Genin Team Assignment Day

Naruto fidgeted listlessly in his seat, as Iruka-sensei continued to read out the team assignments. He didn't even know why he had to be here; he already knew that he wouldn't be assigned a proper team, as he was going to be apprenticed to Jiraiya. But the old pervert had insisted that he show up at the academy. Naruto suppressed a scowl as he thought about his new sensei's 'eccentricities'. All things considered, Jiraiya had managed to keep his habits fairly low-key; but apparently even a Sannin can't maintain self control for more than a few days. He had been practising one of the jutsu his clones had uncovered in the library, Fuuton: Goukuuhou; and had just about figured out the amount of chakra he should be using to avoid the jutsu blowing up in his own face (this had actually happened, more than once, much to Jiraiya's amusement), when the Sannin declared that he needed to go some research, and that he wouldn't be too far away if Naruto needed him. He had just assumed the pervert was working on a new jutsu or technique that he needed to keep secret, and so continued to train. Several hours passed, and Naruto decided that he should go find the Sannin, to show his progress. Fortunately, he wasn't particularly difficult to find, as he seemed to be giggling at something fairly loudly, from behind a bush.

He was spying. On women, who were swimming in the river that the hill that they had been training on overlooked.

Needless to say, the man got a full strength Oiroke no Jutsu; which subsequently sent the man over the edge of the cliff, into the midst of the very women he had been spying on. They had heard Naruto scream pervert, and once they laid eyes on Jiraiya, they connected the dots. The sound of the resultant beating was thoroughly satisfying. Simultaneously, Jiraiya gained a new name. Ero-sennin.

Naruto perked up slightly when he heard Iruka call Sakura's name.

"Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Shimura Sai, you are Team 7." Just as Iruka finished speaking, the classroom door opened revealing a boy no older than Naruto.

"I am Shimura Sai, I apologise for being late."

The boy immediately put Naruto on guard. Something wasn't right with him. He wore a short, black jacket that exposed his stomach, and the tanto strapped to his back immediately set him apart from the rest of his class as someone who had more than basic shinobi training. But it wasn't that, that bothered Naruto. It was the boy's smile. It was painfully forced, and hadn't left his face since he had entered the room. He filled Naruto with unease as he took the seat next Sakura, the seat that he had forgone in order to avoid a beating that said girl would have given out all too easily if he hadn't budged. He himself had taken a seat at the back row, next to Hinata. A girl whom Naruto, had never actually spoken to himself, mainly because she had always kept herself to herself and never really drawn his attention, or anyone else's for that matter. He quickly decided that he should change that, and now was as good a time as any. And besides that, he wanted a second opinion on that Sai kid.

"Hey Hinata, do you notice anything weird about Sai?" He whispered, as the hubbub following the announcement continued. Naruto couldn't help be curious as Hinata stiffened as he spoke, and barely met his eyes as she stuttered out a response.

"H-his smile it doesn't seem natural, l-like -" She was cut off by Iruka announcing the next team, over the noise of the class.

"Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, you are in Team 8."

"Unlucky Hinata, you have dog-breath on your team." He murmured, trying to ensure Kiba didn't over hear his joke; but then had to repress his own laugh when Hinata's hand shot to her mouth, in order to stifle a giggle at the expense of her new team-mate.

The Academy curriculum actually contained an extensive section on the reading of body language, and using that information to your advantage. Naruto had long since covered the entire Academy curriculum using his shadow clones, and as such, could tell Hinata was horrifically nervous. She was pushing her fingers together, and refusing to lift her gaze from the desk in front of her. Unfortunately, even with his new found skill knowledge about body language, he still couldn't figure out exactly why she was so nervous. She could just be shy, Naruto supposed. But no one is that shy, are they?

Eventually, Iruka reached Naruto's name last, just in time to stop the whispers of how he didn't get a team. Because after all, who would want the 'dead-last'?

"And Uzumaki Naruto has been personally chosen as an apprentice to Jiraiya of the Sannin."

It was hard to miss the pride in Iruka's voice, despite the fact he wasn't supposed to show any favoritism. And whilst that made Naruto happy; it wasn't nearly as happy as the shocked silence that had graced the room at Iruka's announcement made him. Actually it was lees the shocked silence, and more the fact that the shocked silence made the sound of Sasuke-teme grinding his teeth out of what Naruto perceived as jealousy, carry around the room. Priceless.

"He says you are to meet him at your usual training area, at 10:30am sharp."

Naruto checked the clock in the corner of the room. 10:25.

'So not only was the pervert too lazy to actually come and meet me, he's going to make me run. Someone is just begging to be pranked.'

Naruto exited the Academy at a run, determined to get to Jiraiya before his tome ran out. If he was late, Jiraiya would probably spend at least an hour refusing to train him, whilst he did his 'research', 'as punishment'. However, before he could increase his pace; a piercing scream broke the placid silence outside of the academy building. Naruto stopped in his tracks. He knew there would be other ninja that would have heard it, most of them Chunin or Jonin. But what if they didn't make it in time? It didn't take Naruto any more than a second to make the decision, before he set off towards the scream.

It didn't take long for Naruto to discover the reason for the scream. He spotted the shinobi first, darting from rooftop to rooftop, at an impressive speed; heading towards Konoha's South Gate. It took a little longer, to figure out the reason for the scream. A small girl, no older than five, was slung over the shinobi's shoulder, her blonde hair billowing out behind them as they moved. Naruto immediately set after them, making his way to the rooftops of the village. Unfortunately, this alerted the mysterious shinobi to his presence; and he turned his head to meet Naruto's eyes, and the blonde couldn't help but notice his Hitai-ate. He was an Iwa shinobi. An Iwa shinobi was kidnapping a child in Konoha. However, this revelation brought Naruto more questions than answers; such as, where the hell were the ANBU?

This momentary distraction was all it took. The blonde almost didn't see it. An explosive note, placed just where Naruto was about to land. The newly instated Genin was working on instinct at this point, and the two tell-tale 'pops' that signalled the arrival of a pair of Kage Bunshin told Naruto that his training of the technique with Yuugao had paid off. And as Naruto felt the Bunshin's hands grasp his jacket, he could only pray that he had made it time.

The mysterious, black-clad ninja glanced back, to see if his trap had ensnared his pursuer, and couldn't help but be impressed with what he saw. The kid had summoned two Kage Bunshin, without seals and mid-jump. The first was used to give the second leverage, and the second pulled the brat out of the way of the explosion; and the boy had instantly moved to go after him again. 'Looks as if I'm going to have to teach a lesson.' The ninja's eyes were drawn to a park-area; that was, like much of Konoha, forested, a few houses past his current location. 'That's as good a place as any.'

The Iwa ninja descended to ground level amongst the trees, and awaited his prey.