Son Goten sat on a desk, swinging his legs and tipping a family-sized bag of potato chips into his mouth.
The crunching sounded especially clear in the quiet classroom.
Bored out of his mind, Naruto Uzumaki stood on a chair, carefully wedging a chalkboard eraser above the doorframe.
"Hehe, anyone who's late deserves to be punished!"
Naruto hopped off the chair and rubbed his hands together with a mischievous grin.
Sakura Haruno stood with her hands on her hips, saying, "Naruto, don't do that," but her eyes shone with anticipation.
Sasuke Uchiha cast a cold glance at him and said, "Lame. How could a jonin possibly fall for such a low-level trap?"
Son Goten swallowed his chips and licked the seasoning off his fingers.
"You never know. Some people look like experts, but they're actually closet goofballs."
The moment he finished speaking.
A hand wearing a fingerless glove pushed open the classroom door.
Clack.
The eraser, covered in chalk dust, landed squarely on that head of silver hair.
Dust flew everywhere.
Naruto froze for a second, then clutched his stomach and burst out laughing.
"He fell for it! Hahahaha! He actually fell for it!"
Sakura hurriedly put on a ladylike air and waved her hands.
"Sensei! This was all Naruto! I tried to stop him!"
Standing in the doorway with chalk dust all over his head, Kakashi Hatake swept his dead-fish eye helplessly over the four kids in the room.
His gaze finally lingered for half a second on Son Goten, who was still eating chips.
"How should I put this?"
Kakashi picked up the eraser from the floor, his voice completely flat.
"My first impression of you is... I really don't like you."
The school rooftop.
The five of them sat around the steps beside the railing as a breeze swept up a few leaves.
Kakashi leaned against the railing, holding a book titled Icha Icha Paradise without opening it.
"All right, let's introduce ourselves."
"What should we say?"
Naruto tilted his head as he asked.
"Your likes, dislikes, dreams, that sort of thing."
Kakashi answered lazily.
"Then you go first, sensei!"
Naruto pointed at Kakashi.
"Me?"
Kakashi pointed at himself.
"My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like telling you my likes or dislikes. As for dreams... I don't really have anything in particular. And I have lots of hobbies."
"Boo-"
All four booed together.
"So all we learned was your name."
Sakura complained.
"All right, you start."
Kakashi pointed at Naruto.
Naruto immediately straightened his forehead protector, looking excited.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen, but I like the ramen Iruka-sensei buys me at Ichiraku Ramen even more! I hate the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to cook!"
At that, he clenched his fists, his gaze turning resolute.
"My dream is to surpass every Hokage before me! I'm going to make everyone in the village acknowledge my existence!"
Kakashi nodded slightly and looked at the next person.
Sakura blushed, her gaze repeatedly drifting toward Sasuke.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like is... or rather, the person I like is..."
She glanced at Sasuke and squealed.
"Eee-!"
"My dream is..."
Another squeal.
"What about your dislikes?"
Kakashi asked.
"Naruto!"
Sakura answered instantly.
Naruto stood petrified, tears streaming down his face.
Then it was Sasuke's turn.
The atmosphere instantly turned cold.
Sasuke rested his chin on his crossed hands, his eyes gloomy.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are lots of things I hate, and nothing I particularly like."
There was a chill in his voice.
"I have an ambition: to restore the Uchiha Clan, and... to kill that man with my own hands."
Naruto and Sakura were both too intimidated by his presence to speak.
Kakashi sighed inwardly.
He really is a troublesome kid.
Finally, everyone's eyes turned to Son Goten, who had been licking a yogurt lid off to the side.
"Your turn, kid."
Kakashi reminded him.
Son Goten tossed the thoroughly licked-clean yogurt lid into the trash and dusted off his hands.
"My name is Son Goten."
Smiling, he held up one finger.
"As for what I like, obviously boo... ahem, all kinds of delicious food, and gentle older girls."
A vein bulged on Sakura's forehead.
"I hate bad food, feeling hungry, and..."
Son Goten deliberately turned to stare at Sasuke's cold face.
"People who have no strength but still love showing off."
Sasuke's brows snapped together, and he glared coldly back.
Completely ignoring Sasuke's murderous aura, Son Goten folded his hands behind his head and gazed blissfully at the sky.
"As for my dream."
"I'm going to build a huge harem and have all the beautiful women in the Shinobi World wear maid outfits and line up every day to feed me delicious food!"
Everyone fell utterly silent.
Even Kakashi's dead-fish eye went wide.
What kind of outrageous talk was that?
Did ten-year-olds mature this early these days?
"Hmph. Utterly ridiculous."
Sasuke gave a snort of extreme disdain.
"A dead last is always a dead last. Your head is full of nothing but garbage."
Son Goten's smile grew even brighter.
"Who are you calling garbage?"
His voice still lingered where he had been.
But he was already gone.
Thwack!
"Urgh!"
Clutching his forehead, Sasuke sprang up from the steps with a cry of pain.
A large patch of red visibly spread across his forehead.
Son Goten stood behind the spot where Sasuke had just been sitting, his fingers still poised from flicking him.
He gently blew on his fingertip.
"Looks like the future village chief needs to teach you how to show proper respect for the strong."
Sasuke's eyes filled with shock and anger.
What just happened?
Even with the Sharingan activated, I couldn't track that speed!
Kakashi's lazy posture vanished, and his muscles tensed slightly.
So fast.
That wasn't the Body Flicker Technique.
Just a burst of pure physical speed.
So fast my retinas couldn't even catch an afterimage.
This kid really isn't as simple as his file makes him out to be.
"All right, all right, no fighting."
Kakashi stepped between them, holding back Sasuke, who was about to lash out, with one hand and stopping the mischievously grinning Goten with the other.
He felt his career prospects turning utterly bleak.
With these problem children together, life was going to be unbearable.
"Now that everyone knows each other, we'll start carrying out missions tomorrow."
Kakashi didn't want to stay another second.
"A mission?"
Naruto perked up.
"That's right. A survival exercise."
Kakashi narrowed his eye, his voice turning a little sinister.
"If you fail, you'll be sent back to the academy to repeat your training. Oh, and remember not to eat breakfast."
He glanced at Son Goten, who was still rubbing his stomach.
"You'll throw up."
With that, Kakashi formed a hand sign and vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Only the four of them remained on the rooftop.
Sasuke stared fixedly at Son Goten, gritting his teeth.
"Son Goten, just you wait."
With that, he turned and left.
Son Goten pulled a face at his retreating back.
"Bleh, bleh, bleh. See you tomorrow. Let's hope you're still this tough then."
He turned to the bewildered Naruto and Sakura and rubbed his stomach, which had gone flat again.
"Come on. How about another barbecue meal to celebrate tomorrow's exercise? Naruto's treating this time."
"Huh?! Why me?!"
"Because I have a feeling you're going to have a miserable time tomorrow. Have a good meal beforehand to build yourself up."
Before you continue