Akira was on the outskirts of town. He rolled a rock around with the tip of his shoe idly. His overly large robe swayed in the slight breeze. It was something you would see on a fantasy mage. It had big sleeves and a hood, though it was down. The robe finished by slimming into a triangle shape that reached down to his knees. Fuzzy fur lining coated the inside, but the heat didn't seem to bother him.
What to do... Now that he didn't have an academy to go to his life seemed so boring. The forehead protector had been resting atop his head for a week now and he had yet to hear any news about assigning teams.
His eyes snapped to a moving figure near him. It was exiting a shop, slinging a shiny kunai around an index finger with glee. He peered through his hood at the girl, whom he recognized as Kotai. She was his peer, and a part of his graduating class.
Kotai smiled as she stuffed the kunai in her shuriken holster. That should hold her for a while, or at least until she started slinging them around again. Once tossed, she felt like she could never find them again. She adjusted her lavender shorts on her hips before making her way down the street. She too noticed a nearby figure, but not as quickly as her adversary had to her. Not far too far away, near the gates, was a slim figure who appeared about her age. Wait a minute...
Upon further examination, she realized it was Akira from the Academy. Well, much like her, formerly from the Academy. She didn't know much about him, other than his name. He'd always been reserved and quiet, never really doing much. But she would've thought he'd be off doing ninja stuff. He'd always been pretty smart in class, so she expected him and others like him to be off saving the world or something. Meanwhile she was still at home, some shinobi she was.
"Hey Akira!" She shouted, waving her arm (not knowing his attention had been on her long before). She then sprinted towards him excitedly.
Emotionless blue eyes studied her. Kotai. The bandage girl, or originally the blue-haired girl. This one was one of the few academy students that Akira could stand. Everyone seemed to want to be his friend, in his face, and happy all the time like some children's show. The two had little contact during the academy other than Akira overhearing her jealousy of his intelligence once. She kept to herself and so did he, so he had no reason to not like her. As far as Kotai herself, the girl was smarter than she gave herself credit for. She handled chakra strings with precision above her rank. She didn't realize how much her self-confidence levels held her back, sadly.
"Hello Kotai." Deciding to interact with her, Akira turned to face her. Deciding to be a little friendly, he inquired, "How has your time been outside of the academy?"
To Kotai, Akira had always been a bit hard to read. His voice didn't betray much of his emotion and with a downed hood covering half of his face, you couldn't really read facial cues. He was being friendly, to her surprise, so that was a start. Besides, it wasn't like she really suspected him of something; it was just hard to tell how he felt about anything.
"Well... surprisingly boring. I kind of figured being a kunoichi would be a bit more exciting than this. But I mainly just spend my time training and running about the village. I suppose it's better than being at war with anybody, but the last thing I did that was remotely ninja-like was spearing a rabbit on a kunai when it tried to steal from my mom's garden. Not exactly what I entered the academy for." Granted, she was aware that genin didn't normally do all the dangerous missions that higher level ninja did, but she doubted bringing that up would help her case. "What about you? Life outside of the academy treating you well?"
A mother's garden. Akira mused within his own head, imagining the picturesque scene of a mother weeding in the warm sun. I wonder if she has fresh vegetables, home cooked meals perhaps- Akira brought his own mind back to attention, but showed no facial clues that it had ever wandered.
"Be thankful that there is no use for our abilities. There have been times in our history where people have begged for there to be little use for soldiers as there is now. Be content with the mission we receive." Akira criticized unknowingly. "As for me, I cannot say much different than you. Training. Waiting for a purpose to come along."
"That requires me to actually be on a team," She said with a frustrated sigh that did a lot to convey how she felt about the situation. "I wasn't assigned to one after graduating. Probably has to do with my subpar performance. I spend more time in that stupid garden than I do with a knife in my hand. I know that I should be happy with peace time, but it still don't like not having anything to do." She idly toyed with one of the bandages on her wrist as she talked, winding it and unwinding it.
"The application of teams is an imperfect process; as such there are several common errors. The first being that long periods of time are taken to analyze genin candidates before teams are made." Akira looked at Kotai knowingly. The stare had all the emotion of an Aburame, but she understood his meaning and had to hide her blush of embarrassment at her mistake. "Personally, I despise the team system. I have no regrets that I left the academy without a team."
Back at the Ninja Academy, one of the hokage's assistants finished nailing sheets of paper to an announcement board as the screech of a PA system rang.
"All genin, please report to the academy for team assignments. I repeat, all genin to the academy for team assignments. The new teams are posted on the announcement board."
Kotai couldn't tell if he meant those words for her or was just speaking in general. She was surprised upon finding out how vehement he felt about the team system. Not that his voice betrayed anything one way or the other but despise certainly seemed a strong word and it made her think he had a big chip on his shoulder about it. She could only wonder as to why that may be. Of course, she didn't have much of a choice in asking about it as he... disappeared. She considered searching for him but decided to just let him be. He always had been a loner, this wasn't the first time she'd seen him just wandering about, and she imagined someone as withdrawn as him probably meant this to be the end of the conversation.
"That means us." Akira said beside her ear suddenly. The petite kunoichi visibly flinched when she suddenly heard Akira in her ear. She turned to him, trying to mask her shock while nodding her head."It seems they have assigned the genin of the village, your wish may come true after all." Akira's lips pinched together slightly as he stood, the biggest emotion he had physically shown all day.
"Maybe so. Apparently the higher powers have decided to give me a chance." She smiled brightly at this, clearly much happier about this turn of events than Akira. Mentally, she also reminded herself that she shouldn't waste this chance and use it to show that she could be a good kunoichi. Ecstatic about this turn of events, she quickly ran over to the Academy to see the results.
Kotai's enthusiasm was notably dulled when she saw the list. It was strange, that was for sure. To be partnered with Retsu Kaguya and Akikko Uchiha. Uchiha. Didn't matter that she didn't know who she was very well, her last name said it all. Talented with both ninjutsu and taijutsu with a Kekkai Genkai that she heard gave free access to Genjutsu. Of course, she wasn't privy to the details of the Sharingan, she didn't even know its name. But it didn't matter. Her partner was a kunoichi from a family that was the poster child for excellence with access to all three of the major jutsu types. She might as well sew cannon fodder on the back of her jacket because that's all she was going to be.
"And... hopes. Crushed. Well, it's as they say. Be careful what you wish for. What about you, Akira? You probably got better luck than I."
"Kotai..." Akira muttered, placing his finger against the sheet. It point out that her name was teamed with the two names above it, not below it.
Her cheeks darkened from peach to scarlet and she said nothing, leaving it to Akira to read the names.
"Akira Kawamoto, Ashi Inizuka and Kotai Ibara." He read aloud. That made Kotai feel slightly better. Sure Akira was good but, no offense to him, but he wasn't an Uchiha. He didn't have any Kekkai Genkai, he was just really smart. A little more on her level. She had to resist the urge to yelp when Akira suddenly shoved into her and pushed her away from the board.
"Akira, what are you-!" H cut her off by hushing her.
"Aimi..." Akira said in a tone that would have been a growl in anyone else. They both knew her as the queen bee of the school, and most often a selfish bag who only cared about random men she found attractive. By saying she didn't care was literal. She lived ehr life as if only a handful of people actually existing, going so far as to run over others when she was walking or talk over people spontaneously.
"Ohhhhh." Kotai muttered. One word could say a lot. She remembered Aimi, how couldn't you? She was an arrogant, pompous girl who thought she was above everybody else. She felt sorry for whoever Aimi's sensei was going to be. That girl seemed to have a thing for older men so he might find himself fending off her advances as well as attacks. She did not envy that guy. They waited to the side together as she strutted towards the board.
Talent, exceptional beauty, and the drive to be the best. What did Nohara Aimi have going for her? Sure, she had to still be stuck on the same team as two talentless punks. She remembered everyone worth remembering at the Academy and that fact that the hack's weren't even on her radar meant that he or she would only be detrimental to Aimi's chances of ranking up. Letting out a sign, Aimi leaned her back against the wall, and looked at her finger nails. God, she had it bad.
"Will you two nobodies leave?" Aimi snarled, not looking up from her fingernails. "You stink and this perfume costs more than the two of you combined."
Kotai growled and stepped forward. Akira refused to let that happen, and grabbed her by a bandage hanging off her wrist.
"Don't waste your time." He muttered. He walked away, still holding her bandage. She had no choice but to follow him away from the building and abide by Aimi's command. Unfortunately, Aimi did have talent, especially with medical jutsu. It was tough stuff that demanded a lot of chakra control. And of course, Aimi let no chance pass to mention how she simply excelled at it. It came with her arrogance, why should she hide how gifted she was? She visibly clinched her fists at this thought. No combat techniques and Aimi still made her feel underwhelming.
Once the two were out of sight, a young girl was soon seen jogging up to the list. A small golden dog ran alongside her, yipping and barking excitedly. "I know Shironu; it's exciting that we get to be on a team!" The black haired girl, who apparently understood the dog, giggled into her sweater. She had an almost childish sense about her, the way she swung her sleeves around and how she blushed when she giggled.
She finished her trip to the board and ran her eyes running over the numerous lists before she found her name. "Akira Kawamoto and Kotai Ibara... Ibara, is that even a clan name?"
A ways down the road, Kotai sneezed. Immediately after the sneeze she growled and clenched her fists.
"What is wrong?" Akira raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know; I just feel like someone is talking bad about my clan!" Kotai growled. Akira simply shook his head and continued.