Chapter shout out! skybluelover123, superfangirl13, -SunBurst-, AwkwardDuckling_97, and KysVagarian.
I don't own Naruto
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"So, you think someone in the village, most likely a very skilled jounin, is suspicious of you?" Gramps blew out a small cloud of smoke from his pipe. I nodded as I fiddled with his hat as I leaned against the window, my back to the village.
"I think so. I know someone was watching me two nights ago at the training grounds, a while after Naruto had returned the scroll and you sent that ANBU to let me know of what had happened. When I tried to confront who it was, they fled."
"Was that before or after you threw a kunai at them?"
"Uh..." I scratched the side of my cheek and set his hat down on the desk. "It roughly happened all at the same time. And whoever it was, they not only dodged my kunai, but took it with them."
"That, or you need to work on your aim some more Harmony," I gave Gramps a slightly withering look.
"Haha, very funny," I retorted back, knowing not to take it personally. Gramps smiled back in return.
"Yes, it was. Now, go, or you'll miss to see who shall be your new teammates and sensei. And I'll make sure to see who it was who saw you the night before last."
I leaned over and gave him a quick tight hug. "Thank you for doing all of this."
"It's my pleasure Harmony. But you do know that someday you might end up having to reveal your past," he said suddenly, releasing himself from my hold so he could look me in the eyes.
"Why?" I blinked in confusion and put some more space between us. "Didn't we say that if Naruto passed, fully, I would support him from afar, and when we thought that he was no longer alone and could lean on others, I would just disappear, go a couple villages over and restart my life."
"That was one of our plans, your ideas, but I still think that you should stay in the village, support Naruto not from a distance, but up close. And you don't have to leave to have a life again."
I shook my head. "I'm not sure if I could. I still haven't fully accepted what has happened to me, but as long as this place feels unnatural to me a times, I won't be able to stay." I couldn't help but take a few more steps back and lower my head when I say the disappointed and sad look in his eyes.
"I-I'm sorry. I just can't think about this right now. I need more time to sort things out in my own head..." I did a curt bow from the waist. "I'll be taking my leave now, Hokage-sama." After I straightened my back I fled his office, and ran down all of the stars the ran around the outside until my shoes hit the dirt. Then I took a few deep breaths and straightened out my clothes, a variation from the traditional clothes from my clan, and identical to the outfit I had wore before I... Disappeared. A light purple crop jacket that went off my shoulders slightly and had a longer left sleeve that almost hid that hand completely, a powered blue tank top, a long dark blue half skirt with the slit on the right side, black shorts, standard issue shinobi sandals, my legs wrapped up to my knees almost, my hair down for the first time since I arrived, the ends hanging down close to my waist and my bangs covering my left eye slightly. And last but not least. my head band was tied about my hips like a belt, blending into the fabric of the skirt that revealed my whole right leg. I hadn't bothered with putting any of my pouches on today, seeing as they weren't needed, but without them I almost didn't feel complete.
"Well, there goes nothing." I muttered under my breath as I ran a hand through my free long hair, letting it fall back down to it's natural spot before I opened the doors to the academy.
My mind was fairly blank the whole walk to the classroom, not wanting to think about who will be my 'new' teammates, but all of the was shoved clear out of my mind when I opened the sliding door.
"What.. What that hell?" I said out loud when I realized that Naruto and Sasuke's lips were touching, like they were kissing. I stood there for a few seconds, shocked, before a thought ran through my mind.
'I really have the worst timing, and Naruto needs to rethink his standards a bit. Maybe go for a guy that actually likes him.'
I tried to calmly walk over to my desk as Sasuke and Naruto separated yelled, and began to both gag. But internally I couldn't help but laugh as most of the female population in the class tried to protect 'Sasuke-kun's' innocents from Naruto. I did think of going over to help him, but just looking at how the girls were acting made me not. I didn't feel like being killed via fan girl.
So instead of watching Naruto get shamelessly beat, I observed the rest of the class, noticing that at least a quarter of my 'classmates' were not here, and had not passed the first stage. Unfortunately. Ryoke was not, and he was sitting in the middle rows, flashing his headband like he was the only one how earned it.
The class was practically chaotic for a few more minutes before Iruka walked into the class with a clipboard. Everyone ran to their seats before Scarface could have know what was going on, and I saw that Naruto was looking a little worse for wear when he finally settled down in his seat with a few new bruises and bumps, but I knew Naruto would be okay
"Good morning class. You should all be very proud of yourselves right now. Starting today, all of you are real shinobis, but you are only genins, so the hard journey that lies ahead has just begun," Iruka started his little speech that all instructors said to the graduating class. "Now, you will soon be assigned missions to help out the village, so today we will create three man squads, but because of the uneven number of who had passed the exam, one squad will be assigned a fourth member. Each squad will have a jounin sensei, and all of you will follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions. And remember, when we assign you to a certain squad, it's to balance out the strength of the squad."
"What!?!" many people in the class cried out, obviously thinking that they themselves would be able to pick their teams, but now knew that the might be assigned to be with some people that they didn't like or was their friends.
"Oh settle down, you'll get used to your squad members over time. Now to start off. Squad one, Yakuna Yamura, Hikaru Nataga, and Maxmilian Clemens." The first three looked around and all nodded at the they new members, accepting who was picked.
"Squad two, Ryoke Kimisewa, Sawako Kajiwara, and Purdie Green," I frowned slightly when I saw Ryoke's smirk. 'Of course he would be the only guy...'
"Squad three, Alexina Monday, Utamara Hayuata, and Lev Atterberry," Utamara shouted out 'no' when he was placed with Alexina for some reason.
"Squad four, Eijiro Matsuzawa, Izumi Sasukria and Chikao Yone. Squad five, Keila Eccleston, Lisa Yone, Lazar Bone," The twins, Chikao and Lisa looked at each other and hugged.
"Squad six, Yoshitora Kawagichi, Kahori Miyoshi, Mako Hatakeda," it was a little odd that there was no reaction from any of the three after their name were called... Weird. It was a little unsettling that I had been not called out, nor had the four man squad been made.
"Okay... Next is squad 7. Haruno Sakura, Naruto Uzumaki-"
"YEAH!!" Naruto jumped up and yelled as Sakura slumped down.
"Sasuke Uchiha-"
"HELL YEAH!!" Sakura yelled out as Naruto's face hit the desk.
"And... Harmony Kakureta," I jumped up and accidentally made my hands slap my desk a little too forcefully.
"WHAT?!!" I yelled out in shock. I stared at Iruka, demanding an answer for him, but he wouldn't look up from his clipboard. 'He and Gramps fucking planned this!!!' I was still standing until I realized that everyone was looking up at me, so I slowly slinked back into my desk and laid my head on my desk, trying to pretend that I was invisible, and that nothing had happened.
"Okay, continuing on. Squad eight, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka. Squad 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimiki," because my head was being introduced to my desk again, I wasn't able to see any of their reactions, but going by how little noise there was after squad 7, everyone was happy, at least a little, with their squads. Unlike me right now.
'I am seriously going to have a lengthy talk with Gramps, Hokage or not.' I thought to myself as Iruka was saying that after lunch we would meet our new senseis after lunch, and that we could go for a break. I stayed at my seat, even when Iruka came over, after everyone had left, to see how I was.
"I'm fine Scarface. Just please let me rage internally alone," He sighed before saying that he would come back in five minutes. After he had left I lifted one of my hands and showed on of the roof's corners the middle finger because I knew that Gramps would be looking in with with magic crystal ball.
'Everything better not go downhill from here if I decide to go along with this. Damn you Gramps. Damn you.'
--FF--
So a while after I silently rages internally and all the other squads had met their senseis, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and I were all staring boredly at the door, awaiting ours, who was at least forty five minutes late. Well, Naruto was actually poking his head out into the hall very fifteen seconds, but still, we were all waiting.
"Naruto, just sit down or something," Sakura told him as she leaned against one of the benches in the front.
"Why does our sensei have to be so damn late!! All the other teams have gone with their senseis, and Iruka sensei had also left," Naruto grumbled, pulling his back into the room. I couldn't help but think that Naruto had a point to be slightly angry. 'It's almost as if Obito was our sensei.' I let out a little humourless chuckle at that, but doing so made at other three look at me, so I turned my head to look out the window.
I didn't turn my head when I heard someone move and sit down next to me. "What's funny?" Sakura asked, obviously trying to fill up the time talking to the only other female genin. I tilted my head slightly to look at her through the corner of my eyes before looking back outside.
"It's nothing. It's just that our sensei reminds me a lot of a childhood friend of mine who was always late," offhandedly I said this, not really wanting to talk all that much. I couldn't get attached to any of these kids, which was going to be a little difficult with Naruto, who had already tried to pester me after they got back from break.
"Really? What is their name?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"He's no one."
"Oh... I see," Sakura replied, finally understanding that I wasn't in a talking mood, so she got up and, I think, moved back to her original spot. "Hey!! What are you doing Naruto?!"
Unfortunately, this got my curiosity so I turned to see what was going on.
"Hihihihi, that's what you get for being late," Naruto chuckled as he finished jabbing the chalk eraser in the slightly open door to 'punish' our sensei, then jumping down to the ground.
"Pfft, like a jounin would fall for that," Sasuke said, and I could hear the smirk that he was hiding behind his intertwined fingers.
'You would be surprised,' I thought to myself as I looked to the door again when I sensed someone there. I watched as whoever it was place their fingers around the doors edge and began to pull it back.
Now, a normal person would sit with a little suspense to see if someone did fall for the childish prank, but I felt all the blood in my body run cold and my heartbeat suddenly spike when they stuck their head through the opening, letting the eraser bounce off his head and then land on the floor.
"My first impression of your four is... You're all idiots."
--On the roof--
Even though at least ten minutes had gone by, I couldn't help but start at the man before me. Even if he had thirteen years to mature, I would have recognized him and his voice anywhere. If I was standing in a field filled with a thousand other people, I would always be able to pick Kakashi out. And that fact made me feel very torn inside. This was still Kakashi, my best friend. the one that shared so many memories with me, but he had all grown up and most likely changed... Maybe even accepted that I had 'died' and moved on.
'But then again... If he had then why is he assigned to this team. Wait!! Did Gramps tell him that I was back?! What is going on here??!' I was begin to feel even more torn about this, not knowing what I was doing right now. So many things were conflicting right now, and I was so deep in thought that I didn't noticed that we had stopped walking and that Naruto was waving a hand in front of my face.
"OI! Earth to Harmony! We're introducing ourselves!" Naruto said when he noticed that I had come too. I blinked a few times and looked around, seeing that Sakura and Sasuke were looking a little weirdly at me and Kakashi... He was just looking bored.
"Oh... 'kay, right, sorry," I mumbled as I took my seat next to Naruto.
"Well, seeing as our fourth member is finally back with us, let's begin," Kakashi said, his voice only muffled ever so slightly because he still wore his mask. I also noticed that he wore his headband so it covered his left eye.
'Now that I think about it. Even though it's foggy, when he and Obito were running to save Rin and I, he had the same eye bandaged. I wonder if it never healed right, even with medical ninjutsu.'
"What do you want to know sensei?" Sakura questioned. I wasn't thinking when I opened my mouth.
"He means you likes, your dislikes, dreams for the future, and hobbies. Simple things," I rested my chin in my hand as I said this, and looked away from everyone so I wouldn't see their reaction.
"Hey, hey. Why don't you introduce your to us first?"
"Yeah, you look kinda suspicious..." commented Naruto and Sakura, and as always, I noticed that Sasuke stayed silent still.
"Oh.. Me? Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I have my likes and dislikes, I don't think I want to tell you four my dreams for the future. And as or hobbies..." he shrugged. "I have lots."
"All we learned was his name!" Sakura whispered, clearly not happy.
"Now it's your turn, let's start on the left," Kakashi pointed to Naruto, who I was sitting left of, so I would probably be picked to go next. Naruto started to go off about ramen, pranks, hating to have to wait for the ramen to cook, and about him becoming Hokage, because then people would have to acknowledge him finally.
I knew that his dream stuck a nerve in both Kakashi and I for numerous reasons, but Kakashi played it off better than I did.
"Interesting. Now you, with the red hair," he pointed at me, looking as if he could care less. I took a breath to collect myself slightly before beginning.
"My name is Harmony Kakureta, a new transfer student here. I like to draw, play music, eat strawberries, and this village very much. Everyone is so welcoming," I said with my best smile, but then it fell a little. "I dislike nosey people, tattoos, snakes, rats, and the fact that the last time I was in a rough spot I ran away like a scared mutt. My dream for the future is to rediscover the past. And I have to say my favourite hobby is annoying a old friend of mine who likes to act like he doesn't know me," the last part was a little jab at Kakashi, just to see how he would react, but he once again brushed it off.
After I was finished Sasuke went, and it was very depressing and dark. Though the fact that the entire Uchiha clan had been wiped out, and that he was going to kill a certain man for some reason. 'Who in their right mind would even think about attacking the Uchiha's?! And succeed?! Geez, I'm gone for thirteen years and the world has turn on it's head!!'
And lastly went Sakura, who I could barely hear over her squealing as she tried to explain her likes and dreams for the future. I let out a sad sigh and shook my head. 'Extreme fan girls...'
"Well, it seems that everyone has different personalities, this should be interesting," Kakashi said, wrapping up the introductions. "Tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobis."
"Yeah!! What kind of duties!!?"
"Before we can get to that, first we are going to do something with just the four, I mean five, of us."
"What is it? What is it?"
"Survival training," Kakashi answered Naruto's enthusiasm. "And this won't be any of the normal training you did in the academy. This time I'm your opponent." then he began to laugh lightly, and I must say, it sounded quite evil.
'You know... He seems a lot more in-tune with his emotions like he was when we were really young. He doesn't give a cold and strict vibe that much anymore..' I mused over as Sakura asked what was so funny.
"Um.. Well, it's just that... When I tell you this, you guys are totally going to freak out," he said, still laughing slightly, and his right eye was now closed in what I thought was amusement.
'Why would we freak out? It's just survival training- Oh! He's going to pull a Gramps move to test us.'
"Out of the twenty eight graduates, only nine will be chosen to become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy," as he said this his voice got lower and he leaned in, so a shadows covered most of his face, making the entire effect much more dramatic. "The training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate if over sixty five percent!"
I have to say, looking at the other three's faces after being told this, Naruto's panic and freak out face was the funniest, though it looked like he was going to pass out. And Sasuke's was the most boring, the only way you could see that he was a little freaked was that his intertwined fingers clench slightly and he was now glaring more..
Kakashi stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at everyone's reaction, just as I was, before laughing. "Hahaha! I told you you'd freak out! Haha!"
"WHAT?! NO WAY! BUT WE WORKED SO HARD!! THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF GRADUATING?!"
'And when you sit next to Naruto, what's the point trying to save what little hearing you have left....'
"Oh, that? That was just to select those who have the chance to become genin... Anyway," Kakashi continued on, ignoring Naruto shout. "Tomorrow you have to show your real skills in the training ground. Bring all the shinobi tools you have. Oh... And skip breakfast, you might end up throwing up."
I interally scoffed. 'Lie' I thought to myself as Kakashi handed each of us a paper with the details. I studied him when he handed me one, but he once again acted as if there was nothing wrong or amiss. 'Does he seriously not know?'
"Oh, and don't be late tomorrow," was the last thing he said to all of us before using a transportation jutsu and 'poofing' away.
"Well, this is going to be interesting," I said as I read what was written. And I was right, he was pulling a Gramps on us. I looked at the other three and saw that they were in their own little words, so I didn't bother to say anything to them and left.
'Now, let's go have that talk.'
--ff---
"God damn... It!! Important elder... Meeting.. My ass!" I panted as I wiped some sweat from my brows. In front of my laid what use to be a human sized wood block used for taijutsu training, but after venting my anger on it or a few hours, it had been reduced to a spindled 3 inch stub. But to be fair, I had used some chakra when I wanted to feel the wood cave, and some light paper bombs when what Gramp's said to me ran once again though my head.
"I'm really sorry Harmony, but I think this is for the best,' he stood up from behind his desk and began to make his way to the door, his hands folded behind his back. 'And I really wish I had some time to spare to make you see clearly, but the other elders wanted to hold an important meeting regarding patrols.'
I growled under my breath and pushed some hair that escaped my ponytail and feel on my face away, before kicking a larger piece of splintered wood, sending it into the forest.
"He wouldn't even tell me if he had spoke to Kakashi or not!! That god damn old man is doing this on purpose!!!" I yelled as I watched the wood fly. "If Minato-sensei, Kushina, Obito and Rin had seen how you were acting, they would of had a fit, Hokage-sama!'
'No, they would probably not only agree with him, but go along with.' the calm sane part of me put her two-cents in, making my eyebrow twitch.
"Yes, they would. But I TOLD HIM I. WASN'T. READY!" I shouted back, in one of the few rare moments where I was truly pissed off. I didn't really know why, but when I was this angry I always had a 'conscious' and a very active one, one I could even hold a conversation with. Though I ended up just chalking it up to it being a cause from my clan's cursed insanity.
'Try and calm down and breath. He's only thinking of what's best for you.'
"Ha, yeah right," snarling, I stomped up to the K.I.A. stone, and knelt down. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, silently praying and trying to calm myself down, because really, I can't think when I'm pissed.
"Oh, and Sasuke, you can stop hiding in now. I know you're there," I spoke loudly, but kept my pose. I had sensed him arrive a little bit ago, but once again, when I'm pissed I can't think, so I just let him be.
When he tried to play it off that he wasn't there to see if he could fool me I swore once again, before throwing a shuriken in the direction he was hiding in, and making him leave the tree he was squatting on to dodge, and into plain sight.
"Really Sasuke, it's not polite to spy on someone when their venting, and then ignore them. If anything, you could have just stop hiding and train with me, because as you can see, I am now in need of a sparring partner," I said as I got up and look at him, and smirked when he limped over to what was left of the wooden block. But then I glared and crossed my arms. "Now, seeing as we are both out in the open, why don't you answer a few questions of mine. Why are you here? And how much of my rant did you hear?"
"Hn." he said, glaring back at me. I sighed and shook my head.
"Seriously, you won't answers those? That makes me feel like you have something to hide," I moved like I was going to take a step towards him, but instead when he moved his body more defensively, I flash-stepped so I could appear right behind him. "Don't you dare try anything, Uchiha. I could beat you in ten seconds flat." i said calmly into his ear, like it was a statement, not a threat."
I took a quick leap back when he whirled around, taking the kunai he had reached to grab with me. I pointed the sharp tool at him. "Now, I am trusting you to leave and not say a thing about tonight. Actually, just forget that you even came to the training grounds tonight."
Sasuke scoffed and placed his hands in his pockets, but was still glaring and eyeing the kunai I was pointing at him. "Who are Minato, Kushina, Obito and Rin?" that was the first thing he said to me. My eyes widen slightly, before my glare darkened.
"None of your damn concern," I threw the kunai, imbedding itself in the ground 10 cm from his feet, before I walked to the forest, leaving Sasuke where he was. When I was in the foliage I jumped onto a near by branch and ran through the trees until I got to the other end of the training grounds. Then I travelled by rooftop silently to Gramps home.
"Fuck, I really should have just kept my mouth shut. Now he's doing to seriously now something is up," I slapped my forehead as I leap across an opening.
'Yeah, it's probably best of you did.'
"You shut up."