Debate Team (sasunaru/narusasu)

|| Chapter Seven ||

The next day, everyone who would be going on the trip's homeroom voted between two options: a camping trip or a trip to the water park, which was Naruto's preference. At the end of the day, the winning option would be revealed.

Naruto sat in his tenth period, tapping his pencil on the desk, impatiently awaiting the end of the school day. "Are you listening to me, Naruto?" When the blond heard Mr. Hatake calling out for him, he was jolted out of his daze.

"Y-yes?" He stuttered.

"Naruto, pay attention." The blond blushed when he saw all of his classmates staring at him, then rolled his eyes when he saw his best friend laughing at him.

As his thoughts turned to the trip they would be taking, Naruto sulked and slouched back. He was hoping they weren't going camping. He didn't think a waterpark was ideal, but it was preferable over camping.

He didn't know how to swim, which was the only catch. It wasn't like they'd make him swim, though. Furthermore, the water might not even be steep, so there was no need to be concerned. Anything was preferable to sleeping in a bug-infested space.

The teacher interrupted him, jolting him out of his trance once again. "All right, students, we have a few minutes before class ends; you can relax for the rest of the time because debate practice doesn't officially begin until after school." Mr. Hatake announced.

Naruto's eyes widened and he smiled, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared, as he remembered he might not get the choice he desired.

He sat back down, his feet tapping against the floor as he waited after sheepishly putting his belongings away. It seemed like years; normally, announcements came on quickly, but not this time; Naruto seemed to be waiting for an eternity.

"Good afternoon, Konoha High School students! It's time to call it a day. Have a wonderful rest of the day and get home safely!" She stopped for a moment. "The water park was chosen as the winning choice for those students who are going on a trip! Alright, that concludes today's announcements." Over the speaker, the principal ended.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Exclaimed Naruto as he leaped from his seat. He cheered, drawing strange looks from the other students and a few glares and scoffs from Sasuke and Neji. Naruto had no idea why they had it out for him. He didn't care though.

After ten minutes, the majority of the students had left the school, so Mr. Hatake began. "All right, so this is our very first debate meeting!" He gave a warm smile. "I'll teach you everything you need to know! So, to begin, let's look at what we'll be doing at the debate tournaments. Basically, you'll have to select a partner for the tournaments, and each round, the two of you will compete against two other students from different schools around the city."

"Every year, there is a new subject; this year, the topic is whether early voting is good or bad and whether it is better than online voting. You'll be on the negative or positive side each time we go to one of these tournaments, and you'll have to read your case and defend your side by answering any questions the other side poses. However, you have no say on which side you're on."

"Each tournament, you'll compete in three different competitive matches, each time against three different pairs of two students. Since you can't predict if you'll be on the negative or positive side, you'll need to compile a list of questions to ask each side ahead of time unless you're prepared to make up questions on the spot."

"I understand that some of you, like the majority of students, are unaware of early voting. We have these packets for that reason." He said this as he took a few binders from his desk, each labeled with the student's name. "I've got a couple of binders over here that you'll take to each tournament." As he distributed them, he said.

"All you have to do today is read through each side and prepare some questions. We'll probably practice giving our speeches at the next practice because each side has two minutes to read their case, which is the material in the binder; the more you read and the more clearly you read, the better impact you'll make on the judge." He finished and sat down at his desk. "Also! You'll have to determine who will be your partner during these tournaments! Please notify me by the end of class."

Some students were confused, while others seemed to grasp the concept. Kiba didn't mind; all he cared about was getting to do something fun with his best friend. He rose from his desk and sat down beside Naruto. "So..." he began, attracting the blond's attention. "Would you like to be partners?"

Naruto chuckled and nodded, confused as to why his friend was even asking. "Of course,"

Kiba smiled at his reply. "Let's take a look at the data, shall we?" They both opened their binders after Naruto nodded. Kakashi provided them with markers, highlighters, and sticky notes on which they could write down their questions.

Mr. Hatake spoke up a half-hour later. "All right, now that you have a few questions prepared, share them with your partner and express your feelings about them." He gave the order.

Naruto and Kiba began sharing each other's questions. "Do you think this is a good one?" Naruto inquired, referring to one of the questions he had jotted down.

Why are some states, such as Ohio, making it difficult to vote?

"That's a good one. How about mine?" Kiba asked, turning a page over and reading it aloud. "How come they didn't keep golden week?"

Naruto laughed a bit. "I had no idea you were so smart!" He laughed and jokingly shoved the brunette. "Anyway, we should come up with our own answers to these questions just in case our opponents come up with the same questions." Kiba agreed, and they practiced like this for the majority of the time.

All seemed to be getting the hang of things by the time it was time to leave. The mood seemed to have lightened up, and they all seemed to be getting closer to each other. They told Mr. Hatake who their partners were on their way out before going home.

Special thanks to LynndieUchiha for the water park trip idea! ^-^