Minor Problem
A story about Hayate as a genin
"...Team 3: Mizuki, Tora, and Hayate. Team 4: ..."
Hayate turned a steely glare to Mizuki. Mizuki grinned and waved back.
"Team 5: ..."
The buzz of conversation grew steadily louder. As each new team was announced, its members felt the need to express exactly how they felt about the arrangement, no matter how far away each kid was sitting. Meanwhile, Hayate was still looking around for his other teammate. Tora... he'd heard the name before, he was sure, but he couldn't quite pair a face to it... he could see Mizuki waving to someone out of the corner of his eye. Had Mizuki located her? Mizuki knew everyone. Yes, there she was, waving back and wearing a weird "why are you waving at me?" expression. Of course. That was Tora. The brown-haired girl who never spoke and fell asleep in class.
Thunk.
Hayate's head dully hit his desk. He had just had a lightning-quick, intangible vision of the next couple years with this team, and in it he got picked on and ignored quite a lot.
The two students on either side of him were apparently on the same team and happy about it—they were hi-fiving and talking in loud, excited voices over his slumped form.
"..., Itachi, and Iruka," the teacher finished. "After lunch, you will meet your new Sensei, and they will give you further instructions. Goodbye, class! I've really enjoyed being your teacher, I think we've all learned a lot, and I wish you the best of luck in—"
Then the bell rang, a wordless command to all of the students to begin talking as loud and fast as possible and to pour out of the classroom. As Hayate left, he could see little hotshot Itachi complaining to the teacher about Iruka.
"The best student is always put on the same team as the worst student," the teacher was saying.
Hayate wasn't necessarily pleased with his new team, but he felt sorrier for Iruka. Itachi was scary. The little punk had risen through the Ninja Academy at alarming speed, coming into Hayate's class halfway through the year and now graduating. Graduating! Crazy... The kid wasn't obnoxious like Iruka or openly mean like Mizuki, but he was quietly disdainful and somewhat sinister—you kind of got the feeling he practiced ninjutsu on squirrels. Iruka was standing a few feet away, completely quiet for once, looking down at Itachi like he'd bite.
"So you're my new teammate will you eat lunch with me?"
It was a voice unused to use. Hayate turned to see Tora's hopeful face.
"Team 3 always eats lunch together," came Mizuki's voice, not far behind. Mizuki was almost as insecure as Iruka, but he had a mean streak and a certain aversion to work that set him in a very different category of prankster... in other words, he was not the kind of person you'd always want to eat lunch with. Hayate was about to invent an excuse to eat somewhere else—anywhere else—but Tora brightened up immediately at Mizuki's remark.
"Great!" she said. "I can get to know you all better then."
Hayate wordlessly followed them outside, waving without much enthusiasm to his friends, all on different teams. He wasn't about to let Mizuki and Tora eat together alone... Tora was now his teammate, whether he liked it or not, and Mizuki was prone to putting spiders in the lunches of the unsuspecting.
"Let's go sit by the fountain," Mizuki said. There was a huge cluster of students by the fountain, all laughing and talking.
"Um, let's not?" Tora said quietly. "We should sit under that tree." The other girls, her friends, had told her that she couldn't eat with them anymore because they all had teams to eat with now. The sight of all of them, minus her, sitting together at the fountain told her that joining them would be a bad idea.
"I wanna sit by the fountain," Mizuki said. "I'm not emo like Hayate."
"I'm not emo," Hayate said.
"Somebody's in denial," Mizuki said smugly.
"Shut up and let's sit by the tree," Tora barked. She wasn't quiet because she was shy, she was quiet because she seldom had anything to say.
"You shut up and we'll sit by the fountain," Mizuki said.
"I'm not sitting by the fountain," Tora said, unphased.
"I'm not sitting under the tree," Mizuki said.
Hayate sat down in the middle of the sidewalk.
"I'm hungry," he said, pulling out his lunch.
The sidewalk was not ideal, but it was not the dreaded fountain. Tora sat down too and looked up at Mizuki expectantly.
"Team 3 always eats lunch together," she said.
"Yeah, well, that was before everyone went emo on me," Mizuki said haughtily. He left for the fountain, leaving Hayate and Tora sitting awkwardly on the sidewalk.
"What a jerk," Tora growled, then began eating her sandwich in busy silence.
Hayate started on his sandwich too. Nobody said anything. Tora was absentmindedly staring at Hayate—he looked down at the sidewalk uncomfortably. A couple ants. What would they do if he dropped a bread crumb among them? The motion of his hand throwing the crumb on the sidewalk caused Tora to look down. When she saw the ants, she froze and got up.
"There's a bug," she said urgently.
"Yeah, there's ants all over the sidewalk," Hayate said.
"Let's sit in the grass," Tora said.
"If you want to," Hayate said, "but there's ants in the grass too; you just can't see them as well."
This had never occurred to Tora.
"Can... can we eat inside? Please?" she asked.
"Um..."
A fly buzzed by her ear and she jumped, closed her eyes, and flailed her arms a little.
"Is it on me?! Will it sting me?!"
"It's just a fly," Hayate said. He was not looking forward to missions at all. Once Mizuki found out about Tora's fear of all things six-legged (and, most likely, eight-legged as well), she would probably never be without 'Oh my, there's an angry bee on your back—it's huge!'
"Let's eat inside," Tora said anxiously.
"O-keeey," Hayate said slowly. He didn't know why she was so intent on him coming with her; it wasn't like they were friends or even spoke to each other. But he had nobody else to sit with at the moment, and she seemed to really want him to come with. When they got to the classroom, they ate the rest of their lunches, once again without speaking. After about twenty minutes, the other students started filing back in.
"Hey, are you two going out?" Iruka asked, laughing.
"No, we're eating lunch inside because there was a bug," Tora said bluntly.
"Mizuki was with us too, but he left," Hayate said tiredly.
"That's adorable," Iruka said, trotting over to the far side of the room to sit down--as far away from where Itachi usually sat as possible.
"Hey, Hayate, you can't just take the chick," Mizuki said as he came inside. "We''ve got to talk this over first!" He had yogurt on the front of his shirt--must have had an especially successful time annoying people at the fountain.
"Shut your face, jerk," Tora growled. Hayate looked at her in surprise. She sounded dangerous.
"Aw, Hayate, you've turned her against me," Mizuki laughed, sitting next to Tora.
"Shut your face or I'll shut it for you," Tora growled.
Mizuki smiled appeasingly and scooted a few inches back. Hayate scooted a few inches over himself, just to be on the safe side. Just then, the teacher and a group of jonins walked in.
"Okay, class," the teacher said, "your new teachers are here! Team 1, Orochimaru Sensei..." only Anko bounded forward—or came forward with any enthusiasm at all, for that matter.
"I'm glad we don't have the creepy freak," Mizuki whispered to Tora as Anko's teammates anxiously joined her. "If the Halloween store ever wanted him back, we'd—"
Orochimaru Sensei was looking straight at Mizuki with amusement. Mizuki gave a little squeak and hid under the desk. For the first time, Hayate heard Tora laugh. Her laugh was as dull and ponderous as her default expression.
"...Team 2..."
"Aaw," they got the stupidest teacher," Mizuki whispered as he resurfaced, more quiet this time. He clearly saw teachers as persons to be outsmarted (when evasion wasn't possible).
"...Team 3, Ukki Sensei."
Which one was—oh. Right there. Ukki waved as the three trotted over expectantly.
"Hi, kids," he said pleasantly. He had about as much charisma as a plant.
********
"Okay, kids, we're going to do a little activity now," said Sensei.
All he got for an answer was three owl-like stares.
"Right. We're going to get in a circle and tell our names, hopes, dreams, likes, and dislikes. That way we can all get to know each other better." Ukki had heard somewhere that, when working with kids, sitting in circles was the way to go.
Team 3 dutifully got in a circle.
"I'm going last," Tora said.
"Hayate's going first," Mizuki said.
"Says you," Hayate said.
"I heard a name," Sensei said. "Hayate, could you start for us?"
"He's called Mizuki," Hayate said, pointing to Mizuki in protest.
"Am not," Mizuki said.
"Well, Hayate, I would like you to start now because, if I don't pick somebody, nobody will start and we'll never learn anything about anybody," Sensei said patiently.
"Fine," Hayate said glumly. "I'm Hayate. Um.... ...... "
"Hopes and dreams?" Sensei prodded encouragingly.
"My... dreams?" Hayate asked.
"Right," Sensei said. "For the future."
"Well.... " Hayate said, somewhat confused, "I guess my dream is then... to be a ninja?"
Mizuki started laughing.
"You ARE a ninja, stupid," he said.
"I know that," Hayate snapped. "I said I wanted to be a ninja because that's all I can seriously see myself doing in the future! What, do I have to want to be the freaking Hokage??"
"Do you have any side goals?" Sensei asked, patiently, patiently.
"Uh... side goals like what?" Hayate asked.
"Like, oh, wanting to make a name for your clan, wanting to invent a new jutsu that will do such and such, wanting to learn a jutsu that's really hard... anything like that?"
"Um... I dunno... all of that stuff sounds like a good idea... why does it matter? That's all silly little personal stupid stuff—might as well ask what my favorite color is... I want to get better at swordfighting...I'm going to try not to, you know, die or anything on a mission... if that's what you mean, that's all I can think of at the moment."
"That's exactly what I mean," Sensei said encouragingly. Praise more than you punish. Praise more than you punish. Build up their confidence. "Now, what are your likes and dislikes?"
"Uh...." After messing up the first question, Hayate's mind was working so hard to come up with non-embarrassing answers that he couldn't think of a single thing to say.
"There's no wrong answer," Sensei said encouragingly.
"There was for the last one," Hayate said sourly.
Sensei didn't quite know how to respond.
"I like Pokemon, and I don't like the Art of Transformation because it's hard," Hayate mumbled, staring at his feet. Someone else's turn.
"I'm going next!" Mizuki shouted.
"Ow, my ears! You're right next to me, you know," Tora said angrily.
"I'm Mizuki!" Mizuki said, ignoring Tora. "I have a lot of hopes and dreams! I want to make a name for my clan, invent a jutsu that can counterfeit money and… become Hokage! I also want to win Tora's heart!"
"You have gone way to far, jerk," Tora growled, standing up and making fists.
"Hey! Cool it, miss!" Sensei said quickly. Kids, he knew, liked cool expressions such as "cool it." "Mizuki, please apologize." If you didn't teach kids early, they'd never learn.
"Sorry," Mizuki said, half joking, half nervous.
"Are not, jerk face," Tora snarled. But she sat down.
"What are your likes and dislikes, Mizuki?" Sensei asked.
"I like myself," Mizuki said, "and I dislike you. And vegetables." He was still using his "Watch me be obnoxious!" voice, but he was looking guardedly at Tora.
"That's interesting," Sensei said. Kids needed praise, even if they said stupid stuff sometimes.
Mizuki scowled. He'd been hoping to get yelled at.
"And you, miss. What about you?" Sensei asked Tora.
"I'm Tora," Tora said.
"And what are your hopes and dreams, Tora?" Sensei asked. He was using his Encouraging Voice.
"I want to be an actress," Tora said. She looked immediately at Mizuki, who had looked immediately away so she wouldn't see him sniggering.
Tora's eyes narrowed. Was Mizuki sniggering?
"Likes?" Sensei asked. "Dislikes?"
"Um..." Tora began. "I like... ponies... trees... candy... friends....... movies... my family... being a ninja... and other stuff too... is that enough?"
"More than enough, perfect," Sensei said.
"Okay… dislikes... I don't like bugs," Tora said.
Hayate cringed. Why did you have to go and do that, Tora??? He braced himself mentally for years of shrill racket over bugs in lunches, bugs in sleeping bags, bugs down the backs of shirts, bugs in hair...
"And I can't STAND spiders," Tora said, more firmly this time.
Mizuki looked at Hayate. Hayate looked at Mizuki.
"Oh boy," said Mizuki's expression.
"Don't you dare," said Hayate's.
"I don't like spiders much either," Sensei said. Had "spiders" been replaced with "what you just said you didn't like," the sentence would have retained full meaning. "Good. So now we know a little more about each other," Sensei said. "Now I'll do the same thing so you know a little more about me! I'm Ukki Sensei, as you know... I've already fulfilled some of my hopes and dreams, but a major one I'd never accomplished until now was having students. You guys are my very first group ever. I really hope you pass tomorrow's test because you're really cool kids."
Shocked faces. Test? Test!? What test?! And over what?? Was it a hard test? .... TEST?!?
"What I like... well, I duno... I like a lot of things. I like to go to the beach... I like playing checkers—I always play as red.... chess is okay, but I don't understand--"
He'd lost his audience at "dunno."
"What test?" Tora whispered to Hayate. She would have asked Ukki, but she'd assumed they'd been told some time before and she hadn't been paying attention; that happened to her a lot.
"I don't know," Hayate said.
"I barely passed our graduation test," Tora whispered, eyes wide with uncertainty and fear. "If it's hard... Hayate, I'm gonna die."
She grabbed his hand, as if he could do anything about it. But he couldn't--they both knew it—she was looking for comfort, sympathy maybe... she was looking, desperately searching, for a friend. They stared at each other for a little while, Hayate's expression almost matching hers in contemplation of his situation. He was beginning to see that most people, as indeed he had always done, tended to ignore or avoid Tora on the basis of her being not especially bright, cheerful,or interested in her surroundings, as well as her appearing perfectly willing to attack anyone who she was really, really mad at. Apparently, by not instantly taking flight at the first sight of her dull, angry stare that was her normal expression, by giving the person behind it a chance instead of the slip, Hayate had suddenly become the most friendly person in her narrow little world.
"Hayate, if we've got to write stuff down, I'm copying off you, okay?" Mizuki said. Said, not asked—it wasn't a question. He hadn't figured out how to copy his peers on other types of tests without a pair of Sharingans, but he was the type of person who'd do it the moment he did.
"I'm... I'm gonna die, Hayate..." Tora whined earnestly.
"Hey," Hayate told Tora, ignoring Mizuki, "why don't you ask Sensei? He knows more about it than me—he's the teacher!" Friendly, encouraging smile. Go on, you can do it—let go of my arm and go over there. Please? The fact that I don't hate you doesn't mean I want to be your best friend.
"...I'm kind of so-so on rain," Ukki Sensei was saying. "It doesn't let you do stuff outside, and it makes it harder to get to inside places, but I sure do like the sound it makes on the roof, plus plants and trees need it to grow—"
"Sensei!"
"Huh? Yes?"
"Sensei," Tora said, "I'm scared I'm going to fail what can I do?"
Sensei looked confused.
"Fail at what, Tora?" he asked.
"Fail at the test," she said, lower lip trembling.
"The test... the test.... the test tomorrow, you mean?" Sensei asked, puzzled.
"Yes," Tora said. "Is it... is it hard?"
"Who told you about the test?" Sensei asked.
"You did," Tora said. The rest of her had started to tremble too. "You said we were your first students and you didn't want us to fail. I think I will fail. I don't want to fail if I fail I'll spend the rest of my life working at my Aunt's grocery store what can I DO, SENSEI???"
"Practice stacking cabbage," Mizuki whispered to Hayate.
Hayate gave him a bored, ha—ha—ha—ha— look. But he noticed that Mizuki hadn't shouted it out loud as he usually did. Tora was slowly succeeding where the teachers had failed at teaching him respect.
"Calm down, Tora," Sensei said. "—Cool it. Just calm down and I'll explain how the test works and what you can do to prepare
Three pairs of eyes regarded the teacher, wide with the most interest they'd ever shown in him up to this point.
"The test," Sensei said, "is going to be a survival exercise..."
Utmost concentration.
"Oh dear, I forgot," he continued. "I'm not allowed to tell you what we'll be doing exactly—a ninja must be prepared to face the unexpected. The—"
Tora let out a wail.
"Prepared to face the unexpected, huh?" Mizuki asked angrily. "Isn't it against our whole code of honor for any ninja to withhold useful, valuable information about an upcoming mission from another ninja from the same village?"
"Hey, Mizuki's right," Hayate said, frowning. Where had that come from? How come the twerp was being helpful for once? ...More likely, he was probably just in it for the teacher-baiting aspect, but still... it seemed that Mizuki had an observant and clever mind behind his outer obnoxious facade. Useful to know.
"What?" Sensei asked, startled. "No, this is different. It's a test."
Mizuki stood up.
"I graduated the Ninja Academy," he said. The excitement of an argument with a teacher blazed fiercely in his eyes. "I'm a genin now—a full-fledged ninja! I skimmed our Civil Code once, and I've got more rights now!"
"Mizuki, I assure you that what I am doing is perfectly legal," Sensei said. "And what do you mean by "skimmed"? Didn't your class do a whole chapter on the Civil Code back at the Ninja Academy? Didn't you have to take a test on it?"
Mizuki beamed.
"Skimmed," he said proudly, "means copying off Itachi's test."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"I'm gonna die," Tora said, still quite preoccupied with terrorizing visions of cabbage-stacking.
"Tora, you're not going to die," Sensei said sympathetically. "The test will be hard, but it's no big deal if you don't pass it—you'll be sent back to the Ninja Academy until you're good enough. Most kids don't pass the first time. It'll be okay, I promise."
"How are my parents supposed to afford what could be a couple more years of school?" Tora asked hysterically. Her perception of her own skill was brutally accurate.
"You're not going to fail, Tora," Mizuki said. "Sensei's not a dishonorable jerk; he'll fill us in on the important stuff so we can prepare!"
"Tora, you need to calm down," Sensei said gently, ignoring Mizuki and squatting down to Tora's level. "I'm going to pass out papers with the time and place. There's nothing to study for or prepare for. Just show up tomorrow, give it a whack, and do your best. If you all try your hardest, I'm sure you can... well, you'll either pass or figure out what kind of thing to expect next time. Here, everyone take a sheet."
Everyone took one.
"Now, have a nice afternoon.... read the sheet, and don't eat Breakfast tomorrow--it's part of the exercise."
Ukki got up to leave.
"Wait—you're leaving? It's over? That's it?!" Mizuki asked incredulously. "All you did was make us introduce ourselves then tell us about an impossible test that we're probably going to fail next morning! What was the point of dividing us into special, seemingly long-term groups with different teachers if a lot of us aren't going to stay a team?? This is a waste of all of our time, not to mention all of the effort on the part of the higher-ups spent pairing all the students and teachers!"
"Well," Sensei said, shrugging, "the test needs to be taken by groups of three, not twenty-seven, and there's only one teacher for your class at the Ninja Academy."
"Then why did they split us up into teams with names and tell us that they would be long-term arrangements?" Mizuki asked icily.
"I don't know," Sensei said. "It's a good question. But I have to go now--haircut in fifteen minutes. Bye, and good luck!"
"Eh, good luck to your barber," Mizuki said halfheartedly. This teacher was no good—he didn't respond to anything the way he should. Sure enough, he just smiled and waved before walking out the door. After he'd left, Tora stood there like a frightened deer, blinked a few times, then trotted out the door in search of a bathroom to cry in.
Mizuki and Hayate looked at each other warily. In any group of people, you've got to have a leader. Tora was completely out of the question, and Sensei obviously lived on a completely different (and perhaps smaller) plane. The two boys were not consciously aware of why they were sizing each other up, they just knew that they had to.
"Tora's toast," Mizuki said, almost casually. "Do you think she'll slow us down too much?"
"Probably," Hayate said. "My parents were both on teams of three after the Ninja Academy—I'm guessing we either all pass or all fail."
"That sucks," Mizuki said, frowning and looking sideways at the surrounding area.
"We've got to make sure Tora passes," Hayate said dutifully, glumly.
"Yeah," Mizuki said, "if she doesn't bite our heads off first."
"How do you know she's serious when she threatens you, and, if she hates teasing that much, how come she's never actually done anything back?" Hayate asked.
Mizuki shrugged. "She's like a rattlesnake," he said. "Always gives you a chance before she slugs you—doesn't want to attack until she's sure you're stupid enough to deserve it."
"But how do you know?" Hayate asked. He was curious now.
Mizuki shrugged again. "I've been ticking people off since I can remember," he mused. "You kind of learn to read how far you can push someone before it's not funny anymore. Tora just won't play. Sensei won't play either, but he doesn't take it so personally."
"And me?" Hayate asked.
"You? Why, you're a peabrain emo!" Mizuki crowed. "Hahaha, gotcha!"
"Very funny," Hayate growled.
"Like your mom," Mizuki beamed.
Hayate said nothing. Wonderful. Not only was he the only one Tora wanted to be friends with, he was also the only one who had a good enough balance between annoyance and tolerance for Mizuki to successfully annoy. And, on top of that, the little twerp had set him up—telling him there was a selection process, then letting him find out that he was on the list of targets! And all of this must have been improvised on the spot, too... how did he get so GOOD at annoying people?!?
Mizuki: 1 Hayate: 0
'Like your mom,' Mizuki had said...
"You like my mom? That's disgusting," Hayate said, punching Mizuki in the face. The decision to attack had been made in less than a second, but the instinctive reasoning was sound: I can handle a little name calling and a "your mom" joke, but, if you think that that gives you permission to make fun of me, it most certainly doesn't.
The ensuing fight was not brutal but nonetheless intense. Any hint of weakness now on either side would immediately hand dominance to the other, and neither had a set of instincts that would stand for that.
"Your mom's disgusting!"
"Sicko! How do you know *rgh* so much about my mom?!"
"Your mom's a sicko!"
"Sicko!"
...
They weren't experienced enough to know proper ninja fighting banter yet, but everything needs time and practice.
Mizuki was slightly shorter than Hayate and slightly stronger as well—Hayate was beginning to see the direction in which the scales would most likely tip unless he could think of a way to yank down the end that said "Hayate"... There would be no honor or logic in using his sword, so perhaps he could try one of the complicated (to him at the time, that is) jutsus he'd learned at the academy... but that would take up a little time and a lot of concentration, plus neither he nor Mizuki had ever taken a step past being able to do the jutsu and actually used one in a fight, which was why neither of them had used one yet... a plan. It was fashioned out of scraps of ponder by his subconscious, and it rapidly filled his mind--he knew what to do.
Hayate jumped back.
Boof! A log!
Mizuki stopped immediately and looked around. The Art of Substitution. Nervy little freak, using a complicated jutsu like that. Where had Hayate transported himself to? The whole purpose of the jutsu was to substitute something... Hayate would be where that log had been. Where did one find logs? The nearby tree... had Hayate appeared under it and climbed up?
Mizuki started over to the tree.
But Hayate hadn't used the Art of Substitution.
Mizuki gave a surprised little yelp as Hayate's foot came from behind and connected with his head. The force of it was enough to knock him over, so he went into a roll and sprang to his feet, ready but shaken. Hayate was just standing there, pleased and ready, waiting for his opponent to make the next move.
"Where'd you find a log over—" Mizuki began.
"Art of Transformation, genius," Hayate said. "I turned into a log and waited for you to go look for me. Earlier, I'd said I found Transformation difficult, so I figured you'd filed that away; plus, everyone associates logs with Substitution, so it was easier still to throw you off."
Mizuki: 1 Hayate: 1
Mizuki's expression didn't change from surprised and angry, but it did intensify.
"You sneak!"
"Yeah, and?"
"Your mom's a—oh, forget it you little nasty, I'm gonna—"
Footsteps.
Teachers.
************************
"Hayate? Is there something wr— Oh! Oh my, you didn't get in a fight, did you?"
"What do you think, Mom?"
"Who won?"
"The teachers stopped us."
"I hope you weren't picking on that Itachi kid. I've told you how dangerous that boy is..."
"No, Mom. It was Mizuki."
"Get on your nerves one time too many?"
"Thought he had a right to."
"Teach him a lesson, then?"
"I guess so."
"Well, why don't you go put some ice on your face and lie down for half an hour? And, after that, could you please set the table for dinner?"
"Sure, Mom."
"Oh, I just remembered, your class was separated into new teams today, wasn't it! Do you like your new team? Who's on it?"
"I'll talk about it at dinner so I don't have to tell Dad separate later."
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"There's not that much ice left."
"Well, take what's there."
"Okay."
*************************
"Hee hee, you look like a panda!"
Tora was so nervous this morning that her emotions were swinging around like wind chimes. At the moment, she was grinning, an expression that looked somewhat strange on her face.
"Uh... thanks," Hayate said.
"I pandifyed him," Mizuki said proudly.
"I gave him those bruises and made him look like a moron," Hayate said. "Is Sensei here yet?" Change the subject, please. Hayate had been well aware of how horrible the black eyes had turned out that morning since he'd first seen them in the bathroom mirror that morning, and he was trying not to think about it.
"I'm right here," came Sensei's blunt and mildly pleasant voice from the woods. He walked out of the trees. "We still have a few minutes until the official start time, but, since everyone's here, we could start now if you'd—"
"No, let's wait," Tora said firmly. Forget getting unpleasant things over with—if she could have three more minutes of status-quo, she was grabbing them.
"Hayate, did you and Mizuki get into a fight?" Sensei asked.
Hayate shrugged. No sense admitting it until he found out whether or not Mizuki had.
"Sure did, he started it," Mizuki said in one breath.
"He started the chain of events that led to it," Hayate said scornfully.
Sensei sighed.
"Kids," he said, "you're a team now. Team members don't beat each other up, they support each other. How do you expect missions to go well if you're too busy fighting each other to contribute to them? Our village needs ninjas who are willing to put aside personal differences and work together for the safety and ideals of its people, understand?"
Nod, nod.
"And can I feel comfortable teaching you advanced techniques if there's a chance that you'll use them to kill each other later?"
Nod, nod—wait; confused looks; shake, shake.
"Did you two resolve your differences? Friends again?"
"Uh-huh."
"Mm-hmm"
"Good. I know you didn't choose your teammates, but, now that you have them, please try to get along and WORK TOGETHER. Now, I think it's time to start the exercise."
Sensei turned around to rummage in his backpack. Hayate and Mizuki looked at each other.
"Panda," Mizuki mouthed.
Hayate stuck his tongue out.
Tora walked over to Hayate and grabbed his hand.
"I'm scared," she said.
Mizuki sauntered over to Tora, grabbed her other hand, and slung it over his shoulders.
"Don't be scared," he said, "I pandified Hayate 'cause he deserved it. I would never pandify you!"
"No," Tora said, "I'm scared about the test."
It was like she was a different person.
"Okay, kids," Sensei said, turning around, "here's how— Oh! You're getting along! Wow, super! Keep up the good work, I'm proud of you!"
He put the timer on one of the three stumps.
"This timer will go off at noon," he said. "Each of you has until then" –rustle, hand digging in pocket, jingle, jingle— "to get one of these two bells from me. If you get a bell, you stay part of team 3 and we'll do another activity after lunch. If you don't get a bell, you'll end up tied to one of these stumps—sorry, it's the rules—and you get more time at school to work on the stuff you're not so good at."
Tora screamed.
Hayate tried to pull away from her grasp. Mizuki let go of her hand and darted a few feet away. Sensei looked startled.
Tora started crying. She hadn't intended to cry, not in front of the teacher and the two boys, but she couldn't help it.
"I can't get a bell from you," she wailed. "You're a jonin. I couldn't get a bell from *sniff* Hayate if he didn't want me to have it." (Why did she say Hayate instead of Mizuki? Hayate saw that Mizuki was wondering the same thing, only he was happy about it.) "There's just *sniff* no possible way I'm even going to touch one of those *sniff* bells on my own or ever amount to *sob* to anything."
Tora sat down. Hayate pulled his hand free and stepped back uncomfortably. Sensei knelt down and tried to comfort Tora.
"Heeeyy," he said, "it's okay. There's three of you—maybe one of your teammates could help you..."
Hayate walked around to Mizuki. Time for a secret conference. Mizuki lit up.
"Hey," he whispered, "I've brought something that will make this test a piece of cake!"
"What?" Hayate asked, interested. Did Mizuki have something usefu—
"This!" Mizuki said, proudly turning around and showing Hayate a giant throwing star strapped to his back. "I found it on sale in that one store that specializes in nun chucks! I dunno about you, but I am SO ready for this test!"
"Um... how's that going to help us?" Hayate asked politely, his previous small hopes quietly drifting to the ground and dying.
"Hayate, it's huge," Mizuki said. "With this sucker on our side, we can't possibly lose!"
Awkward silence.
"You weren't listening to Sensei explain the rules, were you?"
"Of course I was," Mizuki said angrily, his face turning from amused to dead serious in a heartbeat. "You're no fun, Hayate."
Hayate sighed. "Okay, I'm no fun," he said sullenly. "Now, we need to think of a plan to beat this test."
Mizuki shrugged. "If you start doing something," he said, "I'll do my best to copy you."
"I'm already doing something, I'm thinking," Hayate said. "You can start copying me anytime."
"Sheesh... you really ARE no fun," Mizuki growled. "Okay, then... I hate to break it to Tora, but it looks like the only solution here is for the strongest two, meaning you and me, to team up and take the bells."
"Yes, that's the only apparent solution at the moment," Hayate said, "but I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to do that. Remember how when Sensei told us he couldn't say what was on the test he said that a ninja must face unexpected stuff sometimes? Everything the teachers do has a "hidden ninja message" to it. If two of us were supposed to team up and take the two bells, then the "hidden ninja message" would be to always look out for yourself."
"I didn't say that's what we should do, I said it was the only thing that came to mind," Mizuki said testily. "And sometimes ninjas have to survey situations and make hard decisions to get the best possible outcome. If you don't get a bell, you go back to the school. There's only two bells. The surest way to make sure two kids move on is to have the strongest two work together."
"Yes," Hayate said slowly, thinking it over, "but the trouble with that is where the motivation lies. We learned at the Academy that a good ninja fights for his or her village while a bad ninja fights for him- or herself. It's theoretically possible for all three of us to work together to maximize the chance that the two bells will be captured and then for the weakest to give up the bell for the sake of giving the village the strongest fighters."
"Good plan, then," Mizuki said. "So are you going to tell Tora or should I?"
"I never said," Hayate growled, "that that was what we're going to do. I can't tell Tora that she can't continue her career as a ninja because her two teammates happened to be stronger than her. Forget the village. It's just a symbol for our fellow Konohans, and Tora is a fellow Konohan who needs our help."
"So do you have some kind of plan or magical ability that'll let three people pass a test with two winners?"
"No, not yet," Hayate said, "but if I get one, will you help me with it?"
"Sure," Mizuki said. "We're a team, aren't we? Let's meet here ten minutes after the test has started—Sensei'll think we're hiding in the woods. We'll go from there and figure out what to do next."
"Okay," Hayate said. Cooperation from Mizuki? Seriously? Of course, Mizuki did need Hayate to get a bell... but still, he could have tried to convince Hayate to do things his way for the same reason...
"You'll come?" Mizuki asked, the slightest bit wary.
"Of course," Hayate said.
"Good," Mizuki said. If Hayate was going to go all fancy with his little plans, backing off might make himself appear intimidated. Better to play along and try to one-up the little smartie by contributing—by stealing the show in his own plan, if possible.
"Okay, kids! It's time!" Sensei said loudly. Then, more quietly, "Tora, like I said, go over by the boys and see if they can help you. You'll be fine. If you do your best, things will work out okay... and if they don't, you couldn't have done better than your best, hm?"
"I... I guess not..."
"You'll be fine. I believe in you."
"Th-thank you, Sensei."
"You're welcome. OK! GO!"
Hayate and Mizuki darted off into the woods. Tora trotted obediently after Hayate.
*****
"Here he comes now!"
Hayate followed Tora's line of vision to see Mizuki slink towards them out of the woods.
"I didn't know if you'd come," Hayate said. "What took you so long?"
"I wouldn't play a stupid trick on you guys and leave you waiting forever if that's what you mean," Mizuki said crossly. "I was just trying to taunt Sensei a little to get a feel for what we're up against. What I found out is that he doesn't respond very well to taunting--that teacher's more low-key than a shrub."
"Good to know," Hayate said. "Did he follow you?"
"Not a chance," Mizuki said. "He was staring up at the clouds when I left him, but I took a really roundabout way getting back just in case." Mizuki had never been on this training course before, so his roundabout way was actually a beeline gone floppy, but he wasn't about to tell that to Hayate.
"Hayate says you and him are going to help me not fail," Tora told Mizuki doubtfully.
"That's right," Mizuki said cheerfully. "We're going to BEAT this test! ...So, Hayate, did you come up with anything?"
"Well... I thought to break the timer while I was waiting," Hayate said. "We now have, oh, half an hour or maybe an hour more time."
"Okay, cool," Mizuki said. Little smartie. "Tora, do you have any ideas?"
"Um... I don't think so," Tora said nervously. To her, the test was like a brick wall she was somehow supposed to walk through, and her mind had already ruled the whole thing out as impossible.
"Any suggestions? Thoughts?" Hayate coaxed. It wouldn't be nice to Tora if he and Mizuki made her feel worthless and unhelpful.
"No," Tora said.
"Anything at all?" Mizuki asked. If Hayate was going to include her, Mizuki was going to too.
"Well..." Tora said, even more nervous. She did not like to be the center of attention. "I... I don't think it's possible to beat, can you help?"
"What's so impossible about it?" Mizuki asked. Hayate's eyes narrowed. We just went over that, you know very well what's so impossible. If your plan is to wait around until there's so little time that I have to help you with the obvious solution, then so help me...
"Well," Tora said, "Sensei said you guys could help me. But there's only enough bells for two of us. So if you help me and I get a bell, that means one of you doesn't and just did all the work for nothing. So why did Sensei say to go ask you for help? I'm not smart, I can't fight...I'm just not good enough to be a ninja."
"Does anyone have any special abilities or family techniques?" Hayate asked quickly. He didn't trust Mizuki to answer Tora with a good enough lie.
"Family techniques?" Mizuki snorted. "Heck no. Even if my parents knew anything worth snot, they'd be too busy arguing to teach it to me. Oh no. No, they've forgotten to give me breakfast a few times... there's no way they're going to teach me an attack."
Hayate and Tora stared. His tone was completely serious for once. Mizuki looked at the ground.
"Yeah," he said, "my parents fight. I don't think they're going to stay together. It's all my fault."
"It's not your fault," Tora said earnestly. "It might seem like it's your fault, but it's not. Sometimes people who aren't right for each other get married and that's that. It only feels like it's your fault because you think that maybe it wouldn't have happened if you were perfect, but you're wrong."
"No, you're wrong, it is too my fault," Mizuki said. "I'm the one who told Mom about that other lady."
Hayate's mouth twitched. Mizuki, Mizuki... he was impossible to get along with, but you just couldn't hate him.
Silence.
"No," Mizuki said loudly, "I only know the stuff from the Academy, I don't have a kekkei genkai, and my throwing star isn't gonna help us much."
"What's a kekkei genkai?" Tora asked.
"If you don't know what it is, you probably don't have one," Mizuki said.
"It's a special ability that you only have if you're born with it," Hayate said.
"I have no talent," Tora stated.
"What about you, Hayate?" Mizuki asked.
"Well," Hayate said, "I've got a few years of swordfighting experience, but that's just weaponry... nothing that has much of a use outside of an actual battle."
"You can use a sword?" Mizuki asked.
Hayate turned around, displaying the little sword he'd worn nonstop since his eighth birthday.
"Cool, I never noticed that," Mizuki said approvingly.
"I did," Tora said pointlessly.
"Wait a minute," Mizuki said, ignoring her, "how come nobody on this team has any cool special abilities? That creep Itachi could copy stuff, that Hyuga girl could see through stuff, that one boy could talk to animals... I thought the teacher said he and the Hokage himself arranged the teams to get the best possible combinations of students to get us to stop complaining about teammates we didn't like."
"You're right," Hayate said, frowning. "There were enough kids with abilities for at least one on each team... a team like this is like a team of pidgeys and rattatas on Pokemon."
"Hayate, only nerds and little kids play Pokemon," Mizuki said.
"I play Pokemon," Hayate said dangerously. "What's that make me?"
"Never mind," Mizuki said.
"I play Pokemon too," Tora said quietly.
"Since when did we get started talking about Pokemon?" Mizuki asked angrily. "We've got to come up with a solution to an impossible problem. Anybody got any ideas?? I know, we could go into the village, buy a bunch of bells, and then show Sensei and tell him we've won."
"That won't work," Tora said glumly. "The rules say we have to take a bell from Sensei. If we don't take it from Sensei, it doesn't count."
"We could give them to him first," Mizuki said for the sake of an argument.
"But then we'd still have to figure out how to get them back," Tora said miserably."
Give Sensei a bell so you could take it...
"Oh. I think I know what we could do," Hayate said excitedly. Mizuki and Tora were all ears.
*************************
When the three had formed the last part of the conversation into a plausible plan, they trotted off eagerly in search of Sensei. They found him standing in the middle of a clearing waiting to be attacked and peering confusedly into the woods. Time to move in.
"Hi, Mizuki," Sensei said as Mizuki walked out of the woods with a big rock. "What are you going to do with that?"
Miuki walked around the teacher in a wide arc, struggling to carry his burden.
"Dontcha wish you knew," he said cryptically. The presence of the word "dontcha" rather ruined the effect.
Sensei smiled slightly.
"Are you going to prove that they move faster than me?" he asked.
Mizuki almost dropped the rock.
"You were paying attention!" he said.
"I always pay attention," Sensei said, slightly hurt.
"You... you made a joke!"
"I did!" Sensei said happily. "I usually can't think of jokes, but this time I did!" Mizuki told jokes a lot. Jokes, it seemed, were a good way to connect with this student. It would be a good idea to tell or at least show interest in jokes.
"Well," Mizuki said, holding up the rock, "there's not much to prove—I mean, look at it go!"
Confident that a way had been found to be Mizuki's friend, Sensei laughed. Mizuki gave him a strange look. This teacher was getting more and more impossible. Time to cut the chatter, get this over with, and go home an aspiring ninja. He stalked around Sensei until the teacher was between him and the woods, getting as close as he dared. The designated spot. Mizuki could feel the rush of an evil plan. His eyes gleamed with pleasure. Sensei was looking at him curiously. Possibly suspiciously. Time to give the signal.
"I'll bet this rock is smarter than you too," he said conversationally, setting it down. Come on, Tora! Your part is very, very simple! Don't mess it up!
"Well," Sensei said, "I wouldn't think so. It doesn't have a brain." He wished he had a joke...
"Exactly my point," Mizuki said automatically. He would find it hard if he had to STOP telling jokes.
"Sen—sei!"
Tora. There she was, coming out of the woods. Come on...
"Sen—sei!" Tora said again, expectantly, "What do we do when we have a bell?" She was holding out a little silver bell uncertainly. The acting was good. Mizuki was impressed.
"Wh-WHAT?" Sensei asked, a look of complete and utter confusion appearing on his face. He looked down at the two bells on his belt, fingering them to confirm that he had both. A full couple seconds of complete preoccupation—all Mizuki needed. The genin slammed into him at full force, knocking him over and transferring the complete preoccupation to the fight. More than a couple seconds—more than Hayate needed. The second genin pounced on the struggling mass on the ground, seemingly coming out of nowhere. But he had come from somewhere—in fact, he'd been there all along, Sensei just hadn't know it. But that was understandable—it would have been hard for anyone to tell Tora's "bell" apart from a student using the Art of Transformation.
"Now!" Hayate said, pulling Sensei's headband down over his eyes.
Mizuki ran for the rock, grabbed it, and ran back. The two heaved it on top of Sensei then sat on his arms before he could get it off. Sensei couldn't see or use handsigns, so he couldn't use any jutsus, and he couldn't get up because of the rock and the students. In other words, he was completely immobilized—success!
"Alright, Teach," Mizuki crowed, "you listening?"
"Wha—kids, let me up, I—"
"Good. You know how Hayate and me are on your arms, right?"
"Let me—"
"Right?"
"Yes, I guess so, but—"
"Ok, Tora, all clear! So, Sensei, you feel Tora taking a bell now, right? And you agree that it is, in fact, Tora and couldn't possibly be me or Hayate?"
"Sensei," came Tora's voice, "you were right! I'm getting a bell, I won't fail! I won't fail, Sensei, I did it!"
"Yes, it's Tora," Sensei said helplessly. "Now—"
"Full points for Tora?" Hayate asked. "She passes?"
"Right," said Sensei, "but, if you don't mind—"
"Tora," Hayate said, "Tie it back on."
"Why's she doing that?" Sensei asked.
"It's part of our plan," Mizuki said. "Now, when Tora finishes, you will have the bell back, right?"
"Of course," Sensei said dully. These kids weren't letting him up.
Tora finished the knot then jerked lightly on both bells, making them jingle.
"Do you agree that, once again, you have two bells?" Mizuki asked.
"Yes," Sensei said.
"Okay, cool," Mizuki said happily. He and Hayate jumped off of Sensei's arms and tore the bells from his belt before he could pull his headband up. They and Tora were jumping around, laughing, and hi-fiving each other, the bells jingling merrily, as Sensei heaved the rock off of himself and got up.
"That...worked...perfectly!" Mizuki shouted.
"I can't believe we did it," Hayate laughed.
"I'm alive," Tora said dreamily.
"Heh heh, looks like your dream of becoming a ninja's gonna work out for you, Hayate!" Mizuki chortled.
"Heh heh, looks like you're never gonna learn when to shut your face," Hayate laughed back.
"I'm a real ninja now," Tora said happily. "With a team and everything. I'm so... I'm so happy."
Sensei wasn't saying anything. He was leafing through a stapled packet, frowning.
"Sensei? We passed, right?" Mizuki asked, deep suspicion of betrayal apparent in his voice. He had never trusted teachers to do what they promised since the incident with the the small fire and the canceled school trip. He hadn't even started the fire... but no sense stewing over that one again.
"Hm?" Sensei asked. "Oh, I think you passed... but I'm not sure. My papers only have instructions on how to interpret you losing... it doesn't say anything about what to do if you win."
Mizuki grabbed the paper and speed-read through a few sections.
"Hey, students aren't allowed to see—"
"Here," Mizuki said, handing the paper back. "Look at this passage here: 'If none of the above requirements are met due to extreme circumstances--dangerous weather, sudden illness, enemy attack, etc.—yet the students have exhibited exemplary skill, teamwork, intelligence, etc., it is permitted for a passing grade to be given so long as a valid explanation of said circumstances is also present.' That little word 'etc.' can take you far, Sensei. How many students have ever passed this test in the history of Konoha?"
"I'm not allowed to disclose that, but not many," Sensei said, snatching the paper in the friendliest manner possible, hoping that the student hadn't seen too much.
"So passing is an extreme circumstance," Mizuki said. "And we exhibited skill—good acting, the Art of Transformation; teamwork--working together; and intelligence—that whole plan.
We're covered. Just write the higher-ups a nice long note with every possible argument in your favor and without a hint of possibility that you'll take no for an answer and we'll be on our first mission by Friday. Let me know if you need help," he finished, a doubtful expression crossing his face as he imagined Sensei trying to be authoritative.
Hayate, Tora, and Sensei stared at Mizuki. No matter how many times he might have failed to do a shadow doppelganger correctly, he definitely had talent...
"So we passed?" Tora asked.
"I believe so," Sensei said, looking relieved despite his worry at Mizuki having seen the papers. "I'm really proud of you kids," he said warmly. "I couldn't have done better myself! Heh, heh, I didn't do better myself actually! Heh, heh, great job! After what I've seen today, I have no doubt that you will all become fine shinobi!"
"Really?" Tora asked, eyes wide.
"Really," Sensei said.
Tora waddled over and hugged him. "Sensei," she said, "you are a good person."
"I'm hungry," Mizuki said. "Tora, there are only two lunches. Wanna help me beat up Hayate so we both get enough chow?"
"You'd loose and you know it," Hayate said calmly. They studied each other. Something had changed. Hayate's reaction was not flustered or irritated like last time... because of the calmness, it wasn't technically banter, and it wasn't a warning either. What it was was a statement of authority, a subconscious reference to a new pecking order. Hayate had guided them up to this point through a lot of patience and mental energy, and without much cooperation in the interests of the team as an entity rather than in the interest of self-preservation. That's the general idea behind leadership. Leadership is what distinguishes a leader.
"Yeah, Mizuki, cut it out," Tora said mildly. She'd already subconsciously accepted this. Now that Hayate was in charge, Tora didn't have to be as defensive and anxious toward Mizuki anymore. She had backup.
"Fine, I've got a better idea," Mizuki said in a low voice. "I'll just eat this lunch here while you guys come up with a better idea." He picked up the box and opened it. His instincts knew full well what was going on. Hayate might be able to boss Tora around... he might even be able to boss Team 3 around... but nobody bossed Mizuki around. If Mizuki cooperated, it was because he wanted to. Most probably he would want to most of the time—it would be better than the babysitting, unnecessary work and bother, that was Hayate's lot—but if he ever didn't want to there was no way he would.
As it turned out, the lunches weren't really necessary; their being mentioned was just supposed to have added motivation to the test. Now that the test was over, there weren't any other activities, and Sensei had promised to buy them lunch to celebrate. The four shinobi walked back to the village. There was no sunset, and they were going in the wrong direction had there been one anyway, but it was definitely there in the figurative sense. Team 3 was official. It had overcome the first hurdle and was ready to take on more.
*******
The Third Lord Hokage was buried in a pile of papers at his desk. It hadn't been extremely long since the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox had attacked, and, while it had been enough time for the villagers to, more or less, resume normal life, the Hokage still had a lot to sort out, still had to make the final adjustments between Yondaime's reign and his, and that on top of all of the duties a Hokage already had.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
It was the Ninja Academy Instructor with--yes, more papers. Wonderful.
"Lord Hokage," the teacher said, bowing, "There's a... uh, a minor problem with the new teams of recently-graduated students. Do you have a little time...? If you're busy, I can--"
"I have time," the Hokage said. He needed a break from the potato import statistics (ninjas don't tend to be effectual farmers), plus a Hokage should always have time for his subjects. He hoped he could get back to the potatoes sometime soon, however; the last few "minor problems" he'd had to to attend to had required many hours of work over periods of weeks.
"Oh, good, thank you, your Excellence," the teacher said. "I hope this won't take long."
"What's the problem?" The Hokage asked. "Did anyone get seriously hurt during the bell exercises?" Images of little Itachi's teacher lying in the dirt in a pool of blood came to mind.
"No, " the teacher said, frowning. "Nothing like that. It's just that..." he sighed. A confused, resigned expression crossed his face. "We've got four passing teams."
The Hokage stared at him.
"What?" her asked.
"Four passing teams," the teacher said nervously.
"Four... but that's impossible. You're joking," the Hokage said.
"Dead serious," the teacher gulped.
"Team 1, Team 8, and Team 9..." the Hokage began.
"Yes, of course they all passed," the teacher said. "No problems there."
"So...the extra team...?"
"Team 3," the teacher said miserably, handing the Hokage a sheet of papers--the file on Team 3.
The Hokage looked over the students' profiles thoroughly. Could he have made a mistake...? But no, the descriptions were all as they should be. There was a boy with a mean streak that could potentially turn into something dangerous, there was a boy with no kekkei genkai or special family technique other than swordfighting, and there was a dull girl with no talent. The teacher—did the problem lie with the teacher, had he been to easy on them? No. True, he was a little slow, the kind of teacher who couldn't be allowed students but had to be given a "chance" at getting students until he got tired of trying and gave up... but he was trustworthy and honorable to the core—not somebody who would ignore the rules.
"Team 3," the Hokage repeated thoughtfully. "How??" It was unusual... impossible, maybe. The Hokage had spent many hours with the Academy teacher putting the teams together. Hours. Matching up prowess, temperaments, personalities, kekkei genkais, family techniques...everything. They had created three perfect teams. They had brought together the eight most noteworthy students, the cream of the genin crop, and the one worst student, only there so the very best student wouldn't have it too easy, would have enough difficulties to successfully grow and become the best ninja he or she could be. Three teams of Konoha's absolute best had been produced from the 27-student class—three teams that would definitely be able to pass the bell test. How in the world had a reject team made it? They were supposed to stay in that school and grow up to be border guards, footsoldiers, etc. if they never got good enough to be put on a team later! The system was somewhat mean, but a ninja village needed to only allow the best to succeed; this method was a lot better than the Mist village's yearly bloodbath, plus Konoha got more border guards and footsoldiers out of it.
"How did this happen?" the Hokage asked again. It had been years since he'd had to sort the students... was he losing hist touch?
"I don't know, my lord," the teacher said helplessly. "I have is the teacher's report here, which I'm not supposed to read..."
The Hokage took it and studied it intensely. It read:
Pass (X) Fail ( )
Team 3 did not fail admirably, they won admirably. According to the rules, students can pass without failing well if extreme circumstances are present, and I think winning is also extreme. Their strategy was to pin me to the ground and have someone take a bell and put it back so the other two could also take the bells. That shows intelligence and teamwork and also skill, so the requirements are met. I am very pleased with them and think that they will all be very good shinobi.
Ukki Sensei
The Hokage blinked and read it again. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but this surely wasn't it. A well-executed strategy that spit in the face of impossible. How in the world had a reject team come up with something like that??? Now he was curious instead of flustered.
"Should I find some way to disqualify the extra team...?" the teacher asked.
"NO! I mean, no, I think that they're better than we thought--by all means we need to keep this team," the Hokage said. So many of his ninjas got by on kekkei genkais... so many of his ninjas were useless after the first one or two chakara-guzzling attacks... no, this was a good thing. A very good thing. Now, how had this plan come about? Where did the brains behind it lie? Brains were not something you often found on a reject team... He looked at the profiles again. Certainly not Tora. One look at her picture, that lifeless, brooding glare and indifferent posture, was almost enough to convince him, and reading the profile was more than enough. Was it Hayate? Though his expression in his picture was also somewhat brooding, there was more life in it than Tora's. And his profile showed him to be intelligent and good enough with his schoolwork... and it was entirely possible that the Academy didn't tease students' full ability out of them. That was, in fact, a secondary reason why all of the worst students were chosen: often as not they were unmotivated simply because they found school boring and unimportant. Mizuki? Hm... there was a tricky one. His picture showed a lively, proud, almost dangerous grin. His profile revealed him to be very sharp yet not very trustworthy or agreeable and impossibly uncooperative at times. Perhaps smart enough to come up with a plan like that... but the Hokage couldn't see someone like him focusing very hard on a solution for the whole group if he thought that there was an easier way that would involve him winning anyway. So if Tora wasn't smart and Mizuki wasn't a team player, wouldn't that just leave Hayate... ?
Well, the one bell test wasn't enough data for a conclusive answer, but the main point was that there was something special about the team. Who was contributing it would definitely be known later. The team would take the Chunin Exam later. Then everything would be clear. The bell test was one thing, but the Chunin Exam...
You had to be a Chunin to pass it.
*******
Four new teams and their teachers went to the ice cream parlor that afternoon. The air was thick with conversation as Iruka, Mizuki, Tora, and the nine most talented genins of their year (your average ninja is above average) celebrated their success. The teams were all sitting relatively close to one another—Team 3 was between Team 9 and the wall.
"Hey, which team are you guys again?"
Hayate looked up to see the Hyuga girl's pleasant, expectant birdlike stare.
"Uh, we're Team 3," he said.
"The best team ever," Mizuki added happily. "Whoa—what does Iruka have there???"
"It's a banana split!" Iruka said. "I'm gonna be so sick after I finish this it's not even funny!"
"It's a prize for not messing us up," Itachi said wanly, pushing his spoon listlessly around his small bowl of ice cream.
"No," Iruka said, "I asked Sensei if he'd buy me anything I wanted, he said he would, I asked him if I could no kidding, seriously have ANYTHING, and he said to 'knock myself out, kid.' You could have gotten one too, Itachi!"
"Food that tastes good is a pitiful and fleeting escape from the pain that is life," Itachi said darkly."
"Oh. I thought it was the other way around," Iruka said cheerfully, guardedly. He was feeling better about his new team—so far, Itachi hadn't bitten him yet, plus he was soo GOOD at everything.
"Does anyone want the banana?"
"Bananas are good for you," the Hyuga girl said.
"Doesn't taste good," Iruka said stubbornly.
"I like bananas. May I have it?" Tora asked.
"Please! Take it!"
"So... what are your abilities?" the Hyuga girl asked.
"Sorry?" Hayate asked, confused.
"Your abilities," she said. "Kekkei genkai—you know, see through stuff, copy stuff—what can you guys do?"
"Well, I'm...pretty good with my sword," Hayate said humbly.
"I can imitate a DVD player," Mizuki said proudly.
"I can inhale and exhale," Tora said bitterly.
The girl frowned slightly. "Oh... well, you passed the test anyway; so that's good! He he, glad that's over already! I thought we weren't going to pass at first because I gave my bell to Iruka, but the teacher said it was okay because we looked out for each other. How did you guys pass?"
"I... I honestly don't know," Hayate said. "I didn't know where to start because of how it seemed impossible for the whole team to pass, but then we found a loophole in the rules, and--"
"Mizuki, you stink head, I am going to kill you."
All eyes turned to Tora. As she had been leaning across the table to take Iruka's banana, Mizuki had pushed her supporting arm forward, causing her to fall face first into her ice cream.
Now, as she raised a dripping face out of the bowl, she was surprisingly calm and, more surprisingly, deadly.
"Hey, that could have been an accident," Mizuki said nervously, edging away. This time he'd gone too far and he knew it. He closed his eyes.
Nothing happened.
He opened them.
"Why are you so mean all the time?" Tora asked. She looked like she was about to cry. "You always make fun of people and push them around and take their stuff. Nobody ever did anything to you. Why??? I just don't get you. There's something wrong with you. I... I don't want you on my team." Not wanting someone on her team appeared to be the worst degradation possible in Tora's mind because she buried her head in her arms and started crying. Mizuki gaped, wide-eyed. Where was the attack? Where were the furious little blows? Tora wasn't like a rattlesnake at all... she was like a milk snake, disguising herself as dangerous so her predators wouldn't get too close. And now she didn't know what to do now that one had done so anyway. But the predator was almost as confused and upset. He didn't play with the rattlesnakes to hurt them, he did so because he got a thrill out of knowing they could hurt him. Now, for the first time ever, his quarry was entirely at his mercy... and he didn't like it one bit. Mizuki was the kind of person who wouldn't have any problem with kicking a dog but wouldn't kick a puppy if paid.
"Tora... I... uh... look... " Mizuki began.
Hayate watched nervously. So did, he suddenly noticed, the whole ice cream parlor.
"I don't like you," Tora cried. "I want to go home."
There was a younger, violet-haired girl wearing a pink shirt with a kitten on it two tables over, sitting with her parents, and she was staring, fascinated, at the unfolding drama. When she noticed Hayate staring uncomfortably in her general direction, she stared at him too, as if to ask him what the story was behind this emotion-wrenching scene. Hayate noticed immediately and shrugged, embarrassed to be the center of attention. The girl hadn't been expecting any answer, and she giggled. Hayate frowned. He hadn't meant it to be funny.
"Tora, I don't not like you," Mizuki was saying, frazzled. "You're... very nice, I'm happy you're on my team, I don't be mean to you because I hate you, please... um, can you calm down a little? It's okay..."
"You're... you're just saying that because... because you feel bad... being mean when I'm... when I'm crying," Tora sobbed. "You just... you just want me to... you just want me to stop so... so you can be mean again... and ... and steal my banana."
These words had a profound effect on Mizuki. That was one step meaner than he really was. He leaned forward.
"Tora," he said earnestly. "I don't want to be mean to you again. Would you believe that I can change if" –he pulled something white-yellow out from under the table— "I give your banana back?"
Tora stopped crying and stared. "My... you already... wait, you're giving it back?"
Mizuki put the banana into her hands. "Yes," he said. "It's yours, and I apologize for stealing it. I also apologize for pushing your face into your ice cream. You don't have to like me if you don't want to, but I'd be really happy if you chose to."
"Oh," Tora said. "Well...ok I guess... just you have to stop being mean to me, clear?" She seemed doubtful yet willing to forgive.
"Ok, deal," Mizuki said.
"You're sure?" Tora asked. "I can trust you now?"
"Yes," Mizuki said.
"Ok..." Tora said, brightening a little. "Thank you!"
Most of the other people at the ice cream parlor had lost interest the minute the problem had started to resolve itself, but the violet-haired girl gazed on, fascinated, soaking up every detail of the conclusion. Hayate was still looking at her. The incident with Mizuki and Tora didn't hold his interest because he'd been dealing with those two clowns all day. Why was she so fascinated with it? The girl saw this and smiled at him, happy to be paid attention to, so he looked away. Probably just fascinated with everything. He resumed eating his ice cream.
Laughter.
That girl again. What was she finding funny this time?
More laughter.
Tora. What—
A muffled snort of laughter.
Mizuki.
Hayate turned to see that Mizuki was copying him. He was suddenly tired. The day had been a long one, and Mizuki was busy making it longer. He looked back at the purple-haired girl, slightly angry. Mizuki was embarrassing him in public—it wasn't funny.
But she only laughed all the harder.
The End