They Thought Wrong | Sasunaru

8| First Impressions

Naruto immediately looked to Hotaru-sensei. He'd met Kakashi before so he didn't have too much concern when it came to the brilliant yet lame teacher. The woman though, she was the unknown part of this equation. Narrowing his eyes at her for a moment, he observed the way her stark, bright orange hair flowed down to the floor in soft ringlets of fire. Literal fire. At first he thought it was just the sun glinting off her hair, but nope. It was flames that gave off the hue. Hotaru was small as well, about a foot smaller than his own sensei, with a petite form that was covered in an old style of ninja clothing; black cloth wrapped around her torso paired with somewhat loose black pants that were tucked into dark shoes. In place of a traditional bandana around her neck, the leaf village's bandana resided.

Naruto felt extremely uneasy as her amber eyes observed them, especially when she somewhat slowed when it came to Kurama. He watched her squirt and tilt her head in thought as she mulled over his familiarity and knew immediately that everything would fall apart if she recognized him as the 9 tailed fox, due to their supposed past that Kurama kept skirting around.

With that in mind, he immediately knew he needed to distract her. "Aw, come on!", he screamed, throwing his hands up in the air with a pout. Quickly switching his attention to Kakashi, out the corner of his eye, he noticed that Hotaru did in fact look over at Naruto in shock at his sudden outburst. "I missed the result of my prank, for Kami's sake!"

"Ah", Kakashi said calmly, blinking his uncovered eye at his new pupil slowly, "So it was you who set that up."

Yeah, and you can bet that I know you walked through that on purpose, Naruto said to himself. He knew this guy was once in the Anbu before deciding to take the position of sensei, so something as simple and idiotic as this prank should've been seen a mile away.

"Rather disappointing that you fell for that.", a voice piped up.

Aaaaaand of course it was his twin. Closing his eyes for a brief second, he wished on everything that was holy, that she had inherited their parent's intelligence like he did. Using that small moment of distraction, he spit out the gathering saliva and blood, that was gathering in his cheek, to the side. Taking a kick to the face was by no means a pleasant experience... though it definitely wasn't his first. Despite the coppery taste still lingering in his mouth, he glanced back at Kurama as he swiped at his chin.

Speaking of the concealed 9 tailed humanized fox, Kurama could feel his heart pounding away within his chest. He knew that it was a close one right there when Hotaru stopped to mull something over when she saw him. If she had recognized him, then he would've been the downfall of everything that the kids had worked for all these years. He had to talk to the other 3 about his connection to her before something happened. And SOON.

"Rather disappointing to see how intelligent you are.", was Kakashi's rebuttal.

Immediately, Sasuke and Naruto snorted, sharing a look gleaming with satisfaction... though they quickly blanched when they heard Yasuko's proud, "Thanks."

Is she actually an idiot?, Naruto, Sasuke, Kurama, and Hinata all thought.

"So you're our sensei's then?", Kai spoke up, tilting his head to the side. One of his hands came to rest on the table, propping his chin up. It didn't go unnoticed by Naruto that he had chose to sit next to his twin... and it also didn't go unnoticed by said twin as well given the fact that she looked him up and now with a sneer before scooting away a bit.

That made him roll his eyes and immediately turn back around in irritance. He didn't like the guy either but he was her teammate. If she couldn't get along with him, then who could she get along with? If she didn't learn to curve that superior attitude she developed then she'd be her team's downfall. Sometimes it was extremely disappointing to know that she had so much potential that still needed to be disciplined. More than once, he had almost made her an offer to train with him and his friends, but then all those memories of how she's acted in the past years came flooding back. Why should he help a sister who didn't even think of him as a brother?

"No, we just showed up cause we felt like it.", Was Hotaru's response. Given the bland look she gave him, it was safe to deduce that first impressions stuck with her and so far, it seemed like two out of 4 of her new genin did not make good ones. "Anyways, pushing aside this rather... illuminating first impression of you all, I believe it's time that Kakashi and I take our teams and leave."

Naruto furrowed his brow. Wait, they were going to be seperated? In once sense, he knew that this was going to happen. They were on different teams after all, but still, it was a tad bit daunting to know that he wasn't going to be there to deflect attention from Kurama everytime Hotaru-sensei had a glimmer of recognition for him.

"Right.", Kakashi nodded, "Team 7, meet me on the roof." And with that, he shunshinned away.

"And my team", Hotaru said, a small smirk making its way onto her face, "Well, try to keep up."

Naruto blanched when the woman suddenly darted out the window, hopping from building to building in such a short time. For a small moment, all the children stared at each other for a small moment before it suddenly sunk it for Team 8.

"Oh crap!", seemed to the consecutive thought that ran through them all, and without another second, Kai and Yasuko bother jumped out the window in hot pursuit. Hinata and Kurama followed suit, but paused at the window's edge to look back at Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto smile gently, feeling akin to sadness nestling within him. From this point on, the mission would be split up and they'd all be experiencing life without each other together for every step. Nodding a bit, he raised a hand and conveyed, See you at the base.

Sasuke glanced over at the two and grunted before standing. He pushed his seat back and immediately began for the door like he didn't care... though just like Naruto he had an unsettling feeling develop within him.

Kurama and Hinata looked at each other, before turning to watch Sasuke leave and Naruto give his farewell. It was only for an hour at most, but to be honest, it felt like the beginning of the end in a way. After today, they'd finally be able to show who they truly were and not have to hide. The repercussions of what that would mean were yet to be known, but Naruto said he had thought it all out...

And all 3 children -technically 2 since Kurama wasn't actually one- trusted the boy's intelligence without a doubt in their mind.

Tomorrow, the mission would begin.

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Alright, alright, ya little bastards. I updated finally so I hope you bloody happy! Keep on pestering me like that cause if i'm being honest, it's the only real way that this book and all my other ones will ever come to mind. *Minuscule sweat drop inserted here* Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!