Suna no Hoshi [Naruto Fanfic]

Team Kickass, Assemble!

Naruto danced and hopped around her apartment, humming to some catchy tune she’d caught the other day.

“Da dada dun~ Da da!” she bopped her head, and after a particularly impressive hop, if she may say so herself, she found her other shinobi sandal she’d been looking for, for the past ten minutes.

“I have a team~” she sing-songed to the tune of the song.

She ran a hand through her short hair and nodded agreeably, grabbing one more item to complete the look. Securing the orange sash around her waist, she flattened and brushed down her clothes, making sure she was completely presentable. Then off she went, after one more quick glance out her window to see the Kazekage.

“Bye,” she said cheerily, and then she was off to the Academy.

Once there, she noticed that the closer she got to her soon-to-be old classroom, the noise level was becoming worse and was that…sobbing?

She hurried up and opened the door, sweatdropping to see the utter chaos happening within. Shinoda looked harassed and hassled, like he was at his wit’s end as he sat under his desk curled into a ball, gripping tightly to his head and entangling his fingers into his hair.

The rest of the class looked in various states of mourning and bedlam. The whole back row was wearing black, and some of the girls (and some guys) there wore veils as they sobbed into handkerchiefs. There was a corner protesting and having what looked like a sit down protest and holding several signs. She wasn’t even going to mention the other stuff going on…

Naruto took a deep breath before coughing lightly, though even that (coming from her) managed to catch all of the attention in the room. Shinoda slowly peeked out from under his desk.

With imploring eyes and a gentle smile, she looked towards the whole class.

“My, my~ Why is everyone acting up today? I was hoping to reveal the news of my graduation and celebrate with my beloved class,” her teasing tone in the beginning turned to being slightly sad, and still with that gentle smile, she continued to look at the class with a background full of sparkling roses behind her.

With a burst of energy, Sari and Matsuri separated themselves from the rest of the class and rushed towards her, trying to talk over one another and reassure her that they were very happy for her. The rest of the class followed suit, stampeding towards her with enthusiasm.

Shinoda kept glancing between the background oddly still there and Naruto, shaking his head.

“It’s like a jutsu…”

When the class finally settled down, Naruto went around and said her goodbyes, with many going back to being teary, though they were all still congratulatory. When she’d gone back to a slightly (only slightly) less hassled Shinoda, whose hair was sticking out everywhere, she stood in front of him and gently took his hands. Looking at him with a fond gaze, using bright blue eyes, she gave him another of her usual gentle smiles (between her cool and gentle smiles, he always did prefer the gentle ones).

“I’m very sorry for all the trouble, my dear Shinoda-sensei,” she said demurely. “I thank you for everything,” she said formally, dipping her head and peeking up at him from underneath her front hair.

The rosy background appeared behind her again.

“It’s…like a genjutsu,” he muttered.

She took his hands still in hers and bent over them, kissing his knuckles sweetly and giving her gentlest smile and accompanied with soft eyes.

“H-hai, Ouji-sama,” he said dazedly. “I hope you well as a genin, and luck.”

And when she left for a nearby classroom where the graduates were waiting for team announcements, the classroom erupted back into chaos and Shinoda stood stock still in a daze, looking dreamily off into space.