BEING WOKEN UP TO KAKASHI STARING AT YOU IN YOUR FACE isn't the best way to start the day. Being woken up at anyone staring at you in your face isn't the best way to start the day at all.
Shrieking at the top of your lungs and attempting to sucker punch him is worse because, in return, you get blocked so quickly that it hurts. A flick on the forehead, so strong, you somehow get whiplash for a second. "Quit screaming." He commands, "Get up and get dressed. We've got training to do."
"How'd you get in?" I ask. "Hm? Well, I have an extra key." He answers as we stare at each other. I think he was waiting for a reaction, but I simply felt confused. Kakashi places a hand in his pocket. "As the Hokage said before, we don't know who you are or who's after you, so we can't trust you to be by yourself."
"What? You think I am crazy?"
"Well, actually, yes." Kakashi replies, "After hearing you talk about you being an alien, I wasn't sure that you were the easygoing type."
"Maybe you're just boring."
"Mhm," Kakashi flips a page of his adult book. "Sure..."
Once Kakashi leaves my room, he waits in the living room. While I got dressed, I almost forgot to look in the mirror since I was still shaken because I was in the Naruto world. However, this morning I greeted the mirror and was glad to see something so familiar. I still had my short, slim body, my brown eyes and olive skin. I still had that annoying fading scar on my face. My long dark hair was usually well kept, but this morning, it looked angry at me, so I tied it up.
I was ready to leave, but Kakashi wasn't going to let me take a step outside until I ate. I didn't want to eat breakfast because I wanted the training to be over, and I rarely ate breakfast anyways.
I would always take care of myself back home, so making breakfast was never a big deal. So, Kakashi was only able to convince me when he threw in some good points. If I wanted to catch up with everyone and make it to the academy, I needed to feed chakra. So I have to eat—a lot.
We made it to the training field happily. Well, I did. After eating, I had so much energy skipping around and questioning Kakashi about the black bag he had brought with him. I knew it secretly irked Kakashi because all he could do was sigh in reply. I bet he regrets giving me breakfast now.
We made it to the field and didn't stop walking until we reached the dead centre of it. "Here. Catch." He tosses me the bag, but it hits me in the chest and makes me collapse onto the ground. I tried catching it, I really did, but it was as heavy as a sumo wrestler. "Just like food builds you up, it's important you build some muscle and increase your speed and stamina." Kakashi continues.
"WHAT THE HELL IS IN HERE?!"
"Your new equipment."
I had to roll that bag off because it was too heavy to physically pick up. How in the hell was that man able to carry it!? "Why is it so heavy?" I ask, looking at it with fear. Kakashi merely replies with an order to open it. For a moment, I stare at the bag with uncertainty. I reach forward and unzip the bag.
Just like Kakashi told me, there was equipment in there. A lot of it. I plucked out a pouch, arm and leg guards, a holster (that had even more things in there), and some upper arm weights. Kakashi explains everything about the equipment to me. He taught me when to use specific items and how to strap them on.
I expected the weights to be heavy, which didn't surprise me when it caused my body to slump when I strapped them around my torso and arms, but the guards were shockingly heavy. They restricted my foot movement. When I inquire about it, he tells me it's because there are weights in there also.
Like, seriously? What the hell? I don't want to be more muscular than a 12-year-old girl should be.
"It feels weird."
"Get used to it. You'll be wearing these every day and everywhere you go."
My mouth gapes at his response. He must have been expecting me to throw a fit because the second I was about to argue, he gave me a stern look in his eye as he made instructions.
"Now go and run a lap around the field. Oh, and don't push yourself. Or you might die."
As you can see, training wasn't effortless. This lasted for two weeks straight. From seven a.m. until the moment, my knees literally buckle underneath me. Sure, I was that try-hard girl and gym class was my favourite... but this was not gym class anymore. Kakashi's expectations were higher than my gym teachers, and that made me almost hate physical exercise.
At one point, Kakashi relied on me to wake myself up so he wouldn't have to spontaneously show up in my room anymore. Sometimes, I would get myself to believe I would be late on the bad days, and I wouldn't let myself eat breakfast. I know it's ridiculous, right? Because it would always end up Kakashi being the one that was late.
If I wasn't dying from the sore muscles, I would run around the field until I was tired. Or until Kakashi shows up. If he still wasn't here, I would read the textbooks Kakashi forces me to be interested in. The weights grew on me. I felt myself moving a lot easier. Still, Kakashi seemed to notice and made them heavier whenever he thought I was getting faster.
Whenever Kakashi would arrive, we would immediately set a trap for some small rodents and then start with the heavy workouts and sparring until my legs gave up. That was the fun part of it all. I liked fighting against Kakashi because of how challenging he was. He really made me think of strategies and logical escapes. After that was when we would check the traps, which would always catch the same chipmunks. We would let them out after Kakashi pulled me off of them in an attempt to stop me from petting them, especially when one of them bit me.
Not only did he observe my abilities, but he observed my weaknesses too. He's not overrated. Let me tell you that. Once, he realized that I would always watch this one stand that sold pocky, so he used pocky to help motivate me. Another time I was sleeping on a tree branch when I was really supposed to be doing sit-ups. Still, Kakashi was busy reading his perverted book to notice, and this spider leapt onto my arm. I did what any average person would do.
Screech and nearly die from falling off the tree branch.
Again.
My torture finally ended when I was finishing up my hand seals. I was forced to memorize them and do them every day. My finger reacted slower than intended since I had weights on my wrists and upper arms, but I knew it would be much easier once I grew into the weights. Maybe I'll surprise myself with my speed and strength when I'm finally able to take them off.
It was still the morning, so I was surprised when Kakashi arrived and greeted me. "Juno," He called. I didn't look up at him. I was in the middle of doing the ox seal, which was most challenging for me. I would have finally been able to weave them all perfectly as quickly as possible if I just got this one right.
"Good news. You're going to the academy today."
I froze in the middle of my serpent hand seal. Then I hopped around Kakashi, happily cheering until realization struck me. My face falls. I was supposed to be happy—excited even, but I was nervous and angry. "But I haven't even done one Jutsu yet!" I say, looking up at him. "How am I going to graduate when I don't even know how to do one Jutsu?!"
Kakashi pulls out a few scrolls from his flak jacket and hands them to me. "Here's the basic Jutsu." He says. I look at them in disbelief. "Kakashi-sensei, I've never done a Jutsu in my life!" Kakashi was indifferent. "Juno, you've learned all you need to know." He starts, "You just need to put the pieces together."
"What if I don't get through them in time?" I ask. I look at the scrolls in my hand.
"Juno, if there's one thing I learned about you, it's that you're brighter than you look." Kakashi smiles at me, and I pout at his pestering. There must be some truth to that. "No need to worry. You'll get it in time. Meantime, let us get walking."
I frown, stuffing them into my holster as I follow him. Jutsu is the only thing that matters most in the ninja world, and I don't know them. How am I going to pass graduation? I rub the nape of my neck to block off the beating of the sun. The weather was warm today, and wearing weights while training made me sweat more than I expected. I get why ninjas wear the mesh now; the mesh helps you cool off a lot with this brutal heat in Leaf village.
Once we made it to the academy, someone shoved my shoulder. Kakashi had recently improved my weights, so I lost my balance and fell to the ground. I look up, internally cursing at them but freeze the moment I notice who they are. They look back at me from their shoulder, giving me a sour look. I only manage to widen my eyes in response, barely even making out their name on my lips. The rest of the people in the hallway bustle past them and walk into classrooms. I see them do a double-take and give me one last look, furrowing their brows at me before the people in the hallway can blend them into the crowd.
Kakashi helps me up and asks if everything is alright but I could barely respond. I was still frozen. Kakashi takes a hard look at me. "Lunchtime is over. We should get going, or we'll be late." He points out. I nod. "Y… yeah." I reply.
I've just seen Sasuke Uchiha.
"What the hell." I say under my breath. How can he just push me like that and ignore me?! Asshat.
I follow Kakashi until he stops in front of a wooden door. I look up at him and watch his arms lift to knock on the door. Before he does, he stops the moment we hear voices behind the door. Telling by the tones and quick responses, it was an argument. Kakashi sighs, shaking his head and finally knocking on the door.
The commotion comes to a quick stop. "Don't move!" A voice orders. I feel myself freeze as I recognize the voice! I feel Kakashi's hand ruffle my hair. "Don't be so tense." He tells me, "You'll be fine."
The door slides open, and Iruka peeps out of it. I stared at him, realizing that the scar ripped across his nose didn't shine as well on TV. I can never get over how it feels to look and listen to the actual characters. Something behind Iruka's torso catches my eye and a loud gasp escapes me.
Oh—my—god.
It was him.
I'm able to see all of the little details and features on him. The small strays of blonde hair glint from the sunlight, the line his eyebrows make when they furrow, and the way his cerulean eyes move as they study me.
Naruto Uzumaki.
Iruka shut the door behind him. My exterior was calm and quiet, but I was acting like a boy band fangirl internally. "Welcome to the class, Juno. I'm Iruka, your new sensei." He says, giving me a small smile. I responded with a smile. I wondered how he knew my name until I realized that the Hokage must have informed him earlier.
"Are we ready to begin?" Iruka asks me. I check Kakashi for permission, so once Kakashi nods, I nod as well. Iruka chuckles lightly. "Let's go inside then."
Just before Iruka was about to open the door, I looked behind my shoulder. "Bye, Kakashi-sensei!" I say with a grin. Kakashi already had his book in front of his nose. "Hm?" He looks up, blinking at me. I gape at him in disbelief. "You're already forgetting about me!" I claim.
A smile forms underneath Kakashi's mask, and he rubs the back of his neck. "Oh, don't worry about that. You're not that easy to forget." He says. I huff. Kakashi made it seem as if it was a bad thing. "Well, don't miss me then." I frown, turning back around. Iruka was staring at us in puzzlement, but he didn't ask any questions and proceeded to slide open the door.
"I'll remind myself not to." Kakashi says behind me.
I stepped inside, almost falling over once I spotted a few familiar faces. I eye each of them in awe. Sitting right in front of me—oblivious that I know almost everything about them—are the characters that used to be on my tv screen.
A hush descends over the classroom, all of the students immediately noticing my presence. All of their eyes look at me, and my shoulders tense from all of the attention. I was never a new kid before. I never knew what it felt like. And at this moment, it felt like everyone was studying me— trying to see what type of person I was by the way I looked back at them and stood in front of them. So I tried my best to fake some confidence.
Iruka walks next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Class," He begins, "we have a new student." My eyes trace over the students in the classroom. I thought I was kept together until I realized Hinata and Choji were right in front of me. I was about to gasp so loud that I nearly choked on my spit.
"This is Juno Watanabe."
A few had shot up in the air, some of the students speaking without being chosen. Voices overlap each other, unfolding a commotion. Iruka steps forward, commanding the class to quiet down. Is this what it's like to be new? Being bombarded with starry-eyed people asking curious questions all at once? I suppose the class is a bit confused and shocked that something new is happening before graduation.
"Hey! Do you like ramen?!" I jump from the loud voice entering my ear. Naruto was right by my ear, struggling to stand next to me with his tied legs until he stumbles onto the ground.
I was yelled at in the face by Naruto?! What an honor.
"Um, y-yeah, I guess?"
"Alright!" Naruto cheered, "Want to go and have some ramen after?!" and immediately, the class groans at his question. I glance at the class, offended they're already showing so much disgust to Naruto. Oh, right. They hate him. I think. Before I can send back some glares, Iruka crosses his arms and leans over him.
"Now, wait just a moment! I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto! You failed the graduation test last time and the time before that. Tomorrow you've got another chance, and you're messing up again!" Iruka tells Naruto sharply. Naruto grunts, looking away. Iruka explodes. "Fine! Because YOU missed it, Naruto, EVERYONE will review the Transformation Jutsu!" he shouts.
The whole class synchronizes a loud groan. Everyone stands up, dragging themselves into a straight line with annoying grumbles. I end up right between Ino and Shino, somehow managing to avoid the curious looks everyone gave me. I even tried to edge away from these two boys that were trying to skitter close to me.
While I was in line, I was fidgeting and shuffling my feet. See, I knew I wasn't ready to go to the academy. I don't even know one Jutsu, but now I have to review it before all of these people. Dammit, Kakashi! I internally shook a fist at him, fire burning in my eyes.
I look to my side, finding a tall Ino Yamanaka crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. Her hair was long and pale, and her eyes were an intimidating shade of blue, and her skin was basically translucent. I didn't want to do this. Even though I know she's not that bad, she seemed like the stereotypical mean girl.
"Uh… Hey," I finally manage to whisper. Ino looks down at me, clearly annoyed. I wasn't sure if it was because we had to review the Transformation Jutsu or because I was talking to her. "What?" she asks. She's scary. "Umm... Do you know how to do this?" I ask, pointing my thumb to the rest of the students. Ino furrows her brows. "Yeah." she speaks, "Everyone does! Don't tell me you don't know when graduation is tomorrow!" she adds a little too loudly. I widen my eyes and glance around quickly, "Uh yeah, say it louder if you can!" I mutter.
Shikamaru leans over. "What? You don't know how to do a transformation?" he asks in disbelief. Holy crap. He's talking to me! Shikamaru Nara. The smartest—and in my opinion, the coolest guy in the room! Shikamaru furrows his brows at me, his regular irritated frown still curved on his lips.
I shake my head. The two glance at each other as if to confirm what they were hearing was true. Shikamaru straightens his posture. "Look, all you have to do is just clear your mind, gather your chakra, and focus on an image of Iruka." Shikamaru advises lazily. Was it that simple, or is he just a lousy teacher? "Seems too easy." I say.
Ino scoffs. "That's because that's the easy part. Look:" Ino displays me three hand signs. Dog, boar and ram. "You're supposed to gather your chakra with these signs. All while focusing on transforming into Iruka. Don't forget to keep your attention on your mental image of him while you're transformed, or else you'll change into yourself too fast." She adds.
How the heck do you focus your chakra with hand signs? My confusion must have shown on my face because both Shikamaru and Ino were studying me. "Do you get it?" Ino asks. "No." I say, shaking my head. Ino sighs, a hand scratching her head. "What a drag." Shikamaru sighs."It is. It's my first time doing any Jutsu." I admit with a shrug.
"Heh? Then don't worry about it. You're bound to mess up on at least something."
"How is that helpful?!"
"I'm just saying. There's no point in worrying about it."
I frown. If Shikamaru was trying to calm me down, it wasn't working. I should be worrying.
"Next, Naruto Uzumaki!"
"This is a total waste of time, Naruto," Shikamaru speaks up. Ino crosses her arms, glaring at Naruto. "Yeah, we always pay for your screw-ups!" Ino interjects. Naruto scowls. "Like I care." He answers, walking up to Iruka. One he is up front, he smirks, and I ready myself for a toxic view of Naruto's boobs. I really shouldn't be looking, but I knew I would regret watching Iruka's flustered reaction. If only I had popcorn...
"TRANSFORM!" Naruto cries out. In his place was a tall, exposed girl. Unlike in the shows, the smoke didn't help censor anything. I can see EVERY little thing! I freeze. My eyes are so broad they hurt. Naruto transforms back into himself and laughs as he points at Iruka.
"Gotcha! That was my sexy Jutsu!"
"CUT IT WITH YOUR STUPID TRICKS! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!!"
Iruka didn't waste time on the other students. His mood was off because of Naruto, so he just unenthusiastically yelled "Next." and "Good" without even looking up. That meant my turn came in basically two seconds. If it wasn't for the steam trailing out of his ears, I would have requested to pass on this. Now I had no choice. I sigh, walking in front of Iruka. I glanced back at Ino, who was walking to the end of the line. She sees me in the corner of my eye and quickly repeats the hand seals I had to do.
I close my eyes, quickly trying to remember what my chakra textbook had said about hand seals. "Skilled ninjas do not waste even a little bit of chakra. Everything they do is precise and efficient. They gather the required amount of chakra and use it for their ninjutsu."
I imagine a picture of Iruka, including all the little details of his hair, skin, eyes, clothing, and scar. Now I have to gather a precise amount of chakra with the hand seals. Dog. Something wisps in my stomach. I know this is my chakra because I felt the same thing before when I meditated. Now I have to focus on the picture Iruka while I'm gathering my chakra. No distractions. Boar, The chakra whips around, picks another chunk of chakra and twirls inside me. I focus it on a swirl, trying to ignore how it felt inside me. It was tingly, flexible and wispy. Ram. Something inside my stomach explodes. I squeak, thinking my appendix burst for a split second. I open my eyes, expecting my blood to be soaked everywhere.
Instead, there was smoke—a lot of it. I think I used more chakra than I was supposed to. I can even hear a few people coughing and complaining. Did I do it? I think, looking down at myself. I see Iruka's clothing, so that must mean that I did transform. I was happy about it… until the smoke cleared, and I realized I was looking up at him.
"Is that…?"
"Why did she keep him short?"
I frown, fixing the headband on Iruka's head. "You forgot about the height, Juno." Iruka tells me, sighing. There were a couple of snickers from behind me. I try to ignore them. Once I release the transformation, I hold onto my head, groaning. I've had migraines before, but this… this was worse. "That tends to happen to beginners. Don't worry about it." I hear Iruka say.
This is what makes me freeze. Don't worry about it? I glance around me, trying not to show that I'm panicking. I notice Hinata occasionally peeking at me, the dried blood under Iruka's nose, and Naruto's little pout. At this moment right now, I realize I didn't even get the chance to wonder about what time period of Naruto I'm in, because Kakashi has been working me to the bone. I've been too busy, too distracted, to even wonder where I am and what I'm doing here.
I'm in the Naruto World. I remind myself and I see the curious glance from Sasuke, Ino rolling her eyes, and Akamaru wagging his tail. I'm in the Naruto world, and the plot line has just begun. From what I know, the Naruto plot line is not a simple thing. That just means one thing...
Rule #2 to Surviving the Naruto World: You should worry. Worry a lot.