Heir to the Raijin
Naruto != mine
~Chapter 2~
Reizo awoke stiff, sore, and bound. He looked to the sides and saw Sakura and Naruto on his left and right, respectively. Looking forward, he saw Sasuke standing there, with Kakashi standing near him. "Ah, good. Now that everyone is awake we can continue. Now, Sasuke, since you and your classmates failed to get the bells, I will let you try again. However, first you have to choose two of them to cut loose and continue, while the third will be left here and sent back to the academy. Now, choose," the Scarecrow said in a serious tone, handing the Uchiha a kunai.
Sasuke started towards Ren, intending to free the Senju who had shown himself to be the most skilled of the three.
"No, Sasuke. Don't free me at the cost of the others. Naruto won't get a second chance, and Sakura needs the training from Kakashi in order to advance beyond her current skill level. I will be fine, I have other ways to advance my skills, but Naruto and Sakura do not," Ren said in a serious tone, causing Sasuke to pause.
After an agonizing few seconds, Sasuke turned and cut Naruto free before going past Ren and severing Sakura's bonds. "Congratulations. You pass. All of you," Kakashi said, lowering his Icha long enough for the four freshly-minted genin to see his eye-smile. "Wait, so the bells weren't part of the test?" Naruto asked, confused. "They were meant to divide you, and hide the true meaning of the test, which was to see if you could work together. Remember, a ninja must always look underneath the underneath," Kakashi explained, stowing away his orange-bound literature. "That's all well and good, but if I've passed, can you please cut me loose now? My limbs are going to sleep," Ren interrupted, prompting a chuckle from the cyclopean jonin sensei as he cut down the Senju. "Meet up here at the same time tomorrow. But, before you go, know this. Those who abandon a mission are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash," Kakashi said, becoming quite somber in demeanor. "The will of fire," Ren said, extremely quietly. Sasuke heard him but decided not to press the issue. With that, Team 7 split up for the day.
The Jonin sensei were just finishing reporting in to the Hokage on whether their teams passed when Kakashi arrived in a puff of smoke and a swirl of leaves, Icha in hand. "Yo," the scarecrow greeted the room's occupants, foremost among them Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuuhi.
Asuma was the son of the Sandaime, and bore a strong resemblance in both appearance and mannerisms. He wore jonin gear much like Kakashi with the addition of his sash from his time as one of the Twelve Guardians who protected the Daimyo, and a pair of trench knives. His face was adorned with a goatee, and his ever-present cigarette was hanging loosely from his lips. Smoking seemed to be a habit that the Sandaime had passed on to his son, since the aging Kage was known to light up his pipe on occasion.
Kurenai Yuuhi, meanwhile, was an attractive woman with long, tousled black hair and distinctive crimson eyes. She wore an unusual dress-like garment consisting of wide bandages with a vine pattern running along their center and a single red sleeve on the right side with a fishnet undershirt beneath it all. She was a 'rookie' jonin who specialized in genjutsu who was commonly known among the male population of village as the "Ice Queen", though never to her face, as some poor idiots found out in the most painful manner imaginable.
The Hokage was wearing his red-and-white formal robes and hat, and had a wrinkled, weathered appearance, his face dotted with liver spots. He had an air of a kindly old grandfather figure, but his eyes showed the depths of his knowledge and experience. He was sitting at his desk, smoking his pipe while surrounded by stacks and stacks of tedious paperwork.
"So, Kakashi is finally here," Asuma commented drily. "I got lost on the road of life, and ended up taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque. I had to backtrack and hang a right to get here," Kakashi said, proud of his excuse. His pride was damped, however, when he saw the blank looks the other occupants of the room were giving him. "What? I thought it was quite good," the Scarecrow said, shifting uncomfortably under the scrutiny.
"Anyway," the Hokage said, getting the occupants of the room back on track, "how did Team 7 fare?" "Team 7 passed, and with flying colors I might add," Kakashi said, getting stunned looks. "As this is the first time you've ever passed a team, I must ask for a more detailed explanation," the Hokage said while the other jonin leaned in as well. "The team is probably best suited for a general purpose or rapid response role, as their talents are a balanced mix of offense, defense, and support. Naruto is an almost purely close-range combatant, able to take a great deal of punishment or cover the other three with his shadow clones. Sasuke is a mid-to-close range fighter, with a focus on ninjutsu and taijutsu, who is able to use Katon Gokakyuu. Sakura is the weakest on the team, but she has the potential to become a good medic or genjutsu specialist due to her control. Lastly, Ren tends towards the long-range, but he has some good taijutsu and was able to repeatedly use Suiton Teppodama, which either means that he has good reserves, control, or both. He was also the one who rallied the team together and formulated the basic strategy. He was also willing to sacrifice his chance to become a genin so that the others could advance," Kakashi reported, leaving nothing out. "So, how would you rank them?" the Sandaime asked after a pause.
"Sasuke is overall a high genin, while Sakura is low genin for now. Naruto is in the mid-genin range. Ren is at high genin level. If they work together, they could easily handle a high chunin or maybe a tokubetsu jonin. Overall, they look promising," Kakashi said, ending on an eye smile. "Good. You are all dismissed for today. Bring in your teams tomorrow for their D-rank missions," the Hokage said, turning his attention to the mountainous stack of paperwork on his desk.
Ren arrived home after practice sweaty and tired after a prolonged taijutsu spar with Sasuke. His clan, due to their size, had a clan compound like that of the Uchiha, with a large central building which housed the clan and two smaller outbuildings containing a dojo and an onsen.
He arrived indoors and removed his sandals, setting them by the door before going any further. He then proceeded to take a shower and change into fresh clothing before going to the clan library in the core of the main building to study from the various scrolls within.
It had been about a month since Team 7 had been officially confirmed as genin, and the four rookies were rapidly becoming frustrated with the repetitive, tiresome, and frankly demeaning chores like catching Tora the cat. The cat, a bane on genin teams since time immemorial, was notoriously slippery, to the point that some teams outright refused to take the mission. However, Team 7 had done quite well, in no small part due to the fact that Ren had created a small-scale variant of suirou no jutsu for the express purpose of catching the damnable cat.
The team had also grown in talent, with Sakura becoming somewhat adept with genjutsu and medical ninjutsu. Naruto had gained an actual taijutsu style and gotten a bit more control over his ocean of chakra, with a few basic futon ninjutsu being added to his arsenal. Sasuke had grown in ability with his Uchiha taijutsu in addition to refining the jutsu in his arsenal. Ren, meanwhile, had taken up kenjutsu to cover his close-range deficiencies, and had improved his chakra control and reserves. Overall their teamwork was okay, but there were a few issues. Sasuke and Ren had a good dynamic, but Naruto was always trying to outdo Sasuke, taking unnecessary risks, while Sakura just followed Sasuke like a puppy unless ordered otherwise. Ren, meanwhile, found Naruto a bit exasperating, and Sakura wasn't much better, but he was able to grit his teeth and bear it. As for Naruto and Sakura, they were able to work together reasonably well, though individually they were less of a threat than their teammates.
Team 7 had just returned a sodden, slightly traumatized Tora to his owner's crushing, vice-like grip, having taken much satisfaction in his distress. "The pay will be deposited in your accounts," the Sandaime said, puffing on his pipe, "Now, what mission do you want to go on next. You can paint a house, scrub bedpans at the hospital…"
The aging Hokage was cut off by Naruto, however. "Come on old man, give us a good mission for once! We've been doing chores for months! Give us a C-rank at least," Naruto protested. "The D-rank missions are necessary to build teamwork and help the village. You are not ready yet," Iruka, who was running the mission desk until the next Academy year began, said. "Actually, Iruka-sensei, we have completed more than enough D-ranks to qualify for a C-rank mission, assuming that our Jonin sensei deems us to be capable," Ren said calmly. "I believe my team is ready for a C-rank. Their teamwork is much-improved, as are their individual skills. They should be quite capable of handling a few bandits or low-level nin," Kakashi said, looking up from his ever-present Icha.
"Wait a minute here. With all due respect, I taught them, and there's no way that they're ready for a C-rank," Iruka said. "Iruka-san, you are no longer their sensei, and they are fully capable of completing a C-rank. I know you feel a need to protect them, but they are under my command," Kakashi said, his book snapping shut, while Iruka received an serious look.
"Very well. I think I may have a mission that should do well. You are to escort a bridge builder named Tazuna back to his home Nami no Kuni and protect him until he completes his bridge to the mainland. Iruka, please show the client in," Sarutobi said. The chunin grudgingly complied, showing in a roughly dressed man with gray hair who was currently holding a half-empty bottle of sake and showed signs of inebriation. "I thought I was going to get some actual ninja. These kids look like they couldn't even protect themselves," the client said. "And we expected a bridge builder, not a drunken geriatric," Ren responded drily.
Seeing a need to intervene before one of his genin killed or maimed Tazuna, Kakashi stepped forward. "I assure you, Tazuna-san, they are all capable. And I will be there if there is something that they can't handle," the cyclopean jonin said, giving one of his eye-smiles, though he was slightly irked at the old man's lack of respect for the team that was to protect him. "Meet up at the gates tomorrow morning at nine. Pack supplies for a week," Kakashi instructed his genin, who nodded and split up to prepare for the days to come.
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