COTE x Naruto: New Beginnings

Chapter 22: Class Meetings (Gone Wrong?)

"After thorough consideration, you have not been chosen as the VIP."

It was the first day of the Zodiac exam and the Dragon group was holding a meeting. Their aim was to find out which student from their group received a message different from the one Kakashi received.

Kakashi walked in, taking a look at the chaos around him. Really, there was no way that the school picked these particular members randomly.

There was him, Katsuragi for Class A, Kanzaki (who was something of a right-hand man to Ichinose) for Class B, and then Haruno and Kushida, who while not exactly class leaders yet were certainly the most noticeable figures in their class. All that was missing for Class D was Hirata, really.

Then, there were a few more students of course, but Kakashi didn't know much about them.

"Ku ku ku, what an interesting mix," Ryuuen commented as he strolled into the room, a smirk on his lips. Haruno was there already too, already engaged in a conversation with Horikita. Or rather, Horikita was trying to talk to her while Haruno was dodging her attempts, which made Horikita grow visibly more frustrated.

Ryuuen noticed too, because instantly, he walked over to them and plopped into a seat next to Sakura, leaning close to her.

"So we finally meet, Sakura... tell me, how did you do it?" Ryuuen asked loudly, while Sakura tried to back away to him only to bump into Horikita.

"Back off, Ryuuen, and stop calling me by my first name," she growled, glaring at Ryuuen who was currently trying to lean even closer to her, presumably to intimidate her.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel amused at her look of suffering. Haruno turned to Horikita for help, but the girl ignored her.

"What are you even talking about? How did I do what?" Haruno finally responded, seeing no outs out of her situation. Kakashi noted that more people began watching the exchange now. After all, the meeting was supposed to start in five minutes, yet most came earlier to analyze their opponents.

Or perhaps that was just Kakashi's line of thinking.

"How did your class win the island exam, hmm? Cmon, I know you were the one pulling the strings.

Haruno scowled. "What? You're mad, I don't know why we won, ask Horikita or something," she told him blunly, which earned her another glare from Horikita which the girl ignored.

Kakashi was also curious though. How did Haruno think of that plan, and how did she figure out the leader of Class C and Class A? Those were two questions he knew he'd probably not get an answer to, but maybe, Ryuuen would make her answer them.

Surprisingly, it was Katsuragi who broke off the commotion. "Ryuuen, I don't know what you are trying to do, but I doubt this girl is behind anything," he told Ryuuen as he stood up, his piercing eyes looking straight at Ryuuen.

Ryuuen only chuckled. "How naive. Do you find it so hard to believe that someone from another class outsmarted you, Katsuragi?" Ryuuen asked, a shark-like grin on his face. Katsuragi looked back at him blankly and crossed his arms.

"I don't believe anyone finding out about the leaders of our classes was deliberate and the sign of a mastermind, unlike you. It could've been a coincidence. Yahiko was rather careless after all," Katsuragi admitted, not sounding too happy about the defeat.

"Ku ku ku, how interesting... mastermind, you say? I might have to adopt that title myself. Class D's mastermind... I like the sound of that," Ryuuen mused.

Then, another person stood up and cleared their throat. It was Kanzaki from Class B. "I believe our time for this meeting has started. Please stop arguing and let's do what we're supposed to do," Kanzaki told them, a disapproving furrow in his eyebrows. Kakashi was rather surprised to see him having such a high position in Class B. For some reason, Kanzaki really didn't tick Kakashi off as the typical Class B student that was all about socialization. Yet, he held the class's respect.