a/n- Ah! I feel like such a horrible person right now... I have taken an unacceptable amount of time to update one small chapter of my story! I am really sorry for the delay... as always. I can't believe how lazy I have become... from posting a chapter in 3 days to taking more than a month to update...

Anyway, I am posting this chapter a bit shorter than I planned to have it, but if I take any longer, I guess you may think that I abandoned this fanfic... which will never happen! Next time onwards, if I take more than 2 weeks to update, someone just PM me to get my lazy ass to work! Sometimes, all I need is someone to tell me what to do...

OK, now let's get on with the chapter!

Konoha's Orange Maelstrom

Chapter 11

Naruto was feeling really excited now, walking through the corridors of the academy, sporting his brand new, shiny hitai-ate. Today was a day to remember. Today was the day that Naruto get's assigned to a 4 man squad, complete with a Jounin sensei.

Naruto couldn't wait to get his Jounin sensei. Based on what Kurama said, a Jounin sensei is a badass shinobi who teaches you all kinds of cool Jutsu. Even as he thought about this, a grin escaped Naruto's lips. After all, you need a badass sensei if you want to be the Hokage!

Naruto was now in front of the door to his classroom, where he would be sitting for one last time... He slid the door open, and, guess what he saw? The usual- A classroom where almost everyone was busy talking, and Ino and Sakura fighting for the seat next to Sasuke... who was, as usual, brooding while staring outside through the window he was sitting next to. Naruto could understand his logic of sitting next to the window- he had a nice view of the outside world (classes tend to get boring when you are a genius like Sasuke) and, only one fangirl could sit next to him. What Naruto could still not understand after all those years in the academy was, why are all the girls fan-girling over Sasuke? Sure, he may have good looks, and killer skills, but seriously, don't they know when to call it quits? That guy never showed even a bit of interest in them! And they are still fighting for him!

However, when everyone caught sight of Naruto, the class immediately became noisier, with shouts of astonishment, and Ino, who was facing the side of the classroom where Naruto entered, stopped fighting, and pointed at Naruto. Sakura, seeing Ino stop fighting, turned around to see what the matter was, and just stared at Naruto, mouth wide open, like most of the people in the classroom.

Naruto was feeling real nervous now. The 'Kekkai-Genkai' incident was still the hot topic in the academy. However, judging by the way everyone was staring at him, he was going to have a real hard time making any friends when he gets his teammates... So, in order to prevent that, Naruto decided to break the ice-

"What are you people staring at? Have I grown a tail or something?"

This was followed by dead silence for a few seconds... everyone seemed... confused?

Finally, someone spoke up- "Well, actually, yes..."

"Wait! What the-" Naruto said as he turned around to look at his back... and he saw it... an orange, furry tail sprouting out of his pants!

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"NOOOOOOOO!"- A scream echoed through the almost quiet classroom, as Naruto quickly sat up on his seat, eyes wide open, and hyperventilating.

Everyone in the classroom turned their heads towards Naruto, including Mr. 'too-cool-for-you' Sasuke.

"Why are you screaming in the middle of my lecture Naruto?!" Iruka shouted.

Naruto quickly stood up and turned around to look at his butt... and he found no tail!

'Oh... It was just a dream... phew! Now what do I tell Iruka-sensei?'

"Umm... Iruka-sensei, I... umm.. kinda, y'know umm.. I fell asleep and saw a nightmare..." Naruto said, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Can't you be serious just for once, at least on my last lecture for you, Naruto?" Iruka asked, annoyed and disappointed.

"Eh eh.. sorry about that..." Naruto said in a really unapologetic tone.

"Fine... sit down Naruto... now where was I... ah, yes, the lecture is over, moving on to the team assignments..."

Naruto immediately diverted all of his attention to Iruka. This was something he did NOT want to miss, unlike Iruka's sleep-inducing boring lecture.

Iruka called out the teams and their corresponding members and Jounin sensei, one by one by one. As far as Naruto was concerned, everyone from Team 1 to Team 6 were people he didn't really know well. However, it all changed when Iruka called out the members of Team 7...

"Uchiha Sasuke..."

'I pity the guys on his team.' Naruto thought

"...Haruno Sakura..."

'Correction- I reeaaally pity the guy on his team.' Naruto thought as he watched Sakura, who happened to be sitting right between Naruto and Sasuke, jump from her seat, shouting "hurray" while almost all the girls in the class, especially Ino, grumbled at this.

"...and Uzumaki Naruto. You are assigned to Team 7, and your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Naruto was now standing next to the window, staring out of his classroom, waiting for his Jounin sensei to come, along with Sasuke, Sakura, Team 8 and Team 10, the former including Shino, Hinata and Kiba, and the latter including Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji.

He was still having a hard time believing this, and was desperately trying to wake up from the nightmare. Out of everyone else, why did he have to be stuck with Sakura and Sasuke? If it were Sakura alone, then fine, no harm done, but why Sasuke AND Sakura? He could barely tolerate the Uchiha alone, and add his fangirl to that, and it is like multiplying the square of their annoyingness together! (And the value of their annoyance is greater than 1)

However, there was one silver-lining to this situation- his Jounin sensei – The legendary Sharingan no Kakashi! Naruto had heard of Kakashi from Kurama, about how Kakashi was the student of the Yondaime, lost his teammates, joined the ANBU at a really young age, watched over Naruto's mother when she was pregnant, and just how badass he was. There was no one else he would rather have as a sensei! Naruto couldn't wait to learn all of those cool Jutsu his new sensei would teach!

Naruto wondered if having Kakashi as his Jounin sensei was worth the price of having Sasuke-teme and Sakura as his teammates... He looked back into the classroom and stared at them- Sasuke, brooding like always, and Sakura, fangirling like always.

'No, definitely not worth it.' Naruto thought. 'What was jiji even thinking when he put all of us into the same team? He must be going senile... Speaking of jiji, I wonder what happened to Konohamaru...? I hope he is training hard! After all he is my rival!'

Meanwhile, inside the sewer seal, a usually lazy Kurama was feeling really excited-

'Just as I thought! The Uchiha gaki, Pinky, and that Kakashi are on the same team as Naruto... You are getting really predictable... Sarutobi Hiruzen... This should be interesting...' Kurama thought as he closed his eyes to 'sleep'.

Back with Naruto, he was getting really restless, pacing along the width of the classroom. All 3 of the remaining Jounin sensei were running late. How unprofessional!

Finally, the sliding door opened to reveal a bearded man, smoking weed. He wore the standard Konoha Jounin outfit plus a cloth with the kanji for fire on it visible below his waist, and he was, unmistakably, one of their Jounin sensei... the question was, whose...

He said- "Team 10, please follow me. I am your Jounin sensei Sarutobi Asuma."

Naruto watched as the members of team 10 got up from their seats and followed their new sensei out of the classroom. As they left, Naruto heard the unmistakable voice of our favourite lazy ass- "What a drag..."

Moments after Team 10 left, the door opened again, this time revealing a woman dressed in a white... toilet paper dress? No, wait, that was not paper. OK, make that- a woman wearing a white dress that looked like it was made up of bandages... Naruto really couldn't understand fashion these days. (of course, this comes from a genin who wears neon orange jacket and pants everyday)

On the other hand Sasuke got a real big shock when he saw another feature of the woman- red eyes! He thought- 'Is that a sharingan? Did Itachi screw up and spare her? Or maybe she stole the Sharingan from an Uchiha! No, wait, that is not a sharingan! It has no tomoe in it! ...or is it a mutation of some sort? ...nah!'

See? This is why Sasuke never talks. He thinks so much about even the most trivial of matters, that if he talked about this, he would be talking more than Kurama in lecture mode! And, if he told anyone about what he was thinking about when he was brooding (aka- the numerous ways in which he is going to brutally kill Uchiha Itachi (dream on Sasuke!)), most of the academy graduates would have a hard time holding onto their lunch. (another side effect of this would be that he would be labelled 'crazy' (like a lot of us labelled canon Sasuke as 'crazy' for a short period))

However, as of now, no one knew what was going on in young Sasuke's mind, and the woman who was the source of Sasuke's thoughts spoke up- "Team 8, please follow me. I am your Jounin sensei Yuuhi Kurenai."

Again, Naruto watched the members of team 8 get up from their seats and follow their new sensei out of the class. As they left, he heard an annoying voice, unmistakably Kiba's- "So long suckers!"

Thus really ticked Naruto off- why did their sensei have to be the last to come? He expected the legendary Sharingan no Kakashi to be much more punctual than this!

After that, an hour passed, then another, and then another...

Naruto felt really frustrated now, and so did Sasuke and Sakura, though they were doing a much better job of keeping their frustration in check. Sasuke, who was the least bothered by this, just kept on replaying his future encounter with Itachi in his mind. As for Sakura, who appeared calm on the outside, she was actually planning how she is going to spend her time with Sasuke... in her mind she was planning out their first date, kiss, marriage, and, umm... I don't think I want to go into too much detail about this one. (I don't want to get this fanfic M rated!)

And just as Naruto was about to snap and do something stupid, the door finally opened, to reveal a man wearing a mask, and wearing his hitai-ate in such a way that it covered his left eye, and the only visible part of his face was his right eye, and a small area surrounding it. He had spiky, silver hair, and wore the standard Konoha Jounin outfit. There was no mistaking it- this was the legendary...

"Sharingan no Kakashi!" Naruto shouted.

On hearing this, Sasuke got the biggest shock in his life since the Uchiha massacre- 'Did he just say 'Sharingan'? Is this guy an Uchiha that survived the massacre because Itachi screwed up? Or did he steal the Sharingan from an Uchiha? Wait, does he even have a sharingan? Was Naruto just lying?'

On the other hand, Kakashi was quite surprised that Naruto knew his nickname. While it was true that he was very famous for his left eye, one of the last in existence, there was no reason for a academy graduate to know about that!

Kakashi's momentarily let go of that chain of thought and said- "The three of you- meet me at the rooftop." and Kawarimied out of sight.

Left alone to gather his thoughts on the rooftop, Kakashi thought to himself- 'Hmm... that was sensei's son... Uzumaki Naruto... Now how does he know of my nickname...?' That was when a brainwave hit him- 'Of course! The fox must have told him about me! After all, Sensei's wife was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi!'

So... how does Kakashi know of Kurama's friendship with Naruto?

Flashback

Kakashi was now standing in Naruto's apartment room, with non other than the Hokage himself. They were standing next to Naruto's dining table.

"So this is Naruto's house..." Kakashi said, while his eyes scoured the house.

"Sasuke, the kid from the Uchiha clan is also in your group. I wish you luck..." The Hokage lowered his voice and said- "Kakashi, what I am going to tell you is going to be an S-rank secret. Do not tell anyone of what I am going to tell you.."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Kakashi said, the usual Laziness in his eyes disappearing.

"This matter is concerning one of your students- Uzumaki Naruto..."

'Sensei's son? I wonder if this is something about the Kyuubi...'

"...If you think that this is something about the Kyuubi, then you are right..." Hiruzen said, still maintaining his lowered voice. "... The fact is that, Naruto appears to have forged a friendship with the fox a couple of years ago..."

Kakashi's eye widened at this. 'Naruto becoming friends with the Kyuubi? That does not sound good... Maybe the-'

Kakashi's thoughts were cut off by Hiruzen's voice- "Before you jump to any conclusions, let me have you know that the Kyuubi has once saved Naruto's life, and it appears that his loyalty lies firmly with Naruto... though it is not impossible that the fox is trying to manipulate Naruto, for the moment, it is best if we observe what happens, and take action according to it."

Hiruzen was about to dismiss Kakashi, when he remembered one last thing he had to tell Kakashi- "Ah, and the name is Kurama."

"Pardon?"

"The fox's name... It's Kurama..."

End Flashback

All the members of Team 7 were now assembled at the roof-top, with Kakashi sitting on the railing, and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sitting in front of him.

"Now, let us start by introducing ourselves to each other..." Kakashi said.

"But sensei, how should we introduce ourselves?" asked a very curious Sakura.

"Well..." Kakashi lazily responded "things like your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams..."

"Why don't you start first, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Well..." Kakashi said as he rubbed his chin- "My name is Hatake Kakashi, there are many things I like and dislike, and I don't feel like sharing my hobbies... as for my dreams... it's non of your business"

'All we got to know of him was his name!' Naruto and Sakura simultaneously thought. However, before either of them could point this out, Kakashi pointed at Naruto and said- "Your turn."

Without skipping a beat, Naruto excitedly said- "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are ramen, training, and hanging out with my best friend! My dislikes are the 3 minutes I have to wait for cup ramen to be ready, and having to sit idle! And my dream..." Naruto deliberately paused for a second, for that 'dramatic' effect. "... Is to become the Hokage!"

'Interesting...' Kakashi noted 'Looks like the boy likes to dream big...'

"Okay, you next!" Kakashi said, looking towards Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura." Sakura started her introduction, of which this is the only meaningful sentence. "My likes are... I mean the person I like is..." Sakura looked at Sasuke, blushing and squealing. After a few moments , she continued- "... and my dream is..." she looked at Sasuke again, and squealed even louder this time.

'I think I know what her dream is...' Kakashi thought as he recalled the numerous umm... shall we say... 'scenes' in the Icha-Icha books he had been reading.

Kakashi shook of his perverse thoughts as he caught one thing Sakura forgot...

"And dislikes?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto!" Sakura said without even having to think about it.

'Of everything in the world, why me?' A very hurt Naruto thought to himself.

'Looks like girls of her age have only love in mind...' Kakashi assumed. Then, he said, looking at Sasuke "Okay, you are next."

Sasuke, who had been sitting there the whole time with his fingers interlocked in front of his face, as if he had been plotting to do something really hideous, said- "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything, and there are lots of things I hate... and as for my dream... it is to kill a certain man... and it is not going to be left as a dream... I will turn it into reality!"

'hmm... I wonder who this 'man' is... I hope it is not me!' Naruto thought.

'Sasuke-kun is so cool!' Sakura thought, as she squealed in her mind.

'hmm... just as I expected... that incident must still be fresh in his mind...' Kakashi analysed.

As the introductions came to an end, Kakashi decided to get on with the business...

"Okay team, now we can do our first mission tomorrow."

"Hooray!" Naruto shouted, with his arms up in the air.

Sakura was also excited, as she would get to spend more time with her Sasuke-kun.

Even Sasuke was looking forward to the mission! After all, even being mentally scarred by seeing your family being murdered in front of you was not going to stop someone from feeling excited about his first mission!

However, Kakashi decided to play spoilsport right when things were looking good for team 7...

"Oh, but what we are going to do tomorrow is not some ordinary mission... It is survival training!"

Sakura's face lost a lot of the happiness seen on her face a few moments ago.

'Survival training... that does not sound good...'

Meanwhile, Naruto's and Sasuke's face had a confident smirk on their face. Because, after all there was nothing that Sasuke and Naruto wanted more than getting stronger... and guess how you get stronger? Exactly. By training...

It was right now that Kakashi decided to commence phase-2 of operation spoilsport-

"Oh, and by survival training, I don't mean some ordinary training. It is actually a test with a drop-out rate of 66% to see whether you are qualified to become genin... and those who fail will be sent back to the academy!"

After they got rushed by the information sent their way, the rookies, for the first time in the day, felt fear.

However, before they had time to react, Kakashi sent another information bomb their way- "Meet me at training ground 7 at 5am tomorrow, with necessary gear. You will get more details there... and yeah, don't eat breakfast... or else, you will throw up!"

This further worsened the fear in the rookies' mind-

'Just what kind of violent test is he going to put us through? I really hope that I... no... I will pass!'

'Oh no! I could get separated from Sasuke-kun! There is no way I will fail! After all, this is a trail of true love!'

'pfft! There is no way I am going to fail... right?'

Meanwhile, inside the sewer seal, a certain fox was snoozing away.

Okay folks, so this is the end of the chapter... I know it is pretty short for how long I took to write it, but please bear with me just this time!

So... The teams are all the same as in canon... and, yes, I know, Kurama didn't make much of an appearance this time, which is a shame.

Also, you may have noticed that I skipped some parts of the story, like the meeting with Konohamaru... well, the reason why I did that was because there were not many things I could have changed in that meeting, and, if I wrote the exact canon incident, it would be boring, both for you and me... however, this doesn't mean that I will be skipping crucial parts of the story like this.

And, sorry if my writing skills git a bit rusty... picking up from where I left a month ago didn't go that smooth...

P.S. If you become tired of waiting, just remember- PM me to get my lazy ass to work!