Chiko walked into the academy classroom, his forehead protector safely bound around his head, feeling proud. He was a Genin! Soon, he would start to take missions with his team. All Genin were assigned to a Jonin, an elite ninja to train them, like his mother! Though his mother didn't train any genin teams, not since she had him. His parents alternated who would go on missions outside the village to make sure one of them was always there to look after him. Looking around, there were 27 genin in the room. What surprised him though was that Naruto was there. Naruto Uzumaki, the dead last, whom they had all seen fail the graduation exam, "aren't you in the wrong room?" He asked, "in here, the genin will be assigned their Jonin sensei's and you… well, you failed, didn't you?"
"You see this forehead protector? I am a genin too, believe it!"
"If you say so…"
"Where is Sakura chan?", Naruto asked, looking around, trying to spot the girl.
"Sakura? You mean the pink haired girl with the big forehead? I think she was held back due to not passing more than half the physical conditioning classes because she had to 'diet for her Sasuke'"
"Really? Bummer… I was hoping to be in a team with her…"
"Well, tough shit but life moves on… can I sit next to you?"
"Sure!" Naruto's gloomy aura was replaced with a happy expression. It made Chiko chuckle. He liked the kid. He never gave up, even when he had no chance of winning. He admired the tenacity.
Iruka sensei walked in, carrying a clipboard with him, "starting today, all of you are shinobi! But you are still only genin… the hard journey that lies ahead has only just begun. You will soon receive missions to help the village. So today, we will create the three man teams… and each will have a Jonin sensei. You will follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions. We tried to balance each team's strength…" he called out team after team, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was of course together for another generation. These three had no doubt that they would be put together, so they didn't even listen to the announcements, "... now team seven is Naruto Uzumaki, Chiko Zawa and Sasuke Uchiha"
"Iruka sensei! Why does and outstanding shinobi like myself have to be on the same team as that prick over there?!" Naruto protested, pointing at the brooding boy.
"Sasuke's grades were the best out of all 27 graduating students and you are… dead last. Do you understand? We have to balance the teams, right?"
"Bah, just don't get in my way", Sasuke said, not even looking at Naruto or Chiko for that matter, "dead last"
"What did you just call me?!" Naruto jumped on the desk and raged.
"Your Jonin sensei's will meet you here in two hours, until then, go eat or something"
Naruto's tirade was interrupted by his stomach growling, "yeah… food sounds good"
Chiko went to a BBQ place, eating as if he had all the time in the world.
Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, huh? He liked Naruto but couldn't shake the fear that he would drag him and Sasuke down. Both of them were at the relative top of the class, with Sasuke being the absolute top and Chiko a few ranks down. Then again, he had to have done something pretty impressive if he was still allowed to graduate despite failing the exam. Had he awakened a kekkei genkai too? That was within the realms of possibility, though, most likely, Naruto would've been bragging about it, if that was the case. Then what else could it have been?
He had heard of a genin a year ago that failed the graduation exam and was still permitted to graduate, because a Jonin vouched for him… maybe Naruto was the same. Had their Jonin Sensei seen something within the blonde boy that no one else had?
Only one way to find out, he supposed.
Chiko payed for his meal before heading back.
One team after another was picked up by their Jonin sensei, until only team seven remained.
"Why is our team seven sensei so damn late?!" Naruto asked after the second hour had elapsed, "all the other teams have gone with their sensei's… even Iruka sensei has left!"
A mischievous smirk appeared on his face as he placed a dusty sponge above the door, ready to fall if anyone entered, "that's what you get for being late!"
"Pfft- as if a Jonin, an elite ninja, would fall for that little booby trap", Sasuke chuckled, which sounded weird coming from his mouth.
To all their surprise, the booby trap actually worked and their sensei, a grey haired Jonin with his forehead protector covering one of his eyes, was dusted.
"Hahahaha! You fell for it!" Naruto laughed.
Chiko had to admit, it was actually kinda funny.
"What can I say, you guys? My first impression of you guys is… I hate you", their sensei said with a jovial tone, as if he was talking about good weather. He led them to the roof, "well, let's begin with introducing yourselves, your likes and dislikes, any hobbies or dreams for the future, y'know, that sort of thing?"
"Why don't you introduce yourself to us first?" Naruto asked and even the brooding Sasuke nodded.
"Oh me? Well, my name's Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes… dreams for the future? Hmmm… and I have lots of hobbies"
"All he told us was… his name?"
"Now it's your turn, startingon the right", Kakashi sensei pointed at Naruto.
"Yo! My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I love instant ramen in a cup, though I love it even more to prank. I dislike the three minutes till the ramen is cooked and my dream is… to surpass the Hokage and then have the people of the village and the world at large acknowledge my existence!"
That was… surprisingly sad.
"Next"
"The name is Chiko Zawa, I like developing and learning new techniques and I dislike cowards. My dream is to make my mark on this world and make the Zawa clan the most powerful!" He smiled brightly.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are lots of things i don't like and not many I do and… i can't call it a dream, more like an ambition to ressurect my clan and kill a certain person so that I can finally be myself again"
Be himself again? What weird wording that was but no need to read further into that.
"So far for the introductions. Tomorrow, we'll start our duties as shinobi"
"What kind of duties?"
"First, we will do something with just the four of us, some survival training. This won't be normal training however… I will be your opponent! Hehehehe"
"What's so funny?" Chiko grew impatient.
"Well… when I tell you, you'll totally freak out! Of the 27 graduating students, only nine will be chosen to become Genin, the rest will be sent back to the academy. This survival training is a difficult exam. It has a fail rate of 66 percent!"
The three of them were stunned in silence. Two thirds of the graduates would be sent back? Why even let them graduate at that point?
"I told you, you'd freak out, hehehe"
"No way! I've worked so hard! What's the point of graduating then?!" Naruto spoke what Chiko thought.
"Oh that? That was just to root out the truly helpless cases. Anyway, tomorrow, you have to show your skills in the training field, bring all the shinobi tools you have and… skip breakfast, you might throw up! Don't be late tomorrow!"