One
"Are you sure about this Kakashi?"asked the Lady Hokage.
"You have doubts?" he asks in return.
"Hmmm..." Tsunade paced a little behind her desk. Her pointer finger tapped her pursed lips, she was deep in thought.
"I like your idea...but you know we'll hear complaints, and I really do not feel like listening to them, especially at a time like this."
She was looking out of the large window now.
"With the stress of the looming war, I may just punch someone through a wall...and we really can't afford injuring any of our own shinobi."
He knows she's not joking. Tsunade lets out a sigh and turns around to face him.
"Alright," she consents. "It'll be good for them. But you're arranging it all and dealing with the aftermath, I still have endless things to do here."
"Hai!"
A somewhat large sized group lounged around one of the training grounds on this beautifully warm and sunny day.
They were talking to each other, still sitting within their respective teams, underneath the shading that the trees had so kindly offered to them.
"He's late," complained Ino.
"He's always late," Sakura replied with a sigh while twirling her hair.
"I wonder why he summoned all of us here," Kiba thought aloud.
As if on cue, Kakashi flashed right before their eyes, greeting them with a nonchalant, "Yo."
"Finally," huffed Ino.
"Gather 'round everyone, I need your attention for a moment, " Kakashi commanded while gently waving his hand for them to come to him.
Teams 7, 8 and 10 collected themselves and stood before the silver haired jounin.
"Kakashi-sensei what's going on? Are we all going on a mission together?" Naruto asked while looking around. "This is a lot of people for a single mission don't ya think?"
"Sensei's probably just here to assign all of our teams' their own mission," Choji says to Naruto.
"Actually, you're both right," Kakashi says with his index finger pointed upwards.
"Huh?" the two boys question in unison.
Confused glances were exchanged.
"Team 7, Team 8, Team 10," starts Kakashi in an authoritative voice.
"You are all disbanded."
Momentary silence falls upon them, eyes bulging out of their sockets.
"WHAT?"
Their combined screams rattle the nearby trees.
A huge commotion erupts and it looks like the young ninja are yelling at each other more so than the person who gave them the shocking news.
Kakashi lets out a helpless sigh and whips out his book from his back pocket to wait out this hormonal storm.
Not everyone is acting crazy, just the usual suspects...the loud ones.
Sigh. It's too noisy. Guess I should say something. How troublesome.
"Let's hear what Kakashi-sensei has to say," Shikamaru says in an unusually loud voice. He doesn't like to raise his voice, it takes too much effort. But the blaring noise was just too much for even him to keep quiet about.
It seems that they had completely forgotten about the one person that got them all riled up in the first place.
Kakashi peeks out at them from behind his book. And I was just getting to the good part...
"There's no need to get all worked up. I have a mission for all of you...but there's a catch."
Well if they weren't confused before, they were now.
As Naruto was about to say something, Kakashi intervened.
"Let me explain the whole thing before we waste any more time."
Everyone else shuts their mouths and listens.
"This is actually more of an exercise, but I want you all to treat it as a serious mission. Tsunade-sama signed off on this, so no joking around."
Kakashi continues.
"Three teams will set off in three different directions to capture a criminal on our wanted list. Team Gai would have been included, but they are currently out on another mission and won't be back for awhile."
The youth stare at him blankly.
"It's a competition."
The teens' ears perk up at the word 'competition'.
"It's only a competition if there's a prize," Sakura says with a flicker of hope and fire in her eyes.
"The first team to bring their criminal back will receive a prize," announced Kakashi.
Most of the group jump up in glee and cheer.
"Our team will win for sure, they have me on it!" bragged Naruto, pointing to himself proudly.
"Team 8 isn't called the tracking team for nothing, we'll find the guy in a flash," counters Kiba, rubbing his index finger under his skilled nose.
"Everybody knows that Team 10 has the best teamwork out of all of you," Ino says and sticks her tongue out at them.
"Sensei," proclaimed Shino. "Didn't you say something about our teams being disbanded?"
"Ah yes. There's one rule in this little competition of ours. All current teams will be temporarily disbanded. I will reassign all of you into three new teams of three."
"Aww man," wails Kiba.
"But why?" whines Naruto.
"Kakashi-sensei, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the teams we're in now are the strongest teams that can be made out of the nine of us," Sakura tries to reason. "We're..."
"Comfortable," interrupts Kakashi. "Too comfortable. I won't argue that the teams you are in now are very strong and able. But there will come a time when you will need to work with other shinobi, shinobi that you won't even be familiar with. So just look at this as a warm up for what's to come in the future. At least you all know each other."
The teens let his words sink in. Varied thoughts pop into their heads.
It can't be that bad.
Troublesome.
How can I win now?
...
I don't like change.
"So...what are the new teams?" questioned Choji.
"I am so glad you asked," Kakashi said lightheartedly, with a smile.
"Can we pick?" asked Ino.
"No. I have already made up my mind on who will be placed where."
Kakashi takes out a little piece of paper from the front pocket of his vest.
Deep breaths are taken as they all listen closely.
"When I call your name, step forward."
"Ino."
"Shino."
"Naruto. You are the first group."
Ugh, I have that loudmouthed, act first think later Naruto on my team...well at least he's strong. Ino thought, trying to convince herself that they could win this.
"Next will be..."
"Sakura."
"Choji."
"Kiba. You will make up the second group."
Sakura looked at her new teammates. Hmmm...not bad, we have strength on our side. Now I need to figure out how to get that prize.
"And that leaves us with our final group..."
The two newly formed teams look around to see who's left.
"Hinata."
"Shikamaru."
"And..."
Everyone else turns their gaze to the last uncalled name.
"Sai."
A/N: Eek! My first multi-chapter story! I started this a long time ago, but kinda just left it hanging on my computer. I wanted to write this to its completion, but I couldn't. So, I figured that if I post it, it'll force me into finishing this thing.
As usual, I apologize if there are any errors.
Hope you enjoyed it so far and thanks for reading! =)