Note: This story is a sequel to 'The New Generation: Students'.
Prologue: Comrade Reunion
It was another ordinary day in Konoha, just a regular day for Suzuki Hiroshi, who took a stroll towards the administrative office. He had completed his latest mission, which was to guard an important merchant in-charge of trade in the southern port several kilometers east of Konoha. The mission was completed without a hitch, and the client had paid them handsomely for their services. Right now, he was going to report the mission to the Hokage-sama, and take a break for the day.
" I told you, damn it, you should have left him to me. I was more than capable enough to handle that bandit! You were stealing my fun, and I take that personally!" a loud, brash female voice exclaimed, ringing right though to his ear drums.
Not that he was going to have any peace with Sora around anyway.
His Leaf teammates were with him, having done the mission together. Sato Ryouta merely shrugged his shoulders and chuckled to himself, too used to his teammates kind of behavior, which actually further infuriated Tanaka Sora, the female of the team, the epitome of tom boyishness. After slightly more than three years together, somethings just never changed amongst them: Sora bring loud and rude, Ryouta being carefree and non-chalant, and Hiroshi being reserved and mediator of the group.
" Say something, Hiroshi!" Sora exclaimed.
Hiroshi gave a thumbs up sign towards Ryouta before saying " Good job Ryouta. It's the sixth time you infuriated her at random today." Ryouta chuckled once more, and Hiroshi got a slap on the head for siding with him.
Three years while in their teenage years had caused quite a lot of change amongst themselves. Sora was now the tallest amongst the three of them, having reaching her growth spurt faster than the two boys. For the ease of moving around, and suiting her style of fighting, Sora wore significantly less clothing on her body than she did before. She had a short, almost sleeveless cotton jacket over a tank top vest, and short jeans. Fingerless gloves and bandages were a must for her on her hands always, especially the damage she usually dishes out with her devastating Sound taijutsu techniques. Being boys, both Hiroshi and Ryouta also managed to appreciate all the extra curves that came along with females hitting puberty. Sora had a lithe, firm and slim body, no ugly bulging muscles from all the taijutsu training she did. Ryouta and Hiroshi had to agree that Sora was really attractive, or hot would be the most suitable word to describe her now. Her silver coloured hair was short and spiky as per usual, but she now had some bangs hanging down her right side of her face, partially covering her eyes.
Still, despite the more feminine exterior she displayed now, her attitude did not change. The last time Hiroshi commented that she looked sexy she responded by attempting to beat the crap out of him.
Sato Ryouta was fairly tall for his age, but still much shorter than Sora. He didn't bother too much about his hair this time, allowing it to grow several centimeters longer but not enough to look messy. He was the only one amongst the three of them who opted to wear the standard Leaf shinobi vest, which he wore over a thick cotton shirt. His three quarter long cargo pants had several pockets on them, but they were empty most of the time. He had quite an athletic build, although Sora would beat him flat in a competition of stamina and speed. His elemental jutsus and manipulation was second to none, and was slated to get a promotion from his current chuunin rank some time in a few months time.
Still, Ryouta was very modest and humble, despite being of such stature and rank. It only made Hiroshi admire him even more.
Hiroshi, who was probably a late bloomer, was the shortest amongst the whole lot, by at least 4 inches. Hiroshi wore a custom made cotton vest he made himself, usually coloured blue. He carried multiple packs with him, an oval shaped backpack over his back with straps going around his left shoulder and bottom right side. He had a pouch in front of him, along with three more on his back and several leather containers, all containing his puppets, puppetry tools, and medical equipment. Hiroshi opted to learn a little bit of medical jutsus and skills to further supplement his team, and his skills have come in handy in multiple situations. He also carried a variety of puppets in his arsenal, along with his old, custom made weapon launchers, although he is limited to controlling a certain number of puppets only. In short, he had become what Sora wanted him to be: the team's chef (since he was the only 'domesticated' shinobi in their team, not to mention coming from a family who owns a restaurant), medic (with his medical skills and equipment) and weapon supplier (keeping extra weapons in his scrolls.)
" Geez, keep quiet, you moron. I can't even have some peace and quiet here. I'm so tempted to smuggle out some tranquilizers from the hospital supply. Come to think of it, I could make one for my own use," Hiroshi sighed.
" Keep your heads up, Hiroshi. She's here to stay," Ryouta laughed.
" Damn right!" Sora replied.
The three of them walked on towards the administrative building where the Hokage's office was located without further ado. They took a relatively quiet route, carefully chosen so that Sora wouldn't need to walk through the commercial district, least she started to get hungry and demand that the guys pay for her snacks, which were not small in volume or price.
" Greetings," someone suddenly replied.
All three of them turned around, only to see a figure standing behind them, wearing a cloak with a hood over her face, covering most of her face. Hiroshi raised his eyebrows, wondering who this girl was. A quick look told him that she was probably his age, most likely. She threw her hood back, and Hiroshi, and the rest of them, recognised her at once.
" Suzumi!" Hiroshi exclaimed excitedly when he saw his Sand comrade and close friend.
It had been almost two years since they met with each other, the last meeting being the Chuunin Select Exam which they took part in together. Nagato Suzumi greeted them with her usual warm, gentle smile, with a look Hiroshi fell for. She had shortened her hair since the last time, now up to her neck and tied in a ponytail behind her back. Still, either her growth spurt had not reach yet, since she was still shorter than Hiroshi. She wore a sleeveless leather vest over her cotton shirt beneath the cape, and long pants, with a thin cotton jacket tied around her waist. Like Hiroshi, since she was a medical ninja as well, she had multiple packs around her sides, all to store her equipment, much larger than Hiroshi's, since a majority of his packs were used to store weapons instead.
" Head's up!" someone else yelled, but after seeing Suzumi, the voice sounded familiar to Hiroshi somehow.
Sora spun around, just in time to catch a staff from smashing into her face. The staff wasn't actually a staff, but the butt end of a spear, which was wielded by none other than Gendou Hibiki. He grinned as Sora snarled fiercely at him as he exchanged a blow with her.
" Good, it seems that your reflexes have not dulled since the last we met. But I wonder if you brain size has decreased inversely proportional to the size of your breasts," Hibiki laughed, snickering as he jumped back, pulling the spear with him.
" Crude punk, what the heck do you think you are talking about?" Sora snarled, cracking her knuckles menacingly.
" Least you have boobs now, at least people will know you are female despite that tomboyish attitude of yours," Hibiki replied, grinning at all of them while slinging his spear on his shoulders. " See, Suzumi, Sora's got bigger boobs than you now. I told you all that dieting would make your breast and butt size smaller than the average gorilla here."
" I absolutely do not diet!" Suzumi said, pouting as she stomped her foot childishly.
Hibiki's crude, sarcastic and chauvinistic sense of humour didn't seem to dissipate over the years, but there was a time when he hated the three Leaf shinobi with a passion, so this was much of a relief. Hibiki had attained quite a build now, his muscles obviously bulging from the amount of tough training he has been through. He has also gained some height, but not much, and his muscles made him look slightly stocky. Just like Sora, he dressed light this time, having a simple sleeveless shirt and short pants. He still kept two weapon holsters on the left and right thighs, although Hiroshi has noted that he never actually uses any shurikens or kunais at all, so having an extra pack from the standard issue seemed rather useless. His dark green hair seem to have turned a shade darker, or Hiroshi's eyes were playing tricks on him, and they were combed back, looking like some mane of sorts. Several extra scars on his body only made him much more fiercer than he used to look, accentuating his gangster-like features, although the grinning face did a lot to soften the harshness on his face.
" It's great to see all of you again!" Ryouta exclaimed, smiling. " But where is Makoto? Shouldn't he be with you?"
" Well, tell us where do you think he is?" Suzumi asked teasingly, as if they were playing a game.
Ryouta raised an eyebrow, before patting his hand on something invisible next to them. All of a sudden, a figure appeared right in the middle of where Sora, Hiroshi and Ryouta were standing, making Hiroshi and Sora jump slightly.
" Don't scare me like that!" Sora shouted.
" Kisurugi Makoto at your service," Makoto said, snapping into a cocky salute.
" So, you have mastered the Camouflage Concealment Technique, have you?" Ryouta asked.
" It's not exactly perfect, if you could still figure out where I am," Makoto said, smiling warmly at them.
" Then again, I'm not your normal shinobi, no?" Ryouta replied.
" True, so true," Makoto replied good-naturedly.
" What a self-jacker..." Sora mumbled under her breath.
Makoto was the tallest amongst all of them, even against Sora. He wore the typical standard issue Sand armour plate with long pants, simple but still functional. He apparently now wore additional arm guards on his arm, along with gloves. He seemed to have done away with his weapon holster, possibly keeping everything in the pack he had on the back of his belt. Like they always knew, his forehead protector, unlike the rest of them where they were displayed proudly on their foreheads, was placed over his eyes. This was to cover he almost useless diseased eyes. Hiroshi had seen his eyes on two occasions: once when he did show him, and once more during the finals of the Chuunin exam when he used it on him, or more exactly, one of his puppets. Even if it was not direct, Hiroshi could feel the fear he could project with his eyes, using fear inducing genjutsu. Makoto had a cold, hard inner exterior, just like Hibiki, and somehow, he was glad they were allies, not enemies.
" It's great to see all of you here. How'd you all manage to make it?" Ryouta asked.
" We asked Temari-sensei to pull some strings. Currently, we are here on an overseas mission to send some stuff around, but it will take some days for any processing and administrative stuff to be taken care off, so we sort of have a short holiday here, compliments from Kazekage-sama," Hibiki replied as Suzumi went around to hug all her Leaf comrades in turn.
" But it's not like I'm happy to see 'you'," Sora replied scornfully as Suzumi gave her a hug as she pointed a finger rudely at Hibiki.
" Yeah, yeah..." Hibiki muttered.
" How have you all been doing all these years?" Hiroshi asked excitedly. It had been indeed a long time since they had last seen their Sand comrades, and he was eager to share some quality time with them.
" Not bad..." Hibiki said, coming over and grabbing Hiroshi by throwing his arm around his neck to restrain him as he ruffled his already messy hair with his free hand. He was the only Leaf shinobi who was close enough to fool around with Hibiki. " Things have been stagnant since you idiots left, but I can't really complain. Least the chuunin missions are fairly decent than the boring rubbish they gave us as genins."
" Speak for yourself," Sora replied.
" Can't you at least sound happy for once?" Ryouta sighed, giving a tired smile at her.
" I could care less about the guys, but I'm glad my lovely Suzumi is here," Sora replied, pecking Suzumi's cheek slightly while the two girls giggled slightly. " Least Makoto is decent to look at, unlike the ugly mug here."
Hibiki stepped forward towards her, releasing Hiroshi from his grip, and stared hard at Sora right in the face, squaring up towards her. " My skills have increased by a few notches since the last time we squared off. You better be prepared, or else you will be eating the dust this time," Hibiki said.
" Pathetic. I've gone way more than several notches. You'd be eating the floor with my foot on your head in no time. I'll be nice and give you some time to think about it before I humiliate you," Sora said, cracking her knuckles. " I haven't forgotten the last time you nudged my bottom, in public no less. I have a score to settle."
" Too bad, our next spar will put me another score higher," Hibiki laughed in her face.
" Really? I was under the impression that your score was actually lagging behind mine," Sora replied, snarling at him.
" Why can't we get together and not have you two flunkies trash-talk one another for once?" Hiroshi sighed.
" Don't mind them. Birds of a feather flock together," Makoto said.
" Standing here trash-talking is also pointless. We have a report to hand in to our Hokage-sama. Why don't you guys tag along, and we will see what we can do about it? A joint mission would be fun, if she'd allow it," Ryouta suggested.
All of them agreed to his suggestion.
