My Ninja Way | Naruto | DISCONTINUED

Chapter 2

My Ninja Way
"Team Seven"

        Nori walked into her class, her eyes staring at the ground like she did every day. She wasn't wearing the ninja head band she had received yesterday at graduation, she felt out of place. She noticed that everyone's head bands were mostly around their foreheads, proudly wearing them.

        It had been a few years since she came to Konoha, no friends yet. And much like when she was younger, Nori wore a black shirt and dark blue pants that hugged her legs comfortably.

        She sat down, looking at her hands when she placed them flat on the desk and observed them for a few moments, her lips tilting up slightly when the desk around her hands didn't start frosting. I'm slowly gaining control.

        "Na-ru-to!"

        Suddenly, she was winded when another body collided with hers from behind and she flew forward in her seat, her stomach slamming against the desk. She flinched as her hand went to stomach while her other remained on the desk, unaware that her sudden pain caused her emotions to run wild and the desk under her had was now frosting slowly.

        She glance behind her, confused when she find Sasuke and Naruto spitting and wiping their mouths while Sasuke's fan girls went nuts. What the hell happened to cause Naruto to bump into her?

.
.
.

        Meanwhile, all the Jounin surrounded a crystal ball that sat in front of the Hokage. They all watched as the view went from Sasuke, to Naruto and then to the red headed girl holding her stomach silently.

        Kurenai blinked. "What's... that?" She asked in confusion, pointing towards the whiteness forming around the red heads hand.

        Kakashi frowned, his memory going back to a little girl a couple of years ago being escorted into the village by four jounin as she cried her heart out. That was the little girl.

        The Hokage grunted. "She's from the Noboru clan." He said, observing the jounin's interested expressions as they looked at the silent girl with more interest. "Her name's Noriyuki." Then the view went back to Naruto when he was attacked by a group of girls, all the jounin staring in shock. The Hokage's lips tilted upwards. "As usual, that Naruto's the center of attention."

.
.
.

        Nori turned around when Naruto attempted to stutter out an apology without having to say her name, he didn't know it. She blinked in surprise seeing frost forming around her other hand and quickly brought it to her lap as she urged the frost to disappear and melt quickly.

        She didn't know how to dismiss the frost and ice she made, even though her clan members did. She had left her clan too early to learn anything more than the history of the Noboru's.

        "...and Noboru Noriyuki."

        Everyone went silent as Nori looked up in surprise, her blue eyes widening in confusion. Huh? She looked around the room nervously, wondering what was happening. How long did she space out for? Then she heard Iruka naming off teams, oh right, they were doing genin teams today. She heard him name off team 8 after he said her name and she knew that her team was 7.

        But who was in her team?

        She quickly glanced behind her seeing everyone moving towards their new team mates, but no one was coming towards her. Ah, did they not want her on their team? Instantly, she started feeling nervous. And instead of like normal people when they feel nervous their palms sweat, hers started to become colder.

        "Noboru."

        She flinched hearing Sasuke's voice calling her last name, she had never actually talked to him ever since she came to the Academy. In fact, she never talked to anyone, when was the last time she had talked to someone? She turned around slowly, resisting the urge to shoot her eyes to the ground. She opened her mouth to stutter out a question, but failed miserably.

        Suddenly, Sakura who was sitting beside him sighed. "Come here, silly." She said and once again, Nori failed to form words.

        Sasuke just stared. "You're in our team." He stated causing Nori's fist to clench as her stomach dropped. Same team as Sasuke? Oh no, oh no. Then she saw Naruto sitting beside Sakura and her stomach dropped, him too?!

        Then everyone started moving as they broke for lunch and Sakura piped up, her eyes sparkling. "How about we all have lunch together?" She asked happily. Lunch with Sasuke-kun! She thought in her head. Then she turned to Nori once more, "right, Nori?! We should all...?" Sakura blinked as she let her sentence trail off, her eyes darting around the class room.

        Nori was gone.

.
.
.

        Nori burst out of the Academy, her breathing fast as she ran. Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura, she happened to be on the same team with the three people who were absolutely opposite to her. Would they work well together? She continued to run, only to bump into someone.

        Before she hit the ground, a hand curled around her upper arm and pulled her up to her feet once more. Her head shot up and she blinked in surprise seeing a silver haired jounin, one of his eyes covered by his headband while the lower half of his face was cover.

        "Hey, there." Although his mask had moved slightly, Nori wasn't sure if he had smiled or not. She opened her mouth to say sorry, but he put his hand on her head. "You don't have to force yourself, could you come with me for a moment?" He asked.

        After a few moments of observing him to make sure he wasn't some sort of a pervert, Nori nodded.

.
.
.

        Nori wrapped her arms around herself, frowning as she blankly stared at the ground of the roof. The jounin had made her wait here for some reason and then he left her, two hours ago! She nervously glanced around, should she leave? But that man was a jounin, and he seemed like a nice one, would he be angry if she left?

        "Yo," Nori almost jumped three feet in the air when a hand patted her shoulder. She swung around in shock and saw the jounin from earlier.

        "Ah! It's Nori!" Nori turned at the sound of Sakura's loud voice, blinking in surprise when she saw both Sasuke and Naruto there as well. "Where did you go? Suddenly you were gone, I didn't even get to eat lunch with Sasuke-kun..." Sakura trailed off, opening her eyes when Nori didn't answer. "Ah! Never mind, then!" She groaned causing Nori to lower her head slightly.

        Like she said, total opposites.

        "Let's introduce ourselves." Their sensei said, causing Sakura to look up from her place between Nori and Sasuke. "State your name, likes, dislikes, your dreams, and hobbies." He said.

        "Why don't you introduce yourself first, sensei. Since you were two hours late!" Naruto said and Sakura instantly backed him up, although Sasuke was quiet, Nori could tell he was interested also by the way his eyes turned from blank to more having more life. That was something she became quite good at, observing others and their natural movements to different emotions.

        The jounin scratched the back of his neck. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dreams..." He trailed off before moving on. "I have no hobbies."

        He was lying. Nori buried half her face in her crossed arms that laid on her knees as she stared at her sensei, seeing his look of interest and slight shock when he found she was observing him so closely, obviously she had figured him out yet she had no intention of voicing her thoughts. 

        Sakura sighed, "so all we learned was his name."

        Kakashi sighed also. "Since you're so hyper, you go first, pinkie." He said. Nori sat silently and listened through everyone's different introductions, Sakura's obsession with Sasuke, Naruto's love for Ramen, Sasuke's scary goal. Revival of his clan? She passed a few thoughts around in her head, rather confused about what he was talking about. Then finally, dread settled in her stomach when Kakashi's eyes flickered towards her and she realized it was her turn.

        "...and you?" He asked.

     Nori remained quiet. She wondered if she looked as nervous as she felt. After a few moments Sakura spoke up. "It's no use, sensei." She said, it wasn't in a mean way, but it still made a small flare stir up in Nori's stomach when Sakura continued. "I don't think anyone's heard her talk besides the first day she came to the Academy."

        Naruto blinked as he looked at the red head sitting beside him more closely, he had noticed her before because he heard some of the boys in the class were crushing on her when they were younger but he hadn't really been interested in her. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard her talk more than once.

        "Hmm...?" Kakashi leaned forward as he ignored Sakura, his eyes strayed on Nori seeing an emotion flash across her ice blue eyes. Nori's lips tilted downwards when Sakura continued to try and tell Kakashi that she was going to speak. "Are you going to answer the question? First your name..." Kakashi urged on.

        Nori opened her mouth, only Sakura cut her off once more.

        "Sen-sei! I told you, she's mute."

        Nori's hands went ice cold instantly, "I'm not mute." Her voice come out strongly, much stronger than she had intended it to. Her sensei and team mates were shocked as they stared at her. Her face had come out of hiding in her arms slightly as she unintentionally appeared more colder than she would had liked. Then she realized what she'd just done and her face went bright red and she hid her face once more.

        Suddenly, Sakura and Naruto felt coldness under them and they both shot up in surprise. Nori's mouth parted in surprise seeing the step they were all sitting on had ice and frost on it, all coming from her. Sasuke also stood up when his started coming his way.

        "W-What did you-?!" Kakashi put a hand on Sakura's shoulder to silence her. He had been informed of Nori's condition.

         "Please stop yelling at her," Kakashi said. "If you keep irritating her it will only get worse."

        Nori sucked in a sharp breath. Control it. She thought. Control it, control it, control it! This place wasn't like her clan, people here wouldn't laugh it off and pat her on the back like people would from her clan.

        Sasuke's watched her carefully, she seemed terrified. Afraid they would reject her. His eyes flew across the ice and frost surrounding her with interest. She didn't talk to him, glance at him, never crossed paths with him. It wouldn't hurt to help her out just this once.

        Nori's eyes widened when she felt a warm blast of air and she saw a few specks of fire. She looked down and saw her ice and frost was melted, then her head snapped up to Sasuke in surprise seeing him nonchalantly look away. Finally, after a few moments Kakashi relaxed once more. "Now that, that's over with. Let's continue shall we?" He asked and waited for Sakura and Naruto to sit down. Nori had went back into her hunched over, face hidden position. "Please continue," Kakashi said.

        Nori stared silent for a minute. My name. "My name... is Noboru Noriyuki." She started slowly, "...but... call me Nori."

        "Your likes and dislikes." Kakashi helped her out.

        Nori thought for a moment. What did she like? "I like... listening in class...?" Her answer come out more like a question. It was silent for a a second before Sakura beside her started shaking.

        "Umm... Nori," Sakura said slowly, bursting in a fit of giggles. "I think that's something you're obliged to do." Nori's face went bright red, she didn't doubt that it was probably the color of her hair. Sakura tried again, "Is there something that you did with your friends our family that you liked?" Sakura asked.

        Nori's eyes returned to the floor. "No ones ever tried... to befriend me." Sakura bit her lip.

        "Your family?"

        Nori averted her eyes once more, turning her head slightly. "My clan... it's not... their not like that." She mumbled, feeling guilty for making everything go awkward. What was something that she liked? What did she enjoy? After thinking over it, nothing came to mind at first until an image of her running through a field, her arms wide open as her long red hair flew around her. "Ah, wind." She suddenly said.

        Naruto blinked. "Wind?" He asked confused. Nori's lips twitched upwards.

        "I like the wind." She repeated.

        "The wind?" Naruto repeated. "Why would you like the wind? Isn't that kind of..." He trailed off.

        Nori's eye brows furrowed. "You asked me what I liked and I said it." She snapped, sniffing lightly as she glared lightly at the ground. The others stared at her in surprise. Was she... pouting? She wanted to get this introduction over with quickly. "I dislike it when their's dust floating around with the wind, and my hobby is... observing people and their reactions..." She said slowly.

        Naruto's face paled. "Isn't that kind of creepy?"

        Nori looked down when she felt her eye twitch in annoyance. How long had it been since she felt so much emotion? "You didn't state your dreams, Nori-chan." Kakashi said causing Nori to look up once more as she stared ahead searching her mind for her dream.

        She had never thought of a goal. Her clan wasn't like that, she was taught differently before she came to Konoha and learned their ways. She hadn't thought of something like a dream. A dream had been something she used to dream of having while she was with her clan. Her fists clenched lightly.

      "My dream, is to have a dream."