Disclaimer:
I don't own the bloody franchise
Pick up the Pace:
Konoha's newest traitor runs through the trees - heart pounding in his chest as he ponders the consequences of his actions. He starts regretting,the disbelief that he is still being hunted when the Sandaime(the Akatsuki's puppet) had led the hunting ninja in the wrong direction. The plan was supposed to go off without a hitch,Lord Orochimaru presented the idea to steal the Forbidden Scroll from Konoha and he,the traitor one of his agents in Konoha had readily agreed. His thoughts changed to plans of how to survive as he pushed the past to the back of his mind. Suddenly,shiruken pierce through the foliage slashing his arm as he struggles to dodge. He keeps running,picking up the pace - not confident in his ability to face down his pursuers. Seconds layer he is proven right as shuriken pierce his clothing pinning him to a tree. Wood from the tree suddenly rises binding him to it's bark. He is knocked out abruptly...when he wakes up,he stares into the masks of his captors.
"ANBU" he thinks,shivering because of the cold air.
He is not embarrassed at his state of undress as the captors have already stripped him.
He realises that the two ninja in front of him are something different,their masks are not styled in Konoha's signature animal style but are blank and faceless. He wonders if it's for intimidation effect and shivers as it works intentionally or not. The shorter figure steps back allowing the taller,more muscled figure step forward. The torture begins...
Mizuki spills minutes later,he never reveals information about Orochimaru though - the seal preventing it kills him.
After all,dead men tell no tales.
The newest graduating class from Konoha's Ninja Academy all sit dormant at their usual seats. Occasionally,chattering from a group of girls or raucous conversation from some boys breaks the silence. Their academy instructor for the past few years walks in-he goes by the name Umimo Iruka. He reflexively clears his throat - looking like he's going to call for silence but stops,finally appreciating the unusual silence from the twelve year olds.
Beginning his usual speech,emphasising on the importance of this graduation but is surprised and yet completely unsurprisingly when Uzumaki Naruto,the second best this year pipes up and asks him to speed it up a little.
Sighing,he begins listing out the team placements after scolding the young boy.
Team Seven will be made up of Uchiha Sasuke,Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura and their jonin instructor is Hatake Kakashi. The blond boy interrupted him again asking why he and his 'bro' are paired up with 'her' he says with disdain.
Iruka again scolds the boy before telling him that the teams have to be balanced and as such they are paired up with the dead last.
The girl had been so promising too...until the death of her parents had kickstarted a bunch of events which led to her loss of confidence. She had fell in grades performance and had never been much of a practical ninja. The end result was the shy girl looking back up at him.
Team Eight consists of Inuzuka Kiba,Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyūga-the Kunoichi of the Year for this graduating class. Their jonin instructor is...
The next day,
Kakashi looks down at his next victims...he means prospective team of course. The girl,Sakura has a simple dream - making her dead parents proud,Sasuke - to avenge and restart his clan and Naruto,to protect those precious to him.
He's spent an hour watching the team he told to meet him in the training ground so early. The hungry "genin" look frustrated at his lateness amd he marks the 'brothers' distance from the dead last down. It seems like he'll have to fail his sensei's son's team too. His thoughts are interrupted by the climax in a particularly good scene and he erupts into perverted giggles. They genin never notice though and a few minutes later,he's ready to test them.
He gives the same old rules for the bell test before requesting that they begin.
Simultaneously,the two boys rush at him as the girl retreats. He sighs and keeps reading his book. The boy's cross each other's paths and Sasuke uses the momentary block in vision to arm himself. Naruto leaps as Sasuke throws a bunch of shuriken,most don't seem to be on target as Kakashi lazily dodges. Naruto places his hands in an unfamiliar seal before creating five shadow clones. Kakashi metaphorically raises an eyebrow before easily dispatching the clones. The two boys grin however as the two clones have squared Kakashi in,ninja wire glints and Sasuke twitches his fingers the wire cuts into Kakashi with tremendous force. That would have happened if Kakashi hadn't replaced himself at the last second. Kakashi has to admit that he's impressed especially with the level of teamwork from the two boys. He starts searching for Sakura not bothering to hide his chakra signature. He realises his mistake as he places the girl in a genjutsu only for her to be covered in white smoke. The henge placed on the pale fox before him is broken. Kakashi doesn't notice it yet as it camouflages well with the smoke. It leaps at him,firing it's claws rapidly. He dodges,eyes widening at the summoning jutsu displayed by one of the boys. The fox breathes in before shooting a fireball at him. Kakashi finally closes the book,using taijutsu to knock the fox out,sending it back to it's dimension. Naruto rushes in using the momentary distraction to grab the bells. His hand glances across them,as he barely misses. Kakashi kicks him in the gut,making him pay before Sasuke lashed out at him with fire. Kakashi blinks surprisedly, he had noticed no chakra build-up from the boy and yet his pant-leg is singed as evidence. He eyes the seals on the Uchiha's arm suspiciously as the boys retreat.
Sakura is preparing herself for a sole attack on their jonin-sensei when the boys sneak up on her. She fumbles and drops her kunai managing to send a shuriken Naruto's way on reflex alone. The blond easily catches it as Sasuke asks her if she'd like to talk. She is surprised at their offer to work together even if only two of them will pass. She doesn't see the logic until Sasuke reveals that the purpose of the test is probably to drive a wedge between a team,testing if they can work together in dangerous situations. Sakura is surprised as it all becomes clear to her,she wonders how Sasuke figured it out aloud and he answers. She blushes as she realises her mistake as Sasuke tells her he has a suspicion as there has been no three man team in the history of Konoha. Kakashi is waiting at the tree stump where he placed the alarm clock,lazily counting the seconds when they strike. The prospective team attack in tandem,Sakura providing support from behind via ranged weaponry as Naruto and Sasuke press the attack with their exemplary teamwork. Naruto throws shadow clones at him,as Sasuke provides timed support with fire blasts waiting for an opportunity to snatched the bells. The buzzer suddenly goes off and the time for the test is over,Kakashi lazily catches a few of Sakura ' shuriken on his fingers looking at the faces of his genin team. Their faces reveal their crushed hopes,Sasuke more subtly so.
Seconds later and their dreams are reassured as he announces them as his team.
A cry of 'dattebayo' fills the air and birds flap away from trees in fright.
A month later,
Asuma's team take a month of D-ranls before they finally break. Ino loudly proclaims her disgust at the missions at the Hokage's desk and requests a C-rank. Asuma's momentarily surprised at the rage on Hiruzen's face before chalking it up to a bad day and calming his father. He personally requests and accepts the mission scroll from the desk.
"A trip to the Land of Waves would do his team a lot of good" he thought.
If only...
A/N:
You may have noticed my summarising of some of this fic's scenes. It's fully intentional,I personally have never enjoyed some of those lengthy 300k+ fics and I don't intend to start writing them.
Next chapter we head to the Land of Waves with Team 10.
*Cackle - I hope you guys don't get attached to any characters.
*evil laugh
Read and Review please,
-CrimsonKing123.
