Chapter 24 - 22

After the graduation ceremony, the Scroll Of Seals was suddenly stolen by someone. Hikaru wondered if that was Azumi because of the original canon plot of the anime, but he got rid of that idea because Azumi was clearly with him. He later found out that the one who stole the Scroll was a student who failed the test but Mizuki was the mastermind behind it. Mizuki also transformed into giant werekitty and, sadly, Iruka was gravely injured when he tried fighting Mizuki by himself when he found the two, his student and Mizuki, in the forest near Konoha.

Right now, Iruka is fighting for his life in the Konoha Hospital. Azumi was devastated, no, not just her, all of her classmates was devastated that their favorite teacher was gravely injured just like that. But they decided to remain strong for their favorite teacher.

Mizuki was later interrogated for any information before he was executed. They found out that he was working for Orochimaru and he was on a mission to steal the Scroll Of Seals and give it to Orochimaru. They didn't find any valuable information afterwards.

So with Iruka being gravely injured and Mizuki being a traitor, the classroom had no teacher. The school decided to put a substitute teacher for awhile, at least until Iruka manage to get up.

So, now everyone who passed the test is inside the classroom waiting for their team announcement.

The substitute teacher stood in front of everyone in the classroom as he reads a paper in his hands filled with list of which team to put the students in.

"Team 8 will be Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino. Your teacher will be Kurenai Yuhi."

Hinata has grown over the years. She doesn't stutter anymore but she is still quite shy. Though, she has grown fond of Hikaru as well. When she learned that Naruto, or Azumi, was a girl, she was quite devastated. Even though only female relationship wasn't looked down upon by the village, she just couldn't bring herself to do that. She still looks up to Azumi, of course. But she is a straight girl, after all. And Hikaru, for her, is the kindest boy she has ever met. He is mature, calm, cool, collected, and isn't easily strayed by his emotions. (Though he would always get angry when someone talks bad about Azumi). Slowly, she fell for Hikaru, as well.

Kiba, well, he didn't changed. He is still the same guy trying to be an alpha and over the years, he had tried to fight Hikaru and everytime, he would get his ass kicked. In short, he never matured. He is arrogant, loud, obnoxious, and most of all, he always tried to get the attention of the girls in the class every single time. Though, he would always get his ass kicked by them.

Shino isn't exactly the talkative type. He stays behind his shades and hood and would never interfere in anything unless it's needed. He was the most silent kid in class and someone would always try pick on him for his clan"s specialty, their insect ninjutsu. Even though they are one of the four noble clans in Konoha, people are still disgusted by them. One day, when Shino was being picked on by older kids in the class in the school's cafeteria, he met Hikaru. Hikaru scared them and they were suddenly afraid of him, no, that was an understatement, they were terrified of him. Shino didn't know what exactly happened, all Hikaru did was stand in front of the older students before they ran away in fear. Though, he heard them mutter this; "The blue clad monster is coming... along with its giant sword! And Its oozing in darkness!"

'Yata! See that, Hikaru-teme! Hinata-chan is in my team, you are basically away from Hinata-chan!' Kiba thought in his head as he looked in Hikaru's direction with smugness clearly written on his face.

*sigh* 'I guess wishing for Hikaru-kun to be in my team was too much. But putting Kiba in my team is also very problematic. He's just huge pervert. Shino on the other hand is very different than Kiba. He could be trusted because he's a friend of Hikaru-kun, ' Hinata thought in distress. She just decided to look at the bright side.

'Hmm, so they're trying to build a sensor type team? A very good choice to put me, a Hyuga, and an Inuzuka for this team. But the problem lies in Kiba. I have seen both of their performances and I know Kiba is just all talk, and Hinata on the other hand is very skilled in her taijutsu but I hope she would learn some ninjutsu skills, Good thing she didn't inherit the natural arrogance of the Hyuga Clan or else this team could very much so become very problemtic, ' Unlike his teammates, Shino immediately analyzed the reason for making this team and at the same time, thinking the problems within the team.

Then the teacher announced, "Team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji. Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

Ino has also grown over the years, albeit just slightly. She gave up being Sasuke's fangirl because she could clearly see the lack of interest in her in his eyes. But Hikaru was different. He was like the older brother of the entire classroom. He's kind, giving, handsome, and that long hair of his makes him more enticing. He was always wearing strange clothes. One time, he came in school wearing a full bodied golden armor but without the helmet. He called it; "Ornstein's Set". That day, he was mesmerizing. He's like the knight in shining armor that would always appear in her dreams. And she loved it.

"Nani?! Why am I teamed up with these two idiots?! Why can't I be teamed up with Hikaru-kun!?" Ino yelled at the teacher.

"Yamanaka-san, Hokage-sama was the one who decided on this team. If you want to complain, go talk with Hokage-sama, " the teacher said.

"Guh."

In the end, she didn't mutter a single word and just accepted her fate.

'We should be the one complaining, Ino. Troublesome, ' Shikamaru thought in annoyance.

'Shikamaru is right!' This one was Choji.

"Next! Team 7 will be Uzumaki Azumi, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and... Hiroaki Hikaru. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake, " though he couldn't say it, the teacher was surprised that the Hokage decided on a five-man cell. This is the first time he has ever seen something like this.

'Ho, Hokage-dono really did put me in Azumi's team. But it isn't a surprise. Putting her in the same team as Sasuke and Sakura alone is already bad move. Even after all the training I did with Azumi, she still became the dead last of the class. It was because she scored the lowest in the written test but even though her performance in the physical test was good, it was nowhere near to overwrite her low written test grade. She has the skills of a ninja, but in the end, the pen will always be her weakness. That's why she was put in a team like this. Sasuke scored lesser than me, that's why he is in the second place and Sakura is the first place in the female section of the class because of her booksmarts. But, the one added wasn't me, it was Sasuke!' Hikaru said in his thoughts.

'Since Sasuke scored lesser than me and I'm the student of the year, he should've been the one in an another team. It should've just been Azumi, Sakura, and I. But, from my theory, Kakashi should've begged the Hokage to be the one teaching Azumi, since his teacher was the Fourth Hokage, he should be the one to teach Azumi. Of course, the Hokage agreed but that would leave Sasuke without anyone to teach him how to use the sharingan when he awakens them. Only Kakashi wields the sharingan in the entire village, right now. (Though, Danzo wields it also). That's why Hokage-dono just decided to put Sasuke in this team, but that's not the only reason. He had a promise to fulfill to Itachi for Sasuke to live. Since I'm in the team, Sasuke's survival rate is high. After all, in the entire village, he, the Hokage, is the only one who knows how strong I am, ' Hikaru said with smirk in his thoughts.

Out of all the students in his class, Hikaru was by far the one who matured the most. It's because of all the deaths he's been through. He died hundreds, if not, thousands of times. In the -Challenge- option, he fought many kinds of enemies. Black Knights, Balder Knights, Taurus Demons, and many, many more. He even fought some bosses but he was never able to beat them because of how incredibly overpowered they are. He once fought Artorias after fighting 5 levels of Bloated Warriors and Bloated Sorcerers. And I tell you, they were a nightmare.

Every next level multiplies them like this. 1 times 2 = 2 - 2 times 2= 4 and so on. That's why it was very hard to defeat them, But because of that, he also grew his skills as he died many times over. Not just his stats. And don't get him started with Artorias. He's like 30 times stronger in here than the game. He feels like he's playing the absurd nightmare mode of Dark Souls.

Tonight, that would be the time when he will beat Artorias! This is for his honor as a Dark Souls player! And also for the 10,000,000 souls reward for defeating the overpowered Artorias. I know, the souls that would be rewarded to him is very... massive.

After finishing with the team announcement, the teacher told them to wait for their senseis. In just 15 minutes, all the new genins were gone except, well, team 7.

"Kuusoooo! That damn sensei of ours is late!" Azumi whined in her chair.

"Azumi, be patient. I'm sure our sensei will arrive soon, " Hikaru said to Azumi.

"Okay, fine. Since you said so, Hikaru-kun, " Azumi obliged.

'Though, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Kakashi is clearly going to be late, ' Hikaru thought mischievously.

And so, they waited, and waited, and waited, until 3 hours had passed.

Sakura was screeching, Sasuke is really getting annoyed, Azumi is getting impatient as the time goes by, and Hikaru stayed silent.