Naruto : Monsters

"You'd be surprised." I deadpanned to my mother and silently sent a quick prayer for poor Tenten's sanity. Then I spun around and left the room, "And now I better get back and change, I'm going to have to skip breakfast as it is if I want to make it on time."

"Ah, wait Hikaru," Naruto glanced back at my mother, who held her arms open for a hug, before rushing out of the room. "Don't leave me alone with her!"

Naruto slammed the door behind her before hurrying after me, only slowing down when she reached closed enough to snatch up my hand.

"Really," I rolled my eyes at the girl, ignoring the way she clung onto my hand, having long gotten used to it. "How are you supposed to call yourself a Genin if my own civilian mother can send you running?"

Naruto had always been a physically affectionate person. Hugs, holding hands, clinging to my back – she loved those kinds of things and couldn't seem to get enough of it. These days she wouldn't hesitate to make use of any opportunity to sneak a hug in.

She wasn't like that in the beginning. I still remember the first she tried to hold my hand. It was almost like watching a cat trying to sneak up on its prey, slow and cautious; as if she were afraid I'd yank my hand away at the last minute. Then more enthusiastically once she became more sure of herself, until she began to disregard any form of the word personal space and just glomped me whenever she felt like it.

Once she even tried to tackle-hug me when she spotted me walking by her apartment. And by that, I meant she was inside her apartment, up on the 7th floor, when she saw me crossing the street through her window. And of course since this was Naruto we were talking about, it did nothing to deter her from trying to glomp me.

I only realized what was happening when I looked up and found Naruto falling from the sky with her arms held wide open, yelling at me to catch her. And being the reasonable person that I was, I naturally ignored her request, side-stepped out of the way and watched her tear through the sidewalk.

What? Did you think I would try to catch her? Do you know how much force people could generate when they fell off a building? She'd have crushed me like a pancake. 

Besides, she was fine, a fall like that barely even bruised her, I knew better than anyone how ridiculously tough Naruto's body could be. The side-walk, on the other hand, wasn't anywhere near as tough. The poor thing had a Naruto-shaped hole in it for weeks.

Sometimes I wondered if I was a sadist because that memory had me breaking out in laughter for weeks.

Naruto blushed at my comment, her cheeks reddening, "But I can't help it. Your mum is just so different from the rest of your family that I just don't know how to deal with her."

"That's true I suppose." I nodded, there was no denying that. Mom was the black sheep of the Hyuugas alright. Then I smirked at the blonde when I noticed something. "You do realize that you're going to have to go back don't you." I looked pointedly down at the Kimono that Naruto was still wearing, "My mother still has your clothes."

Yup, that confirms it; I definitely was a sadist, because I could not help but find the look of stunned horror that slowly dawned on Naruto's face almost heartwarming.

...

"Alright, quiet down everyone and get back to your seats."

The classroom door slid open and in walked Iruka, clipboard in hand. Walking up to the podium at the front of the room, he turned to face the class. He said nothing at first, just took a moment to look from face to face, wearing a proud smile. 

"From this day forth, you are no longer students of the Academy but ninjas of Konoha. Nor are you children any longer. As Genin you are now officially part of Konoha's military and are hereby granted all the rights and responsibility of a fully grown adult, no matter what your age maybe."

Iruka patiently waited for the excited whispers that sprung up at his words to quiet down before he carried on. "While there may be many benefits to becoming a Genin there are also a lot of downsides. 

As adults in the eyes of the law, you can no longer get away with actions that you may have been able to in the past, not without serious consequences." His eyes pointedly lingered on Naruto, who just let out an awkward chuckle and smiled sheepishly in return.

Iruka sighed before carrying on.

"I will now announce your group assignments." He held up the list, "All of these teams have been handpicked by the Hokage himself and are not negotiable. So if you have any complaints be sure to take it up with him." He looked around the room to make sure everyone understood before he coughed into his fist and began reading out the teams.

"Team 1, Assigned to the Jonin-"

I blocked out the rest of his words in favour of examining the rest of the class, it's not like Iruka had anything important to say until he reached team 7 and beyond. A quick count around the room gave me the number of Genin that would be assigned their own Jonin instructor.

Only twenty-seven, huh? That was less than 7% of the four hundred and forty-two students that enrolled into the Academy with us. It wasn't that the other children dropped out, most of them were actually graduating today, rather the others simply haven't proven themselves worthy of their own Jonin instructors.

Jonin are rare. They are the very best that Konoha had to offer, its elite, and they made up only a small portion of its ninjas. 

There was simply no way that they could assign one to every group of Genin that made it out of the Academy. Only the top of the crop ever get their own Jonin instructor. Most are either assigned to Chuunin instead while others are sent over to the Medical or Research division for further specialized training.

The Academy began to divide us up within our first year, and they continued to separate us even further each year after. It wasn't just grades that determined which group you got assigned to but your overall potential. Things such as intelligence, bloodlines, skills, chakra and more were taken into account. Which explained how Naruto ended up in this group in the canon.

I glanced over to my left, where the blonde in question was fidgeting in her seat as she anxiously waited for our teams to be announced. Even if Naruto had ended up as the dead last she would have still made it into this group. 

Her status as a Jinchuuriki along with her insane chakra capacity would have all but guaranteed it. They would have been stupid to waste such potential no matter what her grades had been.

I spared one more look around the room and spotted the rest of the famed 'Konoha 11'.

Behind us, Choji was who, as usual, was enjoying a pack of chips he had somehow managed to sneak into class. While next to him the lazy Nara, Shikamaru, was trying to get in a few extra minutes of sleep. Down to one side of the room sat Shino, entirely on his own, though going by the constant buzzing noise that came from his jacket that statement might not be entirely accurate.

Akamaru let out an eager bark from his seat on top of his partner's head while Kiba lounged on his chair, his crossed legs set on the desk in front of him. Off to the back of the room were Ino and Sakura, the happy pair whispering excitedly to each other about something.

"Team 7," I snapped my attention back to the present as Iruka finally reached to the important part, "are assigned to the Jonin Hatake Kakashi, and will consist of Hyuuga Hikaru, Uzumaki Naruto-"

"HELL YEAH!" Naruto leapt up from her seat and cheered before turning to me. "Did you hear that Hikaru? We did it, we're on the same team!"

I just smiled up in amusement at the ecstatic blonde before pointing towards the front of the class. Naruto turned her head to where I was pointing and found herself staring into the stern visage of an thoroughly unamused Iruka.

"Ah-ahahaha," Naruto rubbed the back of her head and sunk back into her seat. "Sorry Iruka-sensei."

Iruka just stared at her until he was certain he wasn't going to be interrupted again. "Ahem, as I was saying. Team 7 will consist of Hyuuga Hikaru, Uzumaki Naruto and –"

When Iruka announced the last member of our team, the dead last of the class, I blinked in surprise, never expecting it to be him, before a large grin slowly formed on my face. I turned to look at Naruto, only to find her already looking back at me, sporting a perfect reflection of my grin.

Then as one we both turned in our seats to look behind us, where the final member of team 7 sat.

A pair of tired beady eyes stared back at us, first locking onto my face before jumping to Naruto's. Then their owner shut his eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"…Troublesome."

...

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