The four teammates strolled through the streets of Konoha, headed towards Ichiraku Ramen. They had already picked up two parcels of tomato onigiri, one for Sasuke and one for the other three to share. Naruto was talking to them about the different merits of each kind of ramen, the different meat and seasoning combinations and noodle types.

Once they reached the shop, Sakura and Hitoshi both agreed to let Naruto order for them. He got a mild, beef, white miso for Sakura and a spicy, pork, red miso for Hitoshi, which they both really enjoyed. They also really enjoyed the tomato onigiri, and thanked Sasuke for picking it out.

They went to a clothing shop next, because Sasuke, Sakura, and Hitoshi unanimously decided that Naruto's jumpsuit needed to be burned. Hitoshi suggested that they all get new outfits together, and everyone agreed. They got Naruto a similar looking outfit to his old one, just replacing the blue with black, (basically his shippuden outfit), that everyone agreed was much better. Sakura decided to get an outfit that looked like her dress, but was a set of pants and a shirt instead, (the outfit Naruto is wearing above). Hitoshi picked out a baggy, short-sleeved white shirt and black pants for Sasuke, promising to embroider the Uchiha clan symbol onto the shirt for him. Naruto and Sasuke picked out Hitoshi's new outfit, a long-sleeved red shirt with black pants, and a black, sleeveless longcoat to go overtop.

Immediately after they bought the clothing, Hitoshi whipped out a needle and colored thread and embroidered the Uchiha clan's symbol onto Sasuke's shirt. After he finished, they all changed into their new outfits and decided to walk around and look at new weapons and miscellaneous items. On his request, they purchased Sasuke a three-foot steel katana, with a red hand-wrap. Hitoshi also got a katana, his made of a clear crystal with blue veins of sapphire crawling through it and had a blue hand-wrap. Hitoshi was absolutely in love with his new sword, and promised to spar Sasuke later.

They stopped at a book store next, to get books relating to jutsu and such, when Hitoshi saw their sensei browsing the Icha Icha display. "Hey guys." He stopped everyone, and pointed at Kakashi. "What'd I tell you?" The ginger grinned. "He was going to be late."

Sakura and Sasuke glanced over the man curiously. "That's our new sensei?" Sakura inquired.

Hitoshi and Naruto nodded. "Hatake Kakashi." Hitoshi told them.

Sasuke shook his head. "Was he ever planning on going to the academy?"

"Who knows?" Hitoshi shrugged. A mischievous grin crossed the ginger's face. "I'm going to get him to go to the Academy." Hitoshi announced to their group.

They turned to him. "How?" Sakura asked.

"Remember that friend I mentioned? The one who said Kakashi was going to be late?" Hitoshi questioned, causing the three to nod. "Well, I'll henge into him and remind Kakashi that he needs to go pick up his genin."

Naruto grinned. "Sounds like fun, dattebayo!"

Hitoshi grinned widely, almost maniacally. "Okay, I'll be right back." He said, henging into Gai.

"Wait!" Sasuke hissed. "Should we go back to the Academy? I mean if he's going back there..."

'Gai' shook his head. "No. Let him sweat a bit." Hitoshi's three teammates grinned at the mischievous undertone in his voice. "Okay. I'll be right back, and then we can continue shopping!"

The fake jonin walked into the bookstore. "Well, if it isn't my eternal rival!" 'Gai' grinned widely, confidently striding up to Kakashi. The jonin gave him a side eye and sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of a conversation.

"Hello, Gai." Kakashi greeted resignedly.

'Gai' grinned widely, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "Today's the day isn't it?" The fake jonin mentioned. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" The jonin inquired. 'Gai' sweatdropped.

"You're getting your new genin team today, Kakashi." 'Gai' reminded. "Did you forget?"

The silver-haired man's visible eye widened in shock. "Shit!" Kakashi cursed. "I knew I forgot something!"

'Gai' gave a hearty laugh. "You better hurry then. Knowing you it's been a few hours since you were supposed to pick them up."

Kakashi sprinted out of the store, headed straight to the Academy. 'Gai' proofed back into Hitoshi, and the ginger started laughing hysterically. His teammates joined him.

"Aw man," Naruto chuckled, wiping a tear out of his eye, "I almost feel bad."

Sasuke snorted. "Focus on the part that's enjoying this, Naruto. Hitoshi was right, he didn't go to the Academy and it's been three hours."

Sakura grinned gleefully. "That's right! Who knows how long he was gonna leave us there for!"

Naruto grinned. "You're right." The blonde smiled. "Should we continue shopping?"

The four all simultaneously nodded.

::

Kakashi raced to the Academy, before slowing down and composing himself.

'You have to appear cool.' Kakashi told himself. 'You did this on purpose. You didn't accidentally forget them. Not at all.' The jonin walked into the school, and lazily ambled to Iruka's classroom. 'You do things on your own time. Yeah, that's right. You definitely didn't forget them.'

The jonin slid the door open, and was about to give some kind of lame, half-assed excuse, before he saw that the classroom was completely empty. Scrawled across the blackboard was a message for him.

Dear Kakashi-sensei.

It has been an hour since you were supposed to retrieve us, and we got bored. So, we're going shopping. You won't mind, because you clearly don't give a shit.

Love,
Your students.

Kakashi sweatdropped at the passive-aggressive note. 'Oh jeez.'

The jonin walked over to Iruka's desk to see which students he got. His name was listed for Team Seven, and his students...

'Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and...' Kakashi blanched. 'Nara Hitoshi.'

"Well shit."

::

The four had purchased a few books from the store, before moving on. Surprisingly, everyone was getting along very well. Hitoshi didn't have the highest of hopes for their group, but that was beginning to change. Sakura was now leading them to a small cafe near the Hokage's Tower, and Hitoshi was extremely excited. The pinkette had explained to the ginger about all the sweets that the cafe had to offer, and it had Hitoshi watering at the mouth.

The instant they got there, Hitoshi grabbed a seat and immediately started poring through the menu. His three teammates laughed, before sitting with him. The table was round, so Sakura sat across from Hitoshi and Sasuke across from Naruto. The three attempted to pay for their own drinks, but Hitoshi refused, apparently nowhere near spending all of the money he had 'inherited'.

Sasuke got a black caramel iced coffee at Sakura's suggestion, and ended up really enjoying it. He said that the small amount of sweetness added by the caramel actually made it better. Naruto got a vanilla cappuccino on which he ordered a lot of extra whipped cream. Sakura got cherry blossom tea (unironically), with crushed blueberries. And Hitoshi ordered all three drinks, along with a cookie milkshake, a dozen almond croissants, five coffee jellies with whipped cream on top, and a few lemon custard bars with powdered sugar on top.

All four of them thoroughly enjoyed their treats, and were about halfway done, when they noticed their sensei searching the streets. Sasuke was the first to notice, as he was in the seat facing the window. As soon as he pointed it out, they all laughed.

"Should we invite him to sit with us?" Sakura suggested. "It seems a bit rude to leave him searching for us."

Hitoshi grinned. "Sounds good to me. And maybe I can regale him with the great tale of how I turned into his 'eternal rival'." They all laughed at that, and Hitoshi exited the store briefly. "Hey, Kaka-sensei!" The ginger called out to him. The silver-haired man turned to see his student.

"Hitoshi." Kakashi said, walking up to him. "Did you really just leave the classroom?"

Hitoshi smiled sweetly. "Did you really abandon us in the classroom?" He retaliated, making Kakashi sigh.

"Fair point." The jonin admitted, noting the ginger's odd change in mood. "So, where are your teammates?"

"Oh, they're inside. We did a whole bunch of stuff while you were out porn shopping." Hitoshi grinned, going back inside. Kakashi followed, and the rest of Team Seven waved at them. They had already brought an extra chair over for Kakashi.

"I wasn't shopping for porn." Kakashi protested, sitting down. Hitoshi passed him a coffee jelly, that the jonin eagerly accepted.

"Mhm." The four genin nodded slowly and sarcastically.

Kakashi raised his hands in surrender. "I wasn't." The jonin insisted.

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because we all saw you standing in front of that Icha Icha display."

Kakashi blanched. "You saw that?" The jonin asked, before sighing. "Well as first impressions go, that probably wasn't the greatest."

Naruto grinned. "Well, seeing you full out sprint to the Academy was pretty funny."

Kakashi paled further. "You saw that?!"

"Yep." Sakura smiled. "It's nice to know that you care a little." The pinkette grinned cheekily, taking another sip of her tea.

Kakashi sighed. "Well, isn't this great." The jonin was silently scolding himself for messing up his first chance to make them respect him.

"No, what was great was when you believed that I was Gai-san." Hitoshi mentioned, and Kakashi choked on his coffee jelly.

"What?!" The jonin questioned in disbelief, causing his team to laugh. "You were- You've met Gai?!"

"Oh yes." Hitoshi nodded innocently, taking a bite of a lemon bar. "His team is very, dare I say it, youthful."

Kakashi sighed. "You four will never let this die, will you?"

The four shook their heads simultaneously. "Nope!"

"Well, might as well get introductions out of the way. I'm Hatake Kakashi."

Hitoshi snickered. "Let's not pretend like you don't already know our names." The ginger took a long sip of his tea.

Kakashi sweatdropped, a bit taken aback by the ginger's sudden sassy behavior. "Right."

Then came an awkward silence. Well, it was awkward for Kakashi. The other four didn't seem to care. The jonin cleared his throat. "Tomorrow meet me at Training Ground Seven, alright?" The silver-haired man told them.

Naruto grinned. "Okay, dattebayo! What're we going to be doing?" The blonde inquired.

"A survival exercise." Kakashi answered simply.

"A survival exercise?" Naruto questioned. "But we've already done a whole bunch of those back in the Academy!"

Kakashi smiled. "This will be a very special survival exercise." The jonin leaned back in his seat. "Oh, and you might not want to eat breakfast tomorrow."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And why not?" He questioned.

"There's no point. You'll just puke it back up."

Hitoshi snorted internally. "Stop trying to salvage this scenario, Kakashi-sensei."