Coming from the Shadows: Teamwork
As the sun's rays shone into the sleeping area where Naruto lived, his bed remained empty. If it weren't for the slight warmth the bed exuded, an ignorant observer might think Naruto never went to sleep that night.
Dishing himself up a quick meal, Naruto ate slowly, his mind occupied with the upcoming Genin test. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he finished the rest of his breakfast and took note of the time.
Throwing on his usual jacket, he left his house and headed to the training grounds.
Arriving at Training Ground Three with a few minutes to spare, he spotted his new friends. "Hey Shino and Ino, excited for this?" he asked, grinning. "I know I am."
Shino merely raised an eyebrow, only just detectable over the sunglasses he wore. Ino, however, looked at him incredulously and said, "I'm more nervous than excited."
Naruto opened his mouth, but before he could put words to his thoughts, he was interrupted. "Excellent. The three of you are here. Let's get straight to business. I'm going to test your abilities. If you can land a blow on me, you pass. If you can't, you don't. I won't be using my Sharingan, and I'll only act defensively, but other than that, I'll be taking this completely seriously, you three. You have two hours. Begin." Itachi said, walking out from behind a nearby tree.
The three stared at him surprised, then after sharing a short glance, the trio leapt back into the trees.
"So, how are we going to play this, Ino, Shino? The formation we came up with yesterday?" Naruto asked, words only just audible to his nearby teammates.
Shino nodded, but Ino quickly snorted. "That's fine and dandy for you two. What with being up in front and having many chances to land a hit. What if he's serious and if I don't land a hit in and he fails me for it?" She asked, real worry creeping into her voice.
Naruto smiled softly. "I told you yesterday, right? I'm got a master at the Kawarimi, and I've got access to a couple solid clones with kage bunshin. I can safely use two at a time, and can create one more if they dispel. Shino and I will try to force Itachi to focus on us. Shino, try to use your Kikaichu to drain his chakra. I'll have one of my clones attack from range with kunai and shuriken, but I'll have another up front with me and Shino. When my clone gets an opening, it'll kawarimi with you, Ino, so pay attention and try to use that opportunity, okay?"
Getting a hesitant nod from Ino, and a static gaze from Shino, Naruto stood up and said, "Let's do this."
Leading the way, Naruto brought his teammates to Itachi. He brought his hands into the ram seal and two copies of him were formed. Leaving one clone with Ino, the others closed the gap between Itachi and him and engaged in a fierce taijutsu battle.
It was completely one-sided, and totally not fair. If only he could safely use more clones, maybe then it'd be more even.
The Naruto in the rear found an opening and launched a flurry of shuriken. He grinned, there was no way Itachi was going to get out of that.
He watched in shock as Itachi threw a single kunai that deflected all the shuriken out of harm's way and forced the three next to him to jump back to avoid the shuriken.
All motion stopped for a moment there. "That...that was awesome. And deadly." Naruto muttered, in awe of Itachi's abilities with weapons. With renewed vigor, Naruto charged at Itachi once more. Launching himself at Itachi, as an opportunity presented itself, Naruto's clone suddenly substituted with Ino and Itachi found himself hit three times all at once.
Smiling, Itachi eyed the three of them and said, "You three pass."
Naruto let out a little laugh, "That was fun."
"Now that you three are officially on my Genin team, I've got a few things to tell you. One, let me know if any of you need funds for anything, we won't be doing many missions early on, I'll be prioritizing training. If you need funds, then we'll do a mission, you won't enjoy the mission, but it serves a purpose. Two, I have high expectations for the three of you, and as such, unless you surpass those expectations you three will not be participating in the upcoming Chunin exams. Finally, the purpose of this squad is to be able to handle any situation, any mission, whether or not unexpected situtations occur. We have the balance to handle genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu specialists. Each of you will be able to act properly on stealth missions." Itachi said, leveling each of them with a firm gaze. Training starts later today, do what you need to do, and report to the Uchiha compound at two." He left with a shunshin leaving three stunned genin in place.
"Alrighty then. Want to join me at Ichiraku's, Shino, Ino?" Naruto asked, getting hungry.
The two nodded, and they left to get some food.
Arriving at the warm ramen stall, the trio entered.
"Welcome, what can I get you three?" the waitress, a young brown-haired woman with soft features asked.
"Two pork ramen for me, Ayame." Naruto said, having been here more times than he'd care to admit.
"Vegetable for me," Ino said, wanting a light meal for now.
"Miso," Shino said with a stoic expression.
Gathering their orders, Ayame left to the back.
"'Ayame', huh?" Ino said, with a teasing expression. "Getting all friendly with the waitress here, I see."
Amused, Naruto said, "No, it's not like that. They were the first to take any real notice of me. Being an orphan, most of Konoha doesn't really see me. I'm just kind of in the background for them."
Ino smiled softly at the boy, "Well, we're here for you now, Naruto."
"Thanks, Ino, Shino."
Before more could be said, Ayame returned with their bowls. Setting them down in front of their respective consumers, she said, "Enjoy your meal."
As the hour approached two, the three genin made their way to the Uchiha compound. Having taken on the role of leader for their little group, Naruto went up to the Uchiha guards. "Naruto, Ino, and Shino reporting for training to Itachi-sensei, Uchiha-san."
The guard looked over the three with the sharingan to detect if any henges, genjutsu, or the like were used. Pleased that he didn't have to deal with that, he gestured for them to go inside. "Itachi-san informed us of your pending arrival, you will find him down at the lake."
Nodding their heads in thanks, they ventured through the gates and into the Uchiha compound. Quickly, they arrived at the lake where their sensei was waiting. "Do the three of you know the tree walking exercise?" He asked.
The three nodded.
"Very good, if somewhat unexpected. And the water-walking technique?"
That got three shakes of the head. "Thought as much. Before we advance in training, I'll have you learn to water walk, it's an extremely important skill for shinobi to learn, as one never knows when you'll be forced to fight in an environment where it's necessary and it's best to be prepared."
Walking onto the water before them, he continued, "Unlike the tree walking exercise, the water-walking technique is not just an application of chakra. Water is fluid, and as such, the necessary amount of chakra to maintain your hold on the water's surface fluctuates. Additionally, it's not a solid surface, so a constant flow of chakra is needed so as to not fall in."
Glancing at Ino and Shino in turn, Naruto took the first step onto the water, and quickly found himself soaking from head to toe. "I had hoped I'd have been able to at least hold my ground for a split second," he said, spitting out a mouthful of water. Ino and Shino tentatively followed his lead and stepped onto the water themselves, with a great deal more success than Naruto.
Ino lasted a full two seconds before she lost her footing and was quickly submerged.
Shino, on the other hand, lasted longer than Ino, and only sunk to his waist when he lost control. "This process is more difficult than I would have previously presumed. Seems I need more chakra to counteract the underwater currents." He said, muttering to himself.
Glaring at his two teammates at their first attempts, he leapt back on top of the water's surface with increased intensity.
As the sun met the horizon and the rays of light began to fade, the trio panted as progress was exceedingly slow. Naruto could only manage five seconds before he was submerged, whereas Ino and Shino each topped two minutes.
"Alright. We're done for the day. Don't want you to catch cold." Itachi said, as he approached them. "Any questions before you leave?"
"Yeah, I've got one, sensei. Generally how long do D-Ranks take and how much we get, individually, from them?" Naruto asked,
"As sensei, I get half the reward from D-Ranks, but the reward ranges from five thousand ryō to fifty thousand ryō. So you can expect to get about eight hundred to eight thousand ryō per D-Rank mission. As for the duration, the cheap ones generally only last a matter of hours. But the ones that give rewards close to the fifty thousand ryō mark are generally long duration, probably around a week long."
Nodding his head slowly, Naruto did some simple mental math. "If that's the case, I will probably need two to three missions a week, at least until we start doing C-Rank missions."
Itachi nodded, "Alright. That's good to know. Ino, Shino, what about you?"
The two shook their heads, "That number of missions will be sufficient for any income needs I may have at the time being. If unexpected circumstances materialize, I will inform you then, sensei," Shino said.
Ino just glanced at her teammates.
"Alright. Ino, Shino, you're dismissed. I have something to discuss with you Naruto."
As Naruto's new friends left, he said, "And that is what, sensei?"
"I knew your parents, Naruto."
