"I'm in," you replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Great!" Naruto cheered, patting you on the back. "So we'll just sneak into the old man's office, grab the scroll, and go to the place Mizuki-sensei told us about, and train our butts off. It'll be a piece of cake, believe it!"

It turned out, it was as much of a piece of cake as Naruto had promised. It didn't take much to subdue the Hokage. Initially, he had just been about to enter the office when Naruto snuck in through the open window. Naruto immediately distracted him with his Sexy Jutsu, buying you just enough time to steal the scroll and slip back outside with your prize. You met Naruto outside of the Academy building, swelling with pride at your success.

"How did it go?" He asked you eagerly. In answer, you held out the giant scroll. He took it in his hands reverently, and tied it to his back with a length of spare cord. "This holds our only chance to become ninjas," he said seriously. You gave him a small smile in response.

Soon, you had reached the familiar clearing that Mizuki instructed the two of you to meet. Naruto opened the scroll with trembling fingers. You leaned in, and both of you began to read. It was quite simple to understand, and you breathed a sigh of relief that there weren't many hand seals that you needed to memorize. It was just the one clone seal, something you've seen Naruto do plenty of times on television. And thank goodness, it was probably one of the easiest seals there was.

The theory wasn't so bad either. The scroll did warn that the multiple shadow clone technique would use a massive amount of chakra. It wouldn't be a problem for Naruto, but you probably wouldn't have enough to pull it off.

You and Naruto trained well into the night, practising summoning shadow clones until your legs and arms felt like lead. Naruto seemed tired as well, but due to his substantial chakra reserves, he was probably in much better shape.

It was then that Iruka-sensei chose to show up, looking out of breath and terribly annoyed.

"Hey, Naruto, [Name]," he said as he approached, panting.

"Aw man, we got caught!" Naruto said, groaning. He struggled to his feet and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "And we only had time to learn one technique."

Iruka's face took on a conflicting look.

"Hey! [Name]-chan and I are going to show you this great technique, and you'll let us graduate if we can do it, right?"

Iruka's eyes widened. "Who said that to you?"

"Mizuki-sensei," you replied promptly.

"He told us about this place, and the scroll!" Naruto affirmed, jumping up and down. Iruka's pupils contracted as he sensed an unwelcome presence in close proximity. Then he abruptly pushed Naruto and you into the ground.

"Ow!" Naruto complained, rubbing his head. A dozen kunai suddenly whizzed by, narrowly missing your shoulder. Iruka took the full brunt of the attack, as the knives embedded into his chest and pinned him against the nearby shed.

"I'm surprised you found out about this place."

Iruka, breathing hard, looked up to see Mizuki. His eyes hardened. "I see, so that's how it is."

"Naruto, hand over the scroll," Mizuki commanded. He had alighted on the branch above your heads. You noticed the two monstrous shuriken strapped to his back and you gulped audibly.

"Hey…what's going on here?" Naruto squeaked, glancing from the injured Iruka to the smirking Mizuki with a mix of horror and disbelief on his face.

"Naruto, don't let him get the scroll no matter what!" Iruka commanded, wrenching a blood-spattered kunai out of his thigh. "It's filled with dangerous kinjutsu – and Mizuki just used you so he could get it."

"Naruto,!" you cried urgently, trying to reinforce Iruka's message with your own plea. "You have to get out of here. Mizuki will be after you and the scroll."

He snapped out of his daze and clenched his fists, ready to run.

"They're just afraid of you possessing that," Mizuki said dismissively. Naruto eyed him fearfully, rooted to the spot again.

"Don't believe him, Naruto," Iruka pleaded, still struggling to remove the kunai from his body.

Mizuki began to laugh maniacally. "I'll tell you the truth."

"Don't!" Iruka cried frantically, clenching his teeth in obvious pain.

"A rule was created after the incident that occurred twelve years ago. It's a rule that only you, Naruto, cannot find out about."

"Stop, Mizuki!" Iruka yelled, finally freeing himself. But it was too late.

"It's the rule not to say that Naruto is a monster fox. In other words, you are the nine-tailed demon fox who killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village."

Naruto stared, wide-eyed at Mizuki, still frozen.

"No one is ever going to recognize you! Even Iruka hates you!"

He took the opportunity of Naruto's distraction to unfasten one of the shuriken off his back. "Die, Naruto!" Mizuki flipped the shuriken, taking advantage of the momentum, and flung it directly at Naruto.

"Naruto, duck!" Iruka shouted, jumping forwards and intercepting the attack with his own body. You watched in horror, unable to move or to help in any way. It felt as if you were watching it on the TV screen once more. You tried to snap yourself out of this trance, but you also knew that it wasn't your place to interfere. Everything would work out well in the end. All you could do was wait patiently.

So you watched in a stunned silence as Iruka professed his fondness for Naruto. You watched as the tears streamed down his face, and Mizuki's cruel laughter and biting remark that caused Naruto's judgement to sway. You watched as he fled into the woods, Iruka calling after him desperately.

"I'll take care of you later," Mizuki smirked, before taking off into the woods. You prepared to follow, but Iruka held out his arm to stop you.

"No, [Name]. It's too dangerous. I'll go," Iruka ordered, coughing. "You stay here until I get back. You didn't respond, and he bounded off in pursuit of the traitor. After waiting for him to vanish into the forest, you followed stealthily. You didn't want to be left out of the action.

-:-

You stopped abruptly when you heard voices, and cautiously peered around a tree. You spotted Naruto, who was sobbing his heart out behind a nearby tree and guessed that Iruka had just made that infamous life-changing speech. The memory brought tears to your eyes and a small smile to your lips.

"Iruka, I said I would kill you later, but I take that back," Mizuki was saying. "Die now!"

You leapt out of your hiding spot and prepared to do something, anything to help, forgetting about your earlier resolve. But Naruto was faster. He collided into Mizuki, sending him flying into the air, completely taken by surprise. You skidded to a halt beside Naruto, who grinned at you.

"Nice timing!" he said, flashing you the thumbs up as Mizuki struggled to his feet, looking winded. Naruto turned to him, and his expression was positively deadly in comparison to the cocky grin on his face an instant before.

"If you lay a finger on Iruka-sensei…I'll kill you!"

Mizuki took a shuddering breath and the arrogant smirk returned to his face. "I'll be able to take a kid like you anytime." He turned to you, amused. "And what are you going to do, huh, you weakling? Don't think I've forgotten you. You're also a failure!"

"Don't insult my friend, you jerk," Naruto said in a low, dangerous voice, bringing his fingers together into the clone seal. "Anything you try, I'll return a thousand times more damage to you!"

"Why don't you try if you can, you monster fox!" Mizuki yelled, his voice rising in anger.

Naruto turned his head slightly to look at you, the familiar, cheeky smile returning to his battered face. "Hey [Name]-chan. Let's do this!"

You nodded, and imitated his hand seal in a flash.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" you and Naruto shouted in unison. You immediately felt like passing out. The technique had drained a considerable amount of your chakra, and you weren't in the best shape to begin with. Additionally, the number of clones Naruto summoned far surpassed your own, and he was still standing on his own two feet. You studied the hundreds of Naruto shadow clones, envious of his sizeable amounts of chakra. Still though, you were pleased. It seemed both of you had mastered the shadow clone jutsu well after all.

"W-what…?" Mizuki stared in disbelief at the sheer size of the [Name] and Naruto clone army.

"Come and get me!" some of the Naruto clones chimed, all grinning profusely.

"If you're not coming, we are!" the rest cheered in synchronization. A shrill, terrified scream pierced the air as Narutos and [Name]s converged on Mizuki's form. You then dispersed your clones with a quick hand seal, as did Naruto, feeling smugly satisfied.

"Iruka-sensei, are you okay?"

You and Naruto rushed over to him, ignoring and leaving behind the feebly stirring body of Mizuki.

"Yeah…" he said softly, smiling weakly up at you. "Guys, come here for a second. I want to give you something."

You and Naruto approached cautiously, and Iruka nodded encouragingly. "Close your eyes." Both of you did at once.

"Sensei, are you done yet?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"All right, open them."

Your eyes opened slowly, and you saw that Iruka had Naruto's goggles in one hand, and a giant smile stretched his face. "Congratulations. You graduate!"

Your hand crept to your forehead, feeling the unfamiliar weight of a hitai-ate resting there. Your hands traced the Konoha symbol etched in the metal plate as Naruto gazed at Iruka in shock.

"All right, let's celebrate. I'll treat the two of you to ramen!"

Naruto's lips trembled, and he ran forwards and tackled Iruka to the ground in a hug. "Iruka-sensei!"

"Ouch, that hurts!"

You stood a ways away, smiling so wide that your face began to ache. This beautiful bonding moment…it was so much more touching watching it live than on a TV screen.

-:-

The next day, you and Naruto proudly sauntered into the classroom for the explanation meeting, headbands gleaming on both your foreheads. When Iruka began to list the people on Team 6, you shook Naruto awake.

"As for the seventh team, there has been a slight change due to the increase of the number of graduates," Iruka continued. "I will read out the members of this team now. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and [Last Name] [First Name]."

Naruto gave you a high five and beamed at you. "We're on the same team, believe it! Now if only Sasuke-teme wasn't with us, Team 7 would be perfect!"

Sakura glared at Naruto, looking sour. "If only you weren't, then the team would be perfect."

You laughed, drawing comfort from the sound of their ceaseless bickering. It never ceased to amaze you how at home you felt in the shinobi world, with these characters you've always admired, respected, and ah…crushed on for so long.

-:-

"Let's see, why don't you introduce yourselves?"

"Introduce ourselves? What should we say?" Sakura inquired, leaning forwards.

"What you like, hate, your dreams, and hobbies. Something like that."

"Ano-sa, ano-sa, why don't you introduce yourself first, sensei?" Naruto asked, playing with his forehead protector.

"Me?" Kakashi asked, his tone slightly amused. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate…I don't feel like telling you that. As for my dream…" he paused, his eyes flickering over the four of you before continuing. "…I have a few hobbies."

"Well, that was useless. All he really told us was his name," Sakura grumbled, sounding thoroughly annoyed. Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Now it's your turn," Kakashi said, pointing at Naruto. "You first."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup ramen, but I like the ramen at Ichiraku that Iruka-sensei bought for me even more. I hate the three minutes that I have to wait after I pour the hot water. My hobby is to eat and compare cup ramen! And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage. So then, the whole village will stop disrespecting me and treat me like I'm somebody, somebody important!" When he finished, he grinned cheekily up at Kakashi.

His visible eye widened, but he continued impassively. "Okay, next."

"I'm Haruno Sakura! I like…well the person I like is…" she glanced at Sasuke and giggled. "And my hobby is…well, my dream is to…" she dissolved into a fit of helpless giggles. Kakashi cleared his throat noisily.

"And? What do you hate?"

"Naruto," she responded promptly.

"Ehh…?!" he protested, looking disgruntled.

"Next."

You glanced at Sasuke, who didn't seem inclined to answer, so you spoke. "I'm [Last Name] [First Name]." You went on to describe your likes, dislikes and hobbies, and finished with, "And my goal…is to become a strong kunoichi of the Leaf Village."

"I see," Kakashi nodded once, turning to Sasuke. "And you?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. And my dream…is an ambition that I have no intention of leaving as just a dream. The revival of my clan…and to kill a certain someone."

Again, Kakashi's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't comment. "That's all very interesting. You four have unique personalities, and I like that. We're going to begin a mission starting tomorrow. Survival training."

"If it's a mission, what's the point of training?" Sakura questioned. "We've had loads of training back at the Academy already."

"This is no ordinary training," Kakashi said, enjoying himself. He began to explain the dropout rate, the small number of graduates who will go on to become genin. Sakura and Naruto looked unnerved.

"Whether you pass or fail is determined tomorrow at the training grounds. Bring all your equipment and we'll meet at 5 AM! Now then, the meeting's over. Oh yeah…and don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up if you do."

-:-

That night, you had the first dream since you arrived in the ninja world.

And it was strange, even by your standards. It started out normal enough, a vague, fuzzy replay of the day's events and the odd, dreamlike quality characteristic of dreams.

You floated around, minding your own business, until the scene before you tore apart like strips of painted canvas. And now, fear clouded your mind, because it wasn't like any nightmare you had ever experienced before. There was no strange haze that blurred your thoughts, no fuzziness that confirmed that it was just a dream. You were paralyzed with terror, but you forced yourself to back away from the gaping holes in the canvas. Then you froze again, as the silhouette of a man stepped out of the blackness and gazed at you with the strangest case of heterochromia you had ever seen. His left eye was deep purple, while his right eye was crimson with the telltale design of a matured Sharingan. That man…he wasn't supposed to obtain the Rinnegan until Shippuden, so what was up with that?

You told your body to move, but it would not respond to your frantic signals. Somehow, against your will, you were held rooted to the spot.

"Genjutsu…" you breathed. With a mix of revulsion and awe, you gazed as the man reached towards your face, almost lovingly, with a strange expression on his face.

"Rin…" he whispered tenderly, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. His fingers lightly brushed your cheek and you flinched, terrified. His eyes filled with sadness and he vanished. You awoke, your face pale and beaded with perspiration, then fell back into a restless, dreamless slumber.

-:-

The next morning, you accompanied Naruto to the training ground, where you met the rest of your team. You had a pretty good idea how long Kakashi-sensei was going to take, so you pulled out your shuriken and started flinging them idly at the tree. To your delight, you were able to hit the target most of the time. When you mentioned your observation to Naruto however, you caught sight of Sasuke's smirk and you glared at him, wishing Kakashi-sensei would hurry up.

Go to Chapter 22.