Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

A Conspiracy Unfolds

Kasuri was just as nosy as the first day of the academy. She stuck besides me whenever possible and wrote little notes to me during class. It was rather childish but entertaining. One note nearly made me crack up in class that was met with a particularly nasty glare from our math teacher.

"I got you with that one, huh?" Kasuri snickered the moment class was dismissed for lunch.

I was packing up my belongings as I smiled. 'With how shiny Fuji-sensei's head was I would think he's using something to care for it.' I wrote on my small note pad. Our math teacher was no nonsense. He always held an intimidating stare and had a cold air around him. The idea of a man like him buying beauty products was pretty funny.

"I swear I will make you laugh for real one day," she said. The conviction made me amused.

I slid my backpack over my shoulder and started out the door and, as of recently, Kasuri made to follow. Kasuri's presence at lunch became so natural that even Sasuke got over it by the third day she followed me to our little hangout by the tree. Naruto, being the little sunshine that he was, was all too happy to make a new friend. In fact, he took that as a sign to bring over his own little entourage.

I had met Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji just the day before. They stayed true to their animated personalities from what I could recall, but seeing them in real life had a different impact on me. I realized that recognizing the main cast wouldn't be as simple as I thought. Shikamaru's spiky hair was a bit prickly, but it didn't stand up as straight as it did in the animation; instead, it hung low and loosely, with a few locks spiking upwards. Chouji, on the other hand, resembled a cute, round cotton ball. He was larger than his peers but not to the point of being considered overweight, and his hair was smoothed upward thanks to a convenient bandana. Their appearances were similar but still a far cry from their anime counterparts.

"Satsuki-senpai," Chouji greeted. Shikamaru acknowledged me in turn with a nod of his head as he chewed on his lunch. Because the first-year students began their lunch break half an hour ahead of the upperclassmen, the Nara and Akimichi duo were already well into their meals. Naruto and Sasuke, on the other hand, always held off until I joined them, which meant they had only the remaining thirty minutes of their lunch break to eat.

"Hey, boys! When are you ever going to introduce another girl to the group?" Kasuri quipped as she settled beside Shikamaru.

Sasuke wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Never. They're all weird."

"Don't worry! I'm planning to recruit Ino into my council. Just found out her dad's the Yamanaka clan head," Naruto declared and crossed his arms with determination.

Shikamaru groaned. "Not her, please. If you're choosing someone, go for that Haruno girl. She's smarter than Ino and ranks first in our academic courses."

"Then I'll just have both in my council," Naruto replied with a determined grin.

I noticed it for a while now that Naruto always assumed his peers would follow his words without question. I wonder if it was the effect of being the Hokage's son. Confidence was a valuable quality, but not when it transformed into excessive arrogance. [You shouldn't force anyone to do anything, Naruto. Try to persuade them first.] I interjected.

Naruto waited for Sasuke to translate. "Persuade?" Naruto asked once Sasuke was done.

"He means to try and convince them to join rather than just demanding them to." Sasuke explained.

"But why? Who wouldn't want to be on the Hokage's council?"

Sasuke sent me a tired glare that blamed me for his extra work. I chuckled. [Just as you aspire to become Hokage, everyone else has their own dreams they wish to pursue. Some dreams don't involve working directly with the Hokage. It's important not to overlook that.]