Symphony (Konoha School Of Arts)

4. Auditions And Talent Hunts

The next few weeks found Naruto practicing hard for the KSA talent hunt. He worked out the best song to use, which choreography to use and what he wanted to tell through the dance so he was confident by the time the auditions came.

His jaw dropped at the sheer size of the school. The maroon brick walls of the place was beautified with different colours of bougainvillea along with beautiful horticulture. A big black gate marked the entrance of the school, leading to a big front lawn which had a sculpted seraphim as a fountain. Perfectly mowed carpet grass stretched out en masse, being separated by cemented walk paths with ornamental shrubs on either side. The building itself was brick brown with white pillars and big golden letters spelling out 'KONOHA SCHOOL OF ARTS' and the leaf symbol of the school engraved beside the letters.

"Is this a school or a mansion?!" Naruto rasped in awe.

"Don't worry, it's a lot bigger than it looks." Iruka's attempt to calm him down only made him giddier. The school was bustling with activity. Different streamers and banners decorated the place but not as much as the amount of costumes. There were so many people with so many talents, it was impossible for him to pass!

They were given number tags according to their registration numbers and were told to wait for their turns in a hall. The auditions were streamed on a screen in the hall for the participants to watch. It was amazing. Naruto's seat was beside a girl's. Her chestnut brown hair was in two distinctive buns on her head which was something Naruto noticed first about her. The next thing he noticed was her clothes which consisted of baggy cargo shorts and a red baggy hoodie. She also carried an old eighties' radio which Naruto vaguely wondered if they worked.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome to Konoha School of Arts first talent hunt, I am your host Shiranui Genma and I would now introduce the judges." A voice spoke from the PA system which belonged to a man wearing a bandana over his head with a toothpick in his mouth.

Naruto wasn't really paying attention so he only got the judges names. The woman among them with black layered hair and red unique eyes was Yuhii Kurenai, the man in green was Might Gai and the man with a beard was Sarutobi Asuma. The blond was proud of himself for even remembering their names.

"You need two approvals from the judges in order to pass this audition but don't rejoice yet, you still have to be shortlisted by the judges in order to be enrolled. Those that made it would be informed via email. So then, let's get the auditions started."

There were lots of performances, some were good enough for the judges approval, some were good to Naruto but not to the judges, some were just bad, some were boring and some were funny. Some people went off key in singing while others forgot the lyrics in nervousness. Some dancers fell in the middle of a stunt, some instrumentalist forgot how to play, some were too confident and when they ended up failing they started hounding the judges for impartial judgement.

"Contestant #59, Nara Shikamaru."

After a few minutes of waiting and no Nara appeared, they made the announcement again. That was when a sleeping dude in front of Naruto was startled awake by the guy beside him. "You're number 59 dude!" Said boy yawned and muttered something before dawdling to the audition room. Naruto sweat dropped at the boy's attitude. It was like he didn't care at all.

"You are Nara Shikamaru?" Judge Kurenai asked.

Shikamaru, a teen with jet black long hair packed up in a ponytail which reminded Naruto so much of a pineapple and droopy brown eyes, responded. "Hai." And he sighed. "What a drag."

"What's with this dude?" The girl beside Naruto asked nobody in particular. "It's like he doesn't want to be here." Naruto couldn't agree more.

"So Shikamaru, let's hear you." Gai said and Shikamaru started his presentation.