O1 - Chapter 4

As Koan walked out of the Academy with his three other teammates, Kiba decided to make something very clear to the other male who could challenge his dominance.

“Let’s get something straight here Koan,shino; I’m top dog around here, not you, so don’t you go second-guessing my judgments when we go out on missions, got it?”

Koan stopped and turned slightly towards Kiba. “Oh, I ‘got it’ alright, Kiba,” he mocked, air quoting for effect. “I got that you’re so insecure about your own abilities that you have to move straight towards questioning someone else’s to make yourself feel better.”

Kiba just looked at him with his jaw hanging agape slightly while Koan continued. “If you actually want to be ‘top dog’, as you so eloquently put it, then actually have something to back it up before you try and claim that nonexistent title for yourself. And as you should probably learn now, teamwork is partially about knowing your place in the combat and tactical hierarchy, and right now, you’re sitting somewhere around the middle when it comes to taijutsu but right down the bottom when it comes to combat-ready ninjutsu. So to sum up, you need to stop screwing around with all your pack mentality bullshit and actually put the work in, princess.”

“As averse as an Aburame is to using colloquialisms when conversing with other members of the Konoha shinobi forces, one intuitive example comes to mind concerning the previously had conversation: as the average Konoha citizen would say, it appears that you, Kiba-san, just got owned.” Everyone looked back to see Shino adjusting his shades after using what many would consider an exceptionally strange choice of language for a member of the Aburame clan, even if it was buried beneath a slag heap of their common ‘logic speak’ as it had been so expressively put by the typical shinobi of Konoha in the past.

“…should w-we go get some lunch n-now?” Hinata’s demure voice stuttered out quietly in questioning of the group.

Everyone just nodded as they walked off further into Konoha in search of food. It only took a few minutes for everyone to grab a bite to eat, but two of them once again ran into a slight bit of conflict as to where to eat their food.

“Damn it Kiba, just find somewhere else to sit your ass down and stop bothering me about it!” Koan snapped at the dog-partnered genin.

The Inuzuka groaned in response, trying desperately to squeeze onto the bench built for three. Koan decided he had had enough with Kiba’s annoyances and got up to leave.

“I’ll be around somewhere… I’ll know when you leave, so don’t bother trying to find me,” Koan said calmly to Hinata and Shino before he leapt up the side of a nearby building and out of sight.

Hinata wasn’t sure about Shino, but she was irritated. But before she could say something to kiba and koan another voice came and disrupt her thought process

“Ahem, are you Team 8?” Hinata didn’t bother looking up and answering, letting her constant politeness slip for just a minute.

“Yeah, that’s us. Who’s asking?” Hinata heard Kiba say in his best tough-guy tone.

“Who’s asking, young man, is Yuuhi Kurenai, also known as your sensei,” the red-eyed woman said in a very matter-of-factly way. Kiba gulped audibly.

Hinata looked up to see a dark-haired woman wearing a bandage-like dress decorated with a pattern consistent with that of rose thorns. The red eyes gazing down on them were somewhat unnerving, if not remarkably exotic. The Hyuuga heiress thought Kurenai was an oddly beautiful woman, with her unique style of clothing and even more uncommon eye colour. She watched the woman carefully as she spoke.

“I’m meant to have four members on this team, but I only see three. Where’s the fourth?” Kurenai asked her quietly gathered genin on the bench in front of her. There was a vague chuckle in the distance when she said ‘fourth’.

“I’m up here, Kurenai-sensei”

Koan waved from the top of nearby building, a building directly opposite the one he leap up in the first place. He made his way down the building in a very literal way. The dark-haired boy walked down the side of the building, sticking to the vertical surface with chakra and striding down very casually with his hands in his pockets like he was simply walking through a park in the height of Konoha’s most glorious of summers. Kurenai raised an eyebrow when she saw him walk down the side of the building.

“You already know the tree walking exercise?”

Koan nodded. “Yep, I know it most of the way through. I can do it inverted for about an hour in the same spot without falling off or losing balance. I’m still having trouble with the water walking though. Stupid-ass shifting tides, messing with my chakra flow and shit…” he muttered out quietly.

The genjutsu mistress was pleasantly surprised. She had been given four genin, which would mean thoroughly training all of them would be significantly harder than just teaching three. But the fourth one she was responsible for was already much further along than she though he would be.

Suck it, Asuma. I told you I would do better than you, even with a team of four, Kurenai thought smugly.

She didn’t quite realize that her neutral expression had broken slightly until Koan spoke up.

“Uh, I’m assuming you’re happy about something, sensei?”

Kurenai’s red eyes glazed over for a second before she gave her filler response for when she became distracted. “Uh, sure, yeah, whatever, so let’s get going?”

Koan:

“Where to, sensei?”….asked shino

“Training ground 11, meet me there in ten minutes. And make sure you’re ready for anything.” Kurenai smirked before she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

“Let’s go,” as kiba picked up into a jog with the rest of Team 8 in tow.

“Who died and named you-”

“We are not going over that again, Kiba,” Koan interrupted forcefully.

———————————————————————

In a moment of quiet deliberation, Naruto himself was entertaining similar thoughts to Hinata’s at that time. The accidental intimate moment with sasuke, had made him think about things more than usual, or, more specifically, his crush on Sakura.

It wasn’t his fault, it’s not like he wanted to kiss sasuke or anything it’s because sakura accidentally pushed him that he fell and unfortunately kissed sasuke but she not only blamed him she nearly beat him to death but the worst thing she said to sasuke when she thought no one was hearing

“He’s so annoying and loud. Do you know why? It’s because he doesn’t have a mother nor father. No one raised or taught him the right way, He just does whatever he wants!” Sakura let out sigh while shacking her head “If I did something like Naruto, my parents would scold me immediately and I would get in problem so, of course, I won’t do it. But if you are like Naruto, then how would you know?” She lamented with another sigh “He’s so selfish, bratty and- Sasuke-kun?”

Sakura see Sasuke already walk to the door, planning to go out too so she stop talking

“Sasuke-kun? Where you going? Our teacher could-”

“All alone…” Sasuke spoke in low voice, but Sakura still heard it “Alone by himself, you don’t have even slightest idea how it feels.” He said coldly while still not looking at her and Sakura’s eyes widened in shock.

“W-Why are you saying that?” She asked in shock.

Sasuke turned to her from his shoulder and for a moment Sakura swear his eyes were red instead of usual black.

“You, who lives in your fantasy and cuddling by your parents, what do you know about us? About us, who live alone without parents.” He commented coldly and Sakura paled as she realized that Sasuke also became orphan.

“I… I… S-Sasuke-kun I don-”

“You, who is ignorant to people hardships and only lives in happy fantasies. Don’t you dare to speak like that about someone who is alone…” He cut her coldly “People like you… Make me sick…” He spat with disdain and venom clear in his voice and Sakura’s eyes widened, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes “You are annoying… Don’t talk to me anymore.” He stated before he turned and slammed the door close, only to find naruto standing there with a sad smile on his face and tears rolling out

“I am sorry”…..was the last thing sasuke muttered before going away from him

Naruto’s liking of the girl had sprung up on the first day of the Academy. He wasn’t sure where the classroom was thanks to one of the hateful chuunin instructors purposefully pointing him in the wrong direction, but just when he knew he was never going to find the classroom, a timid-looking pink-haired girl wandered by and asked him if he was alright. He had said he was lost with trying to find the right classroom, to which the girl said she would take him to the right one. As it turned out, they were both in the same class anyway. Naruto had made something akin to a friend that day, but also his first crush. Sakura was pretty in her unique way, even when they were very young, so it made sense that he would take a liking to the first person his age that had shown him some degree of kindness. Though, as with so many things for him, that kindness slowly became indifference which then shifted into annoyance when Sasuke became involved. Sakura had been kind at first, but when his marks immediately began to slide and the gap in Academy-graded skill between him the Uchiha became astronomical in size, the girl had quickly withdrawn from contact with him. But he had held out, trying to improve himself just so he could be noticed not just by her but by the rest of the class as something better than just the class clown. But it didn’t seem to matter to Sakura. He was just an annoyance to her, and she never appreciated the fact she sometimes found herself a punching bag for her when she got angry or upset. Maybe it was time to let go.

He shook his head forcefully bringing himself out of his thought process only to see sakura cying

“Sakura-chan, what’s wrong?” Naruto asked concernedly.

“Go away, Naruto…this is your fault and I don’t want you near me,” Sakura spat between sobs.

Naruto made a confused look. “How is it my fault?”

She turned towards him, reddened face wet with tears and feminine rage. “Of course you just had to be so dumb about all of this. I wouldn’t expect any better from you,” Sakura said in a mixed crying snarl. “You never even now when you’re ruining someone else’s chance at happiness by bombarding everyone with your stupid-”

“It’s alright, sakura-chan i won’t be coming in your way to ruin your chance at happiness from now on, goodbye sakura it’s pleasure knowing you”….said naruto with a sad smile

yeah, i think it’s really the time to let go…thought naruto before walking away

And before she really understood what he was doing, Naruto was slowly walking away from her, the pink-haired girl looking at him in shock as he began to leave.

“Naruto… wait!”

But he never listened he just kept walking and in the end disappeared out of her view

Before she knew it, she lost both of her teammates sasuke and naruto

Naruto had always hidden his own sadness and hurt behind a mask, his role as the class clown at the Academy helping him solidify a place among his own generation rather than face a constant wave of rejection that he had received all his life from the ones who knew about the thing he held inside of him. At least around people his own age he found some sort of acknowledgment and acceptance, even if it came at the cost of ever being taken seriously as a shinobi. Maybe it really was time for him to start taking things a little more seriously.