A tall, broad man walked in through the doorway, met by every gaze in the classroom.
His short black hair stood straight up, a shadow of stubble covered his chin, his jonin vest hung wide open, and an unlit cigarette rested at the corner of his mouth.
Asuma Sarutobi.
"Who's this old guy?" Kiba nudged Choji with his elbow.
"Shh, he's wearing a jonin vest."
Naruto craned his neck, and dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on Asuma in unison.
Asuma paused, then let out a couple of chuckles.
"Hey." He raised a hand and waved. "Didn't know I was so popular."
"..."
The next second, every gaze in the classroom turned away again.
Everyone went back to whatever they had been doing.
Naruto plopped back into his chair.
-Not the person I was waiting for.
Someone in the crowd even muttered, "Thought it was Hayashi..."
Asuma's ears twitched. His hand still hanging in midair, he gave an awkward smile and tucked it back into his pocket.
He wasn't annoyed, though. He simply took out a list at his leisure and shook it open.
"Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka-"
He looked up after each name.
"Starting today, you three are Team 10. I'm Asuma Sarutobi, your jonin instructor."
The three whose names he had called rose one after another and headed for the door.
Choji couldn't bear to let go of his bag of chips, Ino was pouting, and Shikamaru brought up the rear looking utterly done with life, already missing that cloud outside the classroom window.
Asuma looked down at the three children gathered before him, grinned, and took out a lighter to light the cigarette at the corner of his mouth.
"Don't look so glum." He exhaled a puff of smoke, smiling. "The Nara Clan, the Akimichi