Within the Hokage's office, the air was thick with smoke and quiet observation. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the assembled Jonin team leaders watched the newly minted Genin through the lens of the crystal ball.
"This year's top rookie, Sasuke Uchiha," one of the Jonin murmured, his eyes fixed on the image of the brooding boy.
"The sole survivor of the Uchiha clan?" Kurenai Yuhi asked softly, a trace of pity in her gaze.
"Yes," Hiruzen confirmed, tapping the dregs from his pipe. He looked around the room. "The team assignments have been distributed. You know your roles. Go and make your preparations."
"Yes, sir."
With silent nods, the Jonin vanished in a series of Body Flicker motions, leaving only one man behind.
"Kakashi," Hiruzen said, his voice low. "Stay for a moment."
Once they were alone, Hiruzen placed his hand over the crystal ball, obscuring the image. He packed a fresh bowl into his pipe, the scent of burning leaves filling the silence.
"Kakashi, I need you to pay special attention to one person on your new team."
Hearing this, Kakashi's perpetually lazy posture straightened almost imperceptibly. His visible eye, usually half-lidded and distant, sharpened with a focus that betrayed his ANBU past.
"Is it Sasuke Uchiha?" he asked. It was the logical conclusion. The boy was a prodigy, but the darkness of his past made him a high-risk asset, prone to straying from the village's path.
To his surprise, Hiruzen shook his head, lifting his hand from the crystal ball. The image shifted, panning away from Sasuke to settle on another figure, fast asleep with his head on the desk.
"This is..." Kakashi trailed off. The figure in the loose-fitting yukata was familiar, yet fundamentally different from the boy in his memory.
"Naruto Uzumaki," the Hokage said.
"Eh?" Kakashi couldn't hide his surprise.
As the son of his teacher, Minato Namikaze, and as the village's jinchuriki, Naruto had always been under watch. Kakashi himself had been assigned to monitor the boy during his time in the ANBU. But the Naruto he knew was a loud, orange-clad prankster. This quiet, self-possessed individual was a stranger.
"Do kids really grow this fast?" Kakashi mused aloud.
Hiruzen's hand froze for a second. He didn't reply. To be honest, when he'd first seen the boy's overnight transformation, his immediate fear was that the jinchuriki had been replaced. That fear, coupled with the report of his ANBU guards being knocked unconscious, had nearly driven him to let Danzo and his Root operatives take Naruto into custody.
In the end, he hadn't. Whether it was out of guilt towards the Fourth Hokage or some other lingering sentiment, he couldn't say. But he knew that any instability involving a jinchuriki—a village's ultimate deterrent—could shatter the fragile peace between nations. The information had to be contained.
That was why Hiruzen had met with Naruto himself. The conclusion was… complicated. He was certain the boy was still Naruto, but it was an undeniable fact that his personality and skills had undergone a profound change. A change Naruto himself made no effort to conceal.
"Recently, Naruto has changed drastically," Hiruzen finally said, his voice heavy. "I'm worried someone has been in contact with him in secret." The prime suspect was, of course, his traitorous student, Orochimaru. "From now on, I want you to pay close attention to his every move..."
The secret meeting in the Hokage's office stretched on.
The next day, in the academy classroom, the morning sun crawled across the floor.
"He's so slow," Sakura complained, her chin propped on her desk. She kept stealing glances at Sasuke, who sat beside her in stony silence. Still, maybe this is a good thing, she thought. Being this close to him... She shyly began plotting how to start a conversation.
Her romantic fantasy was promptly shattered by a soft snore.
Ugh, it would be perfect if this third wheel wasn't here.
She shot a glare at Naruto, who was slumped in the seat behind them, fast asleep with his headband pulled over his eyes. Annoyed, Sakura reached out to shake him awake, ready to vent her frustration. But as her hand drew near, her arm froze. The image of Naruto's cold gaze from the day before flashed in her mind, and a shiver ran down her spine.
Whatever. I can't be bothered with him, she rationalized, silently sitting back down.
The classroom door slid open with a soft click, and a silver-haired man ambled in.
"Yo," he said, his voice devoid of energy. "I'm your team's Jonin leader, Kakashi Hatake."
He walked to the front, lazily scrawled his name on the blackboard, and turned his gaze to the three Genin. His eye swept over Sasuke, then Sakura, and finally lingered on the sleeping Naruto. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a piece of chalk spinning through the air. It struck Naruto squarely on the forehead with a sharp crack.
Naruto didn't even stir. His breathing remained slow and even.
"...Could you please wake him up?" Kakashi asked, spreading his hands in a gesture of helpless surrender.
"Hey! Naruto, wake up! The teacher's here!" Eager to follow a Jonin's instruction, Sakura forgot her earlier fear and shook Naruto's shoulder.
He pulled the headband from his face, let out a massive yawn, and his eyes met Kakashi's. "Ah, hello," he said, offering a casual wave, not a hint of embarrassment on his face.
The corner of Kakashi's mouth, hidden beneath his mask, twitched. He had a feeling this student was going to be a handful.
"Alright," he said, quickly regaining his professional composure. "Let's start with some introductions. Tell me what you like, what you hate, your hobbies, dreams, that sort of thing. Let's... start with you."
He pointed at Sasuke, who lowered his steepled hands. "Uchiha Sasuke," he said, his voice cold. "There are many things I hate, and not much that I like." Sakura's shoulders slumped. "As for dreams... what I have is more of an ambition. I will restore my clan, and I will kill a certain man."
The raw ruthlessness in his eyes was undisguised, chilling the air in the room.
"Okay. Good. Next," Kakashi said, his tone unchanging as he pointed to Sakura.
She swallowed nervously. "My name is Haruno Sakura. What I like is..." She glanced at Sasuke, her meaning obvious to everyone but the three males in the room. "What I hate is... spicy food." She had been about to say she hated Naruto, but the words had somehow changed on their own.
"Alright. And finally, you."
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki," he began, a genuine smile touching his lips. "I like good food and fine wine." He paused, his smile fading slightly. "As for what I hate... probably people who betray their comrades."
Sakura didn't react, but both Sasuke and Kakashi stiffened, the words striking a nerve in each of them. The atmosphere grew heavy.
"You like good food and fine wine? Is that all?" Kakashi asked, attempting to break the tension with a lighthearted tone.
"Hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei, you really don't get it at all," Naruto said, standing up with an air of profound importance. He looked at them all with the gravity of a seasoned philosopher.
"You see," he declared, "only good food and fine wine will never betray you."
His matter-of-fact delivery left the other three utterly speechless.
"Ahem. Very good," Kakashi finally managed, clearing his throat. "The three of you have... very distinct personalities. Well then, tomorrow, we will officially begin our first mission." He wrote a time and place on the blackboard.
"Sensei, what kind of mission?" Sakura asked, a knot of anxiety forming in her stomach.
"Heh heh," Kakashi chuckled, the sound low and unsettling. "A survival exercise." His eye suddenly sharpened, the lazy Jonin replaced by a hardened veteran.
"And in this exercise, if you fail, I will personally send you back to the Academy."
[Chapter Complete]
***
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