Chapter Text
When the classroom emptied, except for the three of them, Iruka looked at them with a mix of pity and amusem*nt.
"He's sure to arrive soon, guys. Don't get discouraged. You can stay here in the meantime."
"What!?" exclaimed Naruto, annoyed. "Do we really have to wait for someone this unpunctual? Who is this Kakashi Hatake?"
"I'll let you find out for yourselves. Ja ne!"
Sasuke stifled a sigh that she heard with her enchanted ears. Naruto sat down in his seat begrudgingly, and she leaned over the table. Gradually, the academy emptied. Only the custodians and a couple of teachers remained, as she could detect with her hearing. Them, and the ninja in the tree. She had heard him land quite some time ago but hadn't paid much attention. Maybe he was one of the ANBU protecting them. Then she had a hunch. What if that stranger was really their new sensei?
"Naruto," she called mentally to her twin and saw him focus his attention on her without moving. "Cover me from the window."
Her brother turned around in his chair, twisting his torso towards her and looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She conjured some glasses and enchanted them with a spell similar to X-rays, allowing her to see through Naruto, the wall, and the tree. She saw him sitting on a high branch, leaning against the trunk, watching them closely. He had silver hair, his ninja headband covering one eye, and a mask covering the lower half of his face, including his nose. He wore the typical jonin uniform with black pants, black sandals, bandages on his ankles, a dark blue long-sleeve shirt, a dark green vest, and black fingerless gloves.
She made the glasses disappear and saw Naruto, who had been in her mind while she looked, frown. It seemed he had also deduced who that man was.
"Is that our jonin sensei?" he asked, and she shrugged before nodding. "What's he doing up there instead of presenting himself to us?"
"Maybe he's observing to see how we communicate with each other? Or perhaps testing our patience. Or both."
"Should we say something to the bastard?"
"I brought a bento for the three of us. Maybe we can offer him some food while we wait. That way, Kakashi-sensei will see that we're willing to interact with him and that we have enough patience not to lose our temper."
"Sounds good to me. You talk to him; he hates you less."
Seina smiled and took out her bento from the enchanted waist bag. Naruto sat properly in his seat, leaving her in view of the stranger, and she looked at Sasuke in the front row.
"Sasuke? I brought a bento for my team. If you want, we can eat together while we wait for Kakashi-sensei."
Sasuke stared at her and then at the bento she had placed on the table. A few minutes passed in silence, but seeing that it didn't seem like the aforementioned would appear, he approached them and sat down without a word. She handed him a new pair of chopsticks, and the three of them started eating. She thanked Merlin that Naruto had bitten his tongue while Sasuke debated whether to eat with them or not.
They had lunch for almost an hour, unhurriedly, until the stranger descended from the tree and headed toward the academy. A few minutes later, just as she had thought, he appeared at the door and called them.
"Team 7. Follow me," he said and disappeared after pointing to the ceiling.
"Is he on the roof?" asked Naruto, and she nodded. Sasuke looked at her and started walking. "What are we waiting for then?"
"Do you sense his chakra?" asked Sasuke, suddenly starting a conversation.
"Not exactly. I could if I wanted to, but I actually have good hearing."
Naruto smiled at her joke and said nothing. Sasuke seemed somewhat incredulous. However, when they found Kakashi-sensei on the roof, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You're finally here, Team 7. You took your time."
His single gray eye lingered on each of them for a few seconds, and when he looked at her, Seina raised an eyebrow at his audacity. For a moment, Kakashi-sensei's serious expression changed, and she sensed a hint of a smile that he quickly controlled.
"Well, since we're here, why don't we get to know each other a bit. Introduce yourselves and tell me what you like, what you hate, and your future desires."
"Why don't you start?" asked Sasuke, sending him an irritated look.
"Alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future… I've never thought about it."
Seina couldn't suppress a laugh of disbelief, realizing he hadn't told them anything except his name, which they already knew. Naruto, with a tic in his eye, seemed more irritated than Sasuke and her, if possible.
"WHAT THE HELL!? YOU DIDN'T TELL US ANYTHING!" he shouted. Seina felt her shoulders shake with laughter.
"You, the emo, you're up," he said as if he hadn't heard him. She had to stifle another chuckle. "We don't have all day."
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to kill a certain person and restore my clan."
A silence ensued where everyone looked at Sasuke, who stared into the distance, and Seina couldn't help but roll her eyes at her teammate's response. She turned to look at their new sensei, shaking her head slowly with some incredulity, and Kakashi-sensei seemed to ignore Sasuke and looked at her.
"My name is Seina Uzumaki. I like many things. I hate prejudiced and intolerant people. As for dreams… Hmm… Having a Pokémon in real life."
Sasuke glanced at her, confused at the mention of a Pokémon, and Kakashi seemed to smile behind his mask with a raised eyebrow.
"And finally, the other blonde."
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like my sister, ramen, and learning new techniques. I hate the time it takes to prepare food and stupid people. My dream is to become Hokage so that people have to take back their words."
Seina patted him on the shoulder. Kakashi-sensei looked at the three of them again and sighed.
"Alright. Tomorrow you'll have a test to see if you're capable of being genin. If you fail, you'll go back to the academy. If you pass, you'll become my genin."
Seina squeezed Naruto's arm when she knew he was about to complain, an act that didn't go unnoticed by their sensei's eye. Kakashi-sensei stood up and leaned over them menacingly.
"I'll see you tomorrow at 5 in the morning, at training ground 33. I wouldn't eat breakfast if I were you, or you'll vomit it."
He disappeared in a swirl of leaves, and they stood there for a few seconds. She knew he had left, although he could have been too far away for her spells to hear him.
"Is anyone going to listen to him?" Seina asked. "I plan on eating. It's better to vomit than to starve. Besides, don't they say in the academy that we should always eat?"
"Do you think he's testing us?" Sasuke asked, understanding her words.
"I think so. Look. So far, he's been testing the basics they teach us in the academy: being patient before entering combat, knowing how to keep secrets and confidential information, the act of eating... Even, depending on how you look at it, he's testing if we're capable of disobeying an order from a superior."
"So, shouldn't we listen to him?"
"Naruto, we're ninja, but we still have free will. If someone told you to jump off a bridge for no apparent reason and no need, would you do it?" Seina rolled her eyes. "Kakashi-sensei doesn't seem like an ordinary person. I have a feeling he wants us to think with our heads instead of blindly following his orders like sheep."
"Fair enough," Sasuke agreed. "I think you're right. See you tomorrow at the training ground."
"Until tomorrow, Sasuke."
Seina and Naruto, realizing they had more time than expected, ate at the ramen stand and then went to visit the real estate agency in the suburban neighborhood.
"Use henge to change your appearance. We don't want to get ripped off. These people don't care who we are as long as we're ninja and have the money, but it's better not to risk it."
"Alright."
They entered one of the real estate agencies and looked at the information sheets with photographs of each house. An agent approached them from behind, and they turned to look at him.
"Welcome to Maki Properties! How can I help you?"
"We're looking for an independent property with a garden. Our maximum price is 190,000 ryo."
"You've come to the right place. We have several properties that might interest you. Please, have a seat."
Seina and her brother sat down, and they saw him pull out several sheets whose prices were below their budget. She saw a few that needed several repairs for much less money than their budget, and there was also a house with a lot of land that only had one floor.
"What do you think of these?" the agent asked. "If you tell me your requirements, we can start ruling some out."
"To start with, we'd like any renovations to be purely cosmetic," she said, seeing that Naruto had no idea what to say. "At least one kitchen, one bathroom, 2 bedrooms, a living-dining room, and the garden. Oh, and they shouldn't be made of wood."
"I think we have a couple of those. They're below your budget, but they're not furnished. That's the downside."
He showed them a couple of houses. Both had 2 floors and a spacious garden. One had a white facade with mahogany brown window frames matching the door. She looked at the pictures inside the house, and, as expected, she realized that the layout was practically the same as their apartment, but it had a medium-sized entrance with a closet and shoe rack, and the kitchen was separated from the living-dining room by a one-meter wall, if she wasn't mistaken with the measurements. The kitchen was large, enough to have a modest-sized island, and was loaded with cabinets. The ground floor had a small, complete bathroom, and upstairs there was another larger, complete bathroom and 3 bedrooms. The garden was in pretty bad condition but was decent in size.
The other house also had 2 floors, although it looked older due to its dark appearance. The house's layout was practically identical, but, as it was smaller, instead of having 3 bedrooms, there were 2, one larger with its own private bathroom. The garden was larger than the other house, though in equally bad condition.
The cost was 180,000 ryo for the first and 165,000 for the second. She also noticed that the houses seemed to be in opposite directions in the village. While the first seemed to be located on a hill west of Konoha's main entrance, the second house was near the river and seemed to be behind another hill.
"What do you think?"
"I like the first one better," Naruto agreed, and she nodded. "We can easily furnish it with your skills, and we could move in without having to repair anything, except clean it and fix the garden."
"Also, I don't know if you noticed its location on the map, but the second house is in a shaded area. Maybe that's why the price is much cheaper despite being closer to the center,” she said to her brother. And then, to the other man, “Could we go see the first house? The white one."
The agent, a friendly-looking young man with brown hair and eyes, nodded. "It's relatively close. We can get there in a 10-minute walk."
That same afternoon, they visited their first house. To their surprise, they both loved it. It was quite far from the center, but with their skills, they could quickly get to anywhere. Besides, it didn't need any repairs, as Naruto had said, and it was in a neighborhood where the neighboring houses were quite far apart, surrounded by a clearing and a bit further, they had the forest. Moreover, the sun seemed to shine on it at all times because there were no neighboring buildings casting shadows.
When they finished the tour, Naruto was practically bouncing with excitement. "What do you think? I love it! Look at all the sunshine and the land! We can see part of the village from up here!"
Seina nodded and turned to the agent, Makoto. "When could we sign the papers?"
"So, you liked it?" Makoto smiled. "Great! We can sign them this afternoon if you have the money in cash or a check. We close in 2 hours so you can sort out the paperwork if necessary. We just need to check that your ninja license is valid and the money."
Seina nodded, not mentioning that she had the money with her. They went back to the real estate agency, and Makoto sat in his corner, as before.
"Should I assume you have the money in cash?"
"Is that very common?" Naruto asked when he saw that Makoto didn't seem surprised.
Makoto shrugged, smiling. "Ninjas often don't trust anyone. We're used to receiving cash payments. If you hand me your ninja licenses, I'll start the paperwork."
Seina and Naruto handed over their civilian licenses. They were different from ninja licenses. They only had the ninja registration code and their names. Since civilians didn't usually interact with ninja, even if they might know their names, they never associated it with a ninja's appearance. Moreover, all ninja paperwork was never filed in civilian offices but was transferred to ninja offices to protect the shinobi's identity as well as their home addresses, among other things. That way, the village's shinobi could interact with civilians without compromising their security.
While Makoto finished filling out the paperwork, she took out the money and counted the necessary bundles.
"All right. Here you go. Sign with your name and your fingerprint."
Seina read all the data and saw that everything was correct. She even used her powers but found nothing suspicious. She signed with her name and fingerprint, and then Naruto did the same. Meanwhile, Makoto was counting the money with a special machine. The transaction lasted barely half an hour.
"Here's the key to your new house. The documentation will be archived this afternoon, as usual. I'll give you a copy of the contract and all the documents you'll need to keep."
She put it in her fanny pack, along with the key, and got up followed by her brother.
"A pleasure doing business with you! Enjoy your new home!"
They left without further ado. She could hardly believe it. While it was true that transactions in ninja villages were very quick, she was used to the bureaucracy of her old world. She never would have imagined that they would walk out with a house on the first and only day of visiting a real estate agency. She had thought that they would probably need a couple or more days to decide and buy.
"Yatta! We have our own house, nee-chan!" Naruto exclaimed when they were far from the agency. "Let's go see it!"
She nodded. "I want to put up some protections so no one can break in while we sort out the apartment issue."
When they arrived at their apartment that night, they were exhausted. Not only had they protected the new house, but they had also checked that their documentation had been delivered to the appropriate office, as Makoto promised.
"Our rent ends in 2 weeks," she reminded her brother. "We'll have to take advantage of it to move and furnish it before the end of the month."
"We can use clones to clean the house and fix it. We'll surely get it done in less than a day," Naruto said, eating the rice and meat. "Plus, before furnishing it, we could expand it."
"Not just that. The ground floor is practically how we wanted it, except for a pantry-storage room. However, the second floor has 3 bedrooms and a bathroom... We can easily change the bathroom door inside one of the rooms, and the remaining room can be one of the studies. The hardest part will be building a bathroom in one of the rooms."
"And how will we make the third floor?"
"That's easy. I just have to expand the space vertically and add the floor, creating a completely new floor above. What's missing is building a suitable staircase."
"Do you think you can do it in 2 weeks?"
"Yes. Now that I think about it -, the second floor is exactly how we want the third floor to be in our draft… Maybe we could leave it as it is and make the second floor new starting from the first floor."
"Well, I'll leave it up to you," Naruto chuckled, somewhat confused. "Will you need more stones for the furniture?"
"For now, I think we have enough. We've accumulated enough to make 2 new floors. Maybe even have some left over," she sighed. "We should prepare the bento and breakfast for tomorrow. We have to wake up very early."
Naruto groaned at the reminder and then helped her prepare the food. Later, they showered and went to bed.
When she woke up, she could swear she had only closed her eyes 5 minutes ago. She even woke up earlier than Naruto, who was exhausted from the previous day, and heated up breakfast before waking her brother up. Unfortunately, the area they had agreed to meet was quite far away so they had to run to get there in half an hour.
"At least this way we warm up before we arrive," she said, but Naruto was more asleep than awake.
When they arrived, they found Sasuke leaning against a tree. As expected, the teacher was not there. He didn't even hear anything strange with his enchanted ears.
"Good morning, Sasuke."
"Uzumaki," he nodded curtly.
"You can call me Seina if you want."
"And I'm Naruto."
"I'll call you dobe, if you don't mind," he said, almost jokingly, in a dry and cold tone. Seina couldn't help but laugh at her brother's face.
"…Teme!" Naruto sighed deeply but said nothing more. "Couldn't you use some spell to know if he's here or not?"
"He's not here," she replied, after using one of her spells to detect presences.
Naruto groaned in frustration and threw himself to the ground. Fortunately, it was warm despite being so early, so they both closed their eyes and relaxed. She felt Sasuke's penetrating gaze on her face before he looked away. They spent the time and she almost fell asleep from how quiet the forest was. 8 o'clock came and Kakashi-sensei didn't show up. An hour later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Seina were eating when she heard the sound of shoes hitting a branch.
"He's here," she told her brother, but Naruto pretended not to hear her.
They packed up their things and sat in the shade to escape the sun. Only when it was 10 o'clock did Kakashi-sensei show up reading an orange book that Seina knew was p*rn.
"You're late!" Naruto scolded with a shout that must have been heard all the way to the Hokage Tower.
Sasuke sent a murderous glance at his new teacher while Seina raised an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh at his bullsh*t excuses. A black cat? Kakashi Hatake was a troll from head to toe. She was starting to like him.
"Well, let's start the exercise. You have a couple of hours, until noon, to take one of these bells from me," he explained, showing them some small bells he had tied to his pants' waist. "Whoever is left without a bell will not only be tied to one of those posts, but I will also eat in front of them, and furthermore, they will be returned to the academy. Any questions? No? Then you can start."
Seina and Sasuke hid while Naruto challenged Kakashi-sensei to a hand-to-hand combat. She watched as he dodged all the attacks with incredible speed, still reading his p*rn book as if nothing, and how he sent her brother flying into the river. She used that distraction to approach Sasuke, whom she could hear perfectly.
"Sasuke," Seina whispered and gestured for him to come closer. "This is a trap. There are only 2 bells and there are 3 of us."
"It's clear that your brother will go back to the academy," he assured, not realizing what she was trying to tell him.
"Don't be dumb," she rolled her eyes at his stupefaction. "How many genin teams do you know that only have 2 genin and their jonin sensei?"
"…None," Sasuke thought aloud.
"And what's Konoha's motto? Something we've been told a thousand times in the academy."
"…The Will of Fire?"
"What? No," she avoided laughing at his hesitant response. "Teamwork. Kakashi-sensei is still testing us. We have to take those 2 bells from him by working as a team, otherwise it's impossible for us to get one individually. Not even 50 freshly graduated genin would be able to take down an elite ninja."
"I must admit it makes sense, but how are we going to explain it to the dobe... He's out there fighting against Kakashi-sensei."
"He's gathering information," Seina smiled. "Don't worry, he already knows what we're planning."
"Alright."
"Naruto, retreat. We need to come up with a plan with Sasuke. Leave a few clones to distract him in the meantime," she mentally sent to her twin and then looked at Sasuke. "Let's go, let's find a safe place to talk the 3 of us."
"He won't let go of that damn book," Naruto grumbled quietly when the 3 of them were together. "He told me he won't release it until he finds out what happens at the end of the chapter! He wasn't even paying attention to me! Ugh! If I knew what it's about, I could ruin the plot for him. Let's see who would laugh then!"
"Mmm… How much time do we have?" she thought aloud, having a brilliant and wicked idea.
"Just over an hour," Sasuke reported.
"I have an idea. It might not work, but we can try," she smiled mischievously imagining her sensei's face. "Naruto, send one of your clones to buy the book Kakashi-sensei is reading. If he cares so much about the content, he won't want us to tell him what happens in the final chapter. He'll have to cover his ears and, if he's able to read lips, close his eyes."
Sasuke and Naruto smiled widely, maliciously, as they listened.
"I see. That way he won't hear or see us as we advance towards him."
"Still, it's risky. What if we run out of time?" asked Sasuke.
"That's easy," Naruto said to them. "All we have to do is set the clock back a couple of hours. If we keep him distracted, he won't even realize what time it is until the alarm goes off."
Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he didn't recognize him. Convinced, Sasuke accepted the plan and decided to attack Kakashi so he wouldn't suspect anything. Naruto transformed one of his clones into an adult to go buy the book with the money Seina handed him, then joined Sasuke to distract the teacher. Seina took advantage of becoming invisible and changed the time on the clock. Then, while her brother and Sasuke kept Kakashi-sensei entertained, she set about laying traps around the training ground just in case they needed a Plan B.
"Hmm... I wonder where Seina is," Kakashi muttered aloud, ignoring his brother and Sasuke.
Just when he was about to be discovered, he heard the clone's footsteps and hurried to meet him at the tree line before the jonin noticed his presence.
"I got it, Naruto!"
"Retreat, teme!"
Naruto and Sasuke disappeared to their meeting point, and then she appeared with the orange book in hand. She read the last page of the book as quickly as possible to get an idea of what was going on and nodded. She put the book in her fanny pack and smiled. They jumped out of their hiding spot and surrounded their teacher.
"Ah... finally you decide to attack as a team," Kakashi nodded with a bored expression. "It's about time."
"Attack?" she asked innocently, causing Kakashi-sensei to squint at her and straighten up. "Why would we waste time when you're much better than us?"
"And how are you supposed to take the bells from me if you don't attack?" Kakashi-sensei asked, smiling with his one eye, using the same annoying tone she had used.
"By being smarter than you. What do you think of this?" she reached into her fanny pack and pulled out the orange book Kakashi-sensei was reading. "It's a newly published book. I don't think you've reached the end, have you?"
"Maa, maa... W-wait a moment, Seina," Kakashi-sensei tried to calm her, paling. "Those books aren't for little kids. Why don't you give it to me?"
"Why not? The clerk told me that Icha Icha Paradise is a story about Koyuki and her stepbrother! And Koharu knows how to use fire, see! Here it says he’s very hot," she shook the book, open at the end, playing dumb. "Do you want me to summarize it for you?"
"One moment! W-w-wait!" Kakashi said, his face as red as a tomato, covering his ears. Seina smiled, holding back her laughter, unable to believe how nervous the jonin was.
"KOYUKI CLUTCHED THE TREASURE TIGHTLY TO HER VOLUPTUOUS CHEST AND KOHARU GAZED AT HER, THINKING OF THE PASSIONATE NIGHTS THEY HAD SPENT TOGETHER AND-
"No! No, no, no... Crap!" he shouted and closed his eye while humming loudly so he wouldn't hear her.
"...-AND HOW MANY TIMES HE HAD TOUCHED THOSE BREASTS! EVEN SO, THE HARP'S TREASURE WAS ENOUGH TO SEPARATE THEM!"
Sasuke and Naruto looked blankly at their jonin sensei and took the bells from him without him even trying to defend himself. She closed the book with a loud thud, put it in her fanny pack, and waited with a maniacal smile for Kakashi-sensei to open his eyes. Five minutes passed before he realized she wasn't talking. As soon as he saw that she had put the book away, he sat up and saw that he had lost the bells.
"It's not possible," he muttered, indignant and incredulous.
"It's totally possible!" Naruto shouted with a grin from ear to ear. "You should've seen your face!"
Kakashi-sensei sat in the grass in front of them and breathed deeply. He looked at the clock with a confused expression and saw that it was 11 o'clock again.
"It's still 11? Impossible. You've changed the time!"
"While Naruto and Sasuke distracted you," she said, taking out her half-eaten bento to the astonished gaze of the jonin.
"Did you really read the ending?" he asked, somewhat fearful.
"Ah... who knows," she smiled the same smile he had given them when he excused his lateness.
Kakashi-sensei chuckled in surprise and took the bento he had brought to share with them, even though they were already eating.
"You've beaten me. Using dirty tactics, too."
"Since when does a ninja win a fight cleanly?" Naruto asked. Kakashi-sensei looked at him and ignored him.
"My head hurts from being with you guys, but... you worked as a team. Despite the unorthodox plan, you got the bells. You passed!"
A little while later, the whole team was walking towards the village. As usual, Naruto and Sasuke were arguing about something while Seina walked beside Kakashi-sensei, who, for the first time, wasn't holding the adult book in his hand.
"Did you really buy the book and did the shopkeeper tell you all that?" the ninja asked discreetly.
Seina chuckled when she saw that he seemed worried. "Of course not! I sent a clone of Naruto under a transformation. The shopkeeper probably didn't even realize who he was selling the book to."
Kakashi-sensei looked at her, surprised, and sighed. "I should have guessed. Wait a moment! That means you tricked me! You made up the stuff about Koharu and the Koyuki story!"
Seina suppressed her laughter when she saw the jonin's expression. Did Kakashi-sensei really think he was the only troll on the team? Oh, poor man!
"What did you do with the book?" he finally asked.
"I kept it. I'll read it when I have time."
"What!?" Kakashi-sensei shouted. Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at them. "That kind of book isn't for someone so... young!"
"Kakashi-sensei," she rolled her eyes, "I'm a teenager, not a cloistered nun. Besides, from what I glanced at, the plot is pretty lame, but the p*rn isn't bad."
Her sensei turned as red as a tomato upon hearing her. He remained silent for the rest of the way. Seina wondered for a moment if she had caused him a cerebral aneurysm with her words. Just as they were about to say goodbye, she turned to look at him.
"By the way, when is your birthday?"
"Why do you want to know?" the jonin asked curiously.
She shrugged. "Teams are practically family, aren't they? It makes me happy to give gifts to my family whenever I can."
"September 15th," Kakashi-sensei said without hesitation, and she smiled.
"See you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said goodbye.
"Until tomorrow," Seina smiled in his direction and turned around to continue walking beside Naruto and Sasuke.
She felt her teacher's gaze on her head and wondered what he was thinking.
