you're pretty much useless as kunoichi."
By the end of the day, she had made enemies out of all of the girls. Except Hinata. But, she got along well with some of the boys, which was odd. Shino and Choji were immediately drawn to her, because she didn't insult or make fun of them. Shikamaru went along with what Choji said because he trusted his best friends judgement. And Kiba liked that she wasn't afraid to get dirty.
From that day forward, they became friends. None of them asked what was under her mask, nor did they try to pry into her private life. They skipped class every now and then, whenever they got bored.
Even with that, Naruko still remained top Kunoichi, because she actually trained and studied instead of worrying about her weight and hair and whether or not Sasuke liked her. In fact, she ignored the Uchiha, which didn't seem to sit too well with him.
He made attempts to get her attention, which he thought didn't work. He did succeed, but Naruko was good enough to make it look like he failed.
Months blended together. Soon, years went by.
Sasuke had started to tease her, with the hope of getting a reaction. She would make comebacks that would embarrass him and then he'd stomp off. It was a regular occurrence with them. He called her 'butch' because she was like him when it came to training, and she dubbed him 'ducky' because his hair defied gravity in the back.
They maintained the highest scores throughout their Academy days. The girls insisted that Naruko was just trying to get Sasuke's attention and trying to take him from them. When she had gotten wind of that, she laughed in their faces.
Ino and Sakura had joined the Sasuke fan club, which was also the, Let's Hate Naruko club. Any respect she may have had for them, went out the window. Especially when they spread around the school that the reason Naruko wore a mask, was because she was hideous. They claimed to have seen her face and that she had buck teeth, bad acne and a hairlip.
So, Naruko spread some rumors. Sakura had a disease that would keep her flat chested forever and Ino was using a Genjutsu to appear thin. Some of the best pranks she ever pulled. And no one knew that she started them!
Naruko was a prank master. She specialized in never getting caught. Not only did the authorities not know who pulled the pranks, neither did the Anbu or the Hokage. She was that good at covering her tracks.
When words got back to the 'Bitch Twins', as Naruko called them, about the rumors, all hell broke loose. They ran around screaming threats at everyone and even attempted to start something with Naruko herself. She had ignored them.
Sakura yelled insults, her sweet and innocent persona from year one had been gone for a while. She got right up in Naruko's face. The class watched the interaction, some placing bets on the outcome.
Everyone froze when Sakura actually grabbedNaruko's mask and attempted to remove it. Sakura promptly found herself dangling from the three story window of their classroom. Her red dress pooling around her neck, showing the world her flat chest that was wrapped in bandages. Everyone had laughed at her misfortune and she begged for Naruko not to drop her.
Naruko was unimpressed. The girl couldn't even save herself from a fall like that? How pathetic!
After that bit of drama ended, life at school went back to normal. Well, as normal as ninja school can get anyway. The days were counting down to graduation. Everyone was excited to get out of the Academy and become 'adults'.
Naruko snorted. She didn't believe that you were an adult just because you graduated. You had to provethat you were mature in her book.
She didn't think it was right to allow Genin to drink. The whole, 'old enough to kill, old enough to drink' thing was a load of shit! Rookie Genin weren't responsible enough to handle alcohol. They'd imbibe themselves into oblivion just to show off! Their bodies were also too young to be consuming any kind of alcohol.
"Hey Naruko, the exam is tomorrow. Are you nervous?" Choji asked as they sat around for lunch.
She shook her head, "No. I have a feeling that it isn't as hard as people make it out to be."
"Not hard for you. So aren't as smart though," Kiba said, petting Akamaru.
"I actually study. If you did, you'd be like me," Naruko stuck her tongue out.
The boys all shrugged. "Meh."
You're smarter than them because I'm here you know. I'm the one that trained you.
They don't know that though. Bite me!
Not interested.
Naruko sighed and looked at the school building. Tomorrow, she'd become a Genin and be one step closer to her goal.
Tomorrow.
Naruko awoke early and went about her morning routine. She got dressed, ate breakfast and set off for the Academy after making sure her mask was in place.
I wonder how many are going to pass this.
Who knows?
The classroom was full of young teenagers who were all excited about passing the exam and finally becoming ninja.
Naruko rolled her eyes when she heard the Sasuke fan club talk about who was going to be the best. How, the number one girl would get Sasuke because he only deserved the number one kunoichi.
Naruko sneered in disgust. There was no way she wanted Sasuke. He wasn't her type. Yes he was good looking but his personality was annoying. He thought that because he was an Uchiha, he was better than everybody else.
The Uchiha were into perfection and the best, and though she was the best, she was far from perfect. She had a demon sealed within her, had a face that looked like it was mauled by a wild animal and was hated by nearly everyone in the village. Even if she wanted to be with Sasuke, his family would never accept such a thing. No ones family would accept her. She came to grips with that realisation years ago.
Yet, even though she wasn't his biggest fan, she had to admit that he some good qualities.
She took her seat up in the back and waited for Iruka to show up. A couple of minutes later, Sasuke appeared and sat next to her. Even though they weren't friends or got along all that much, considering how much they argued and insulted each other, he still chose to sit beside her, for some reason.
"Hey, Ducky. How was your night?" she teased.
He scowled, "Well Butch, it was pretty good."
She snorted and folded her arms. "And what happened to the young Lord Uchiha to make him so happy this morning?" she asked with a hidden smirk.
"You don't need to know," he said, leaning his elbows on the desk and crossing his fingers under his chin in his normal brooding pose.
She smirked evilly under her mask, "Did the almighty Uchiha finally get his first chest hair?"
Sasuke's face went red and he glared at her. "No!"
Naruko snickered, "Sorry. I guess you haven't hit puberty yet. I'll ask again in a couple of years."
Sasuke leaned in and opened his mouth.
"You offended pretty boy? Who knew that the great Uchiha was so emotional," she teased.
Sasuke backed off with shocked eyes. He finally smiled a little, "You're annoying sometimes you know?"
Her head tilted, "Huh?"
He shook his head and face the front and mumbled under his breath, "But I like that about you."
She was pretty sure that if her hearing wasn't so advanced she wouldn't have heard that, so she disregarded it. Especially since she didn't really understand what he meant by it.
Iruka showed up finally and announced the first test.
The were given an hour to finish a written exam that was fifty questions long. Naruko finished hers easily and sat fiddling with her ponytail for the rest of the time.
Iruka gave them half and hour of free time while he graded the tests. Naruko busied herself with her MP3 until he announced the highest scores.
"I'm going to tape this paper to the wall. Wait until I move before you crowd around it," Iruka said as he pulled some tape from his desk drawer.
Once the paper was up and Iruka was a safe distance away, nearly everyone rushed to see their grades.
Naruko and Sasuke remained seated, both knowing that they were the top students.
"Iruka sensei!" a girl whined.
Said man gave her a questioning look, "Yes Ayumi?"
"Naruko cheated!" the girl yelled. Every other girl backed her up and soon there was a whole riot over it.
Iruka folded his arms and asked, "What proof do you have of this?"
"She sits next to Sasuke and obviously cheated off of him!" the girl screamed.
Iruka smiled, "You obviously haven't learned yet Ayumi. I'm a Chunin and my eyes were all over this room. I know who cheated and who didn't. Naruko finished before everyone else. Long before Sasuke did. She never cheated. If you look at the paper closely, you'll see how low your grade is. That's because I caught you cheating off of Minako three times. So, before you try to convict someone of a crime, make sure you aren't guilty of the same crime, so you don't come across as a hypocrite."
Ayumi blushed as everyone laughed at her. She went back to her seat, stomping like child the whole way.
Naruko looked at Iruka with admiration and gratefulness. He was the only Academy teacher that liked her. When the other teachers tried to tamper with her grades, she'd tell him and he'd bring the matter to the Hokage, who would then deal with it.
Iruka gave her a wink and returned his attention to the others, "Any more false accusations?"
The teens shook their heads.
"Good. Now, outside for the Taijutsu and Precision tests!" Iruka said, heading for the door.
Naruko and Sasuke stood and followed the group the the Academy training ground.
Iruka's assistant Mizuki, arrived in time to help with the testing.
There, they were all tested on how good their aim was first. Each teen was given five kunai and five shuriken. They then had to hit the target in the middle of the bulls eye.
Many got between five and eight of the ten weapons on the actual dummy. Sasuke actually threw his all at once and they hit dead center. Shino got the second highest score for getting nine to hit the center and one on the head.
Naruko was embarrassed to be a girl, when nearly every girl missed the target completely! Only Hinata actually hit the dummy. And she got seven to hit the middle.
Finally, Naruko was up. Last as always. She took her shuriken and kunai from Mizuki, and took her position.
Naruto brought them all up and charged them with her Wind Chakra.
"What the?" she heard Iruka mumble when he saw the blue chakra running along the blades.
She let them all fly, smirking when they landed perfectly in the center of the target on the dummy's stomach. The stick that the dummy was tied to cracked in half and toppled to the ground, taking the dummy with it.
Iruka checked it over and marked her. "Perfect Naruko. But what did you do with your chakra?"
She smirked, "Well, I noticed how dull the weapons were, so I added some of my Wind Chakra to them so that they would stick." She was glad that her time to show off was easily covered by such a lame lie.
Iruka nodded with a bewildered look. She already knew her chakra nature. Amazing.
"Okay, next is the Taijutsu test. You will battle me! I suggest you get a hit in quick, because we are timing you. There is no set time limit, we're just going to judge based on how fast you can get a hit in. Though I warn you, anything that takes too long or shows poor skill, will get you a failure," he told them.
The girls did poorly again. Hinata managed to get a hit in, two and a half minutes after the beginning of the fight, but started to apologize right afterwards. Sasuke was ferocious and landed a hard punch to Iruka's chest in twelve seconds. Naruko finished with the same time after chopping Iruka in the back of the neck.
The girls once again made a fuss over her and Sasuke tying. She ignored them and let Iruka deal with it.
They were taken inside and Naruko sat down. She felt something odd and rolled her eyes.
Genjutsu.
She looked around at the other students who were all fast asleep.
"Hey sensei, how long is this going to take?!" she called out.
Iruka and Mizuki looked at her in shock.
"I mean, do I have to wait for them to snap out of it? How long will that be?" she asked.
The two looked at each other and Iruka pulled out his clip board, "Were you affected at all Naruko?"
"I felt the Genjutsu being placed on the room, but it never got me. Sorry sensei."
Iruka sighed, "Okay. You'll just have to sit there and wait for them to get it I'm afraid."
She nodded and pulled out the MP3 again.
This thing is a life saver I swear. I'd be dead from boredom if it weren't for this.
Hey, what am I for then?
Moral support?
Sasuke was the next to show signs of breaking from the Genjutsu. He sat up and looked over to see Naruko jamming away. Her head bobbing to the music.
If only he had the Sharingan, he would've beaten her.
Naruko paused her motions to glare at something in the middle of the room. She took out an ear bud and said, "Hey Shikamaru, stop pretending!"
The lazy boy sat up and glared at her over his shoulder. "You had to say something?"
"Yeah, you noticed not long after me, but you faked at being caught in it too long!" the girl replied.
"What?" Iruka asked completely befuddled.
"Shikamaru's been pretending for a while. He woke up a few minutes after I asked you about the test," she told her favorite sensei.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "It's not a big deal. So I can see through a Genjutsu, so what?"
"If you weren't so damn lazy, you'd probably be tying with Ducky and I. Can't you just not be lazy for once and prove that you're better than what people think?" she asked.
"Underestimation can be a ninja's greatest strength," Shikamaru sighed. "I just wanted to sleep."
"Do that when you get home," Naruko insisted.
Shikamaru shrugged and stood up. He went and sat on the desk near the window and looked off at the clouds.
Sasuke leaned into Naruko and ask, "How did you know he was faking?"
"His breathing changed and his heart rate sped up, signaling that he was awake," she shrugged.
By lunch time, most of the class had finally woken up. Mizuki sighed and removed the Genjutsu from those who didn't get it, Iruka having already written up the scores.
Iruka taped the scores up again and waited for the complaining to start.
"Naruko cheated!"
"There's no way she got a perfect score!"
"Liar!"
"Bitch!"
Iruka looked at Mizuki who sighed, "You owe me."
Mizuki approached the fuming girls, "Sorry to disappoint you, but Naruko wasn't even affected by my Genjutsu. I have to agree with her and say that if you trained more, you'd be just like her."
The girls all grumbled. But let it go.
They were dismissed for lunch which went by pretty quickly. Iruka was starting the last test when they returned.
"You'll each come up and demonstrate three Jutsu for the Ninjutsu test." Iruka sat down and pulled out the clipboard again.
The girls actually did better in this exam. A lot better. Most of them got the Bunshin jutsu and the Kawarimi down without a problem. Henge, was still a little shaky. It was also annoying to see them try and turn into Sasuke.
The boys were whipping the girls and Naruko wanted so much to be a boy in that moment. Graduating as top kunoichi didn't feel so good when the other girls were useless.
Hinata was the only other girl to do Ninjutsu perfectly. She did everything with such skill and Naruko was flattered when the girl used her as her Henge. Hinata passed the Ninjutsu test with high marks, which had Naruko bouncing in her seat.
Sasuke and Shino were the best out of the boys. Sasuke produced three Bunshin, used the Kawarimi with Naruko who didn't appreciate appearing in the middle of the floor. He then transformed into his brother. A perfect pass. Shino did everything with good chakra control.
Naruko went last, again.
"Show us a Bunshin," Iruka said.
Naruko made the sign and sighed, knowing what was going to happen. Twenty Naruko's shimmered into existence.
Iruka and Mizuki gaped. "How?" they asked.
Naruko laughed nervously, "I have large chakra reserves."
They nodded in understanding. Iruka sighed, "Okay, Kawarimi next."
Naruko thought about it for a second, then smirked. She made the sign and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
When she opened her eyes, she was in a training field with three other people who were looking at her in confusion.
"Uh…sorry. I thought that since it was Friday and TenTen usually works at this time, that I'd use her as a substitution for my exam. I didn't know that I was taking her away from training," Naruko bowed in embarrassment.
The pal eyed guy, whom she assumed was a Hyuga, just huffed.
The twins in green spandex said something about youth and how she was showing flames and something of that nature. They hugged in a creepy way, then wished her good luck on passing and she substituted back to the classroom.
Looking at Iruka, she laughed, "So, how was TenTen's reaction? I got to meet her freaky team. I have to say, I don't like green spandex."
Mizuki and Iruka shivered, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
"Very good on that. Finally, show us a Henge please?" Iruka asked with a smile.
Naruko smirked, getting a great idea. However, it wouldn't help her pass as top kunoichi and she had to leave it. She thought about someone who represented power, someone that she wished to be better than.
She made a hand sign and transformed.
Both Mizuki and Iruka shivered when they saw who Naruko transformed into. Orochimaru. One of the Sannin and current S Class criminal from Konoha. He was a very creepy man, who liked to kidnap little boys(pedophile), and use them as test subjects.
Orochimaru smirked, "Who should I experiment on first?"
"Okay okay! That's good!" Mizuki panicked.
Naruko returned to normal and snickered, "He is a creep isn't he?"
"You passed with flying colors Naruko. Good job!" Iruka said as his heart beat went back to normal.
Naruko returned to her seat.
Iruka and Mizuki looked at each other and nodded.
"Is there anything else that anyone would like to show? It may raise your grade?" Mizuki asked the room and hands flew up.
Ino displayed her family's Mind Transfer Jutsu perfectly. Kiba and Akamaru used their newly refined Fang over Fang. Shikamaru actually got up the energy to use his Shadow Possession Jutsu on Iruka. Choji used the Semi Expansion Jutsu and rolled around the room a little causing some to poke fun at his weight.
Shino used a bug clone which freaked some of the girls out and made Naruko laugh. They were such wimps. Sasuke walked over to the open window and performed a large Fireball Jutsu, to save the room from destruction.
Naruko used Shunshin to appear in front of the sensei's.
They jumped back, "You can do the Shunshin?!"
She nodded.
"Okay, that's all we need Naruko. We don't want you giving anything else away," Iruka winked and wrote some things down on her test.
She teleported back to her seat and sighed. She was totally top kunoichi. The was no way that the glaring twit's could beat her in anything.
Sasuke was looking at her like she had taken her mask off.
"What?" she mumbled.
"You are something else," he shook his head.
By the end of the day, Iruka and Mizuki had finally tallied up the scores. Once again, he taped the paper to the wall.
Naruko and Sasuke watched as the teens rushed to see their grades. Both knew where they stood and didn't need to cause a stampede in the room.
The girls all shrieked in horror. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Naruko was snickering at them. Even though she wasn't a part of it, it was still good to win their little contest. "I win bitches!" she yelled over the noise.
They all turned and gave her glares that cold freeze hell over.
"Win what?" Sasuke asked.
Naruko looked at him, "They had this contest, that whoever was top kunoichi, got the rights to Sasuke!"
He blanched and shivered. "Then I'm glad you won," he mumbled.
"We won't let you have him!" the girls all yelled in unison.
Naruko looked at the Uchiha, "Well, looks like it doesn't matter. Sorry Ducky."
Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance. Why couldn't she show more interest when things involved him? He wouldn't mind if she liked him. She wasn't a stalker and she didn't fawn over him. She was the very definition of shinobi.
He wanted to know what was below the mask, but didn't feel like prying. He wanted to know what her life was like. He knew that she was an orphan, but he didn't know anything beyond that. She was smart and strong. And so mysterious that he nearly died from the curiosity. Of course he never outwardly showed these things. That was not what an Uchiha did.
Iruka stood, "Congratulations Naruko, on being Rookie of the Year!"
Naruko thanked him and grinned when the bell rang.
It's over!
Finally!
"Come back on Monday to get your team placements!" Iruka yelled to the teens as they ran out the door.