Chapter Three
Sakura tried to figure out where her life went wrong and why she was running like mad from a giant snake. She still remembered almost a year ago when she hadn't been able to keep ahead. Sure the snake hadn't killed her, but it had swallowed her whole. She spent an hour inside a giant snake and could only wonder when the digestion would begin. Ever since then when that sadistic bitch said run she ran all out with no stopping.
Today was supposed to be special. The very idea of a special day made her shutter. She hated special days! There, in the clearing. Was that the rest of her academy class? It didn't matter. The snake would stop when she got where she was supposed to go, if it didn't eat her first. Always had to remember that last bit. She ran harder and leaped. Glancing back she nearly panicked. She then noticed how close the ground was. Quickly she directed chakra to her legs and absorbed the impact while preparing to dodge again in case the snake didn't break off. The snake stopped and turned around. She dared let herself take a breath, but just a small one.
Anko appeared with a grin. "Hello kiddies. That was just a small example of what your future holds. Anybody wanna quit?"
Sakura was not surprised when a couple of the useless fangirls did just that. How the hell did she survive being like that for most of her life?
"Now that the trash is gone, I've decided my plaything needs some playmates, and what is so awesome about it, is, as senior plaything she gets to choose."
Sakura looked at her in mild surprise. She had gotten few choices since she started with Anko-san.
Anko pulled a scroll out of her pack and tossed it to her.
"In there are the current candid evaluations of the class, including the two that ran away, but you can ignore them. Pick two for your team. Remember, your life will depend on them. Remember also that if you pick poorly, well I have so many pets that miss your company. You also can't reveal anything in that scroll ever. Got it?"
"Hai." Sakura gulped as she absently unsealed the scroll while the others looked on. Basic sealing was one of many skills Anko had taught her. It took her minutes to read through the compiled information. She was a bit disappointed when she read that Sasuke was unstable, a likely flight risk, and unlikely to work well on a team. They even gave him forty percent odds of getting a team mate killed due to his tunnel vision with regards to killing his brother. To the plus was his skills, but how the hell could you count on someone like that? She moved on.
Shino was an A-1 team player. Sure he was creepy as hell, but he had the skills. Kiba had skills. It was cautioned that the Jounin commander might have to seriously educate him on when risks were necessary and acceptable. Shikimaru was listed as dead last, but the note said to assume his academy scores were meaningless. In fact it was notable that he had the exact minimum score to pass, no more, no less. His potential IQ was over two hundred. Potential team leadership skills if he can be motivated. Empathy rating was solid. He would defend his team. Motivation is suggested to be in the form of protecting his team.
Chouji also had potential. Motivation there was also required. It noted him for a potential future Ino, Shika, Cho pairing, though also noted that Ino was currently planned for another team. Looking more she could see that both Naruto and Hinata were planned for that team. Interesting. There were others, but none were expected to pass the final genin tests. Perhaps not surprisingly, not many of those were even still around. She would have to dare a question.
"Am I permitted to make the best team possible, or must I try to balance things so another solid team is feasible?"
Anko smiled. "Make a decision. Explain it. If I agree with it, I will try to convince the Hokage. If I don't, its more exercise for you."
The others looked on though amazingly said little. That might have something to do with the killer intent Anko sent their way periodically.
Crap. No clear answer. Well she might as well try for not dying. What would be the best team anyway? Shikamaru and Shino? She wasn't sure if that was a good idea. She was almost as smart as Shikamaru and he might be more valuable on another team. He didn't bring any real skill beyond his potential intelligence and clan jutsu. There might also be some benefit in leaving the Shikamaru Chouji combination intact.
Kiba and Sasuke? No. Can't risk Sasuke. Too unstable. Kiba and Shino? That had potential. It would leave Shikamaru with Sasuke, but hell someone had to take him.
"I'd like Kiba and Shino."
"Why?" asked a curious Anko.
Oh good, she had to explain in front of everyone. "Shikamaru and I have similar intelligence, even if as a Nara he likely is better at planning. Still, I think it would gain more for the leaf it he is on a separate team. Choji's father worked with the elder Nara and made a solid team. I cannot see a good reason to separate them. Kiba has good skills and the rough spots he has with rushing in and such can be dealt with, and well, Shino is just a solid candidate that I'm sure I'll be able to rely on. For that matter Kiba has the same pack mentality as his clan, and that is only a bonus."
"True, now what about the Uchiha?"
The Uchiha looked like he was about to explode at being passed over.
She knew why she had skipped him. Must she drag this out. She sighed. "Sasuke does not seem to be a good candidate for the teamwork required of a Konoha genin team."
"Correct, if carefully phrased. Now, everyone but Shino and Kiba back to the academy." Sasuke glared at her as he left. Surprisingly so did Shikamaru, even if he quickly hid it. She smirked back at him. There was no way in hell she was getting eaten by a giant snake again, not if she could help it.
After they were gone Anko asked, "Does anyone have a problem with this team?"
Kiba said, "I don't rush in!"
Shino said nothing, nor did Sakura.
"Good, then we are team Anko. I don't particularly care about whatever the number is." She picked up the scroll from Sakura and resealed it. "Nothing needs approved unless we wanted Sasuke. Another Jounin felt he owed a debt to the Uchiha clan and wanted to try to salvage him, if it was possible."
Shino asked, "Does that mean we no longer need to go to the Academy for another year?"
"Your academy days are done. I have a year to make you into solid genin. Most of your training will be with me. Unfortunately a good deal of Sakura's time will be taken by Lady Tsunade who has agreed to train Sakura now that she is ready for it. You may also be trained by others. If you have an area where you would like to focus, and it helps the team, I will try to find a way to make it happen. Now, who knows their chakra affinity?"
Only Sakura raised her hand.
"That is a pity. Here take these sheets. Channel a bit of chakra and see what happens."
Kiba did his first. The paper burst into fire.
"We'll that one is self explanatory. It appears to be a strong affinity as well. It is also my own so I should have no problem teaching you. Shino?"
Shino channeled chakra into the paper only to have it crumble into small crystals.
"Interesting. That is most certainly not Earth, yet it seems closest to Earth. We'll have to show it to the Hokage sometime and see what he thinks. It could be quite useful. Sakura, do something."
Sakura created two seal less mud clones. Shino raised his eyebrows and even Kiba looked interested.
"Have them attack."
Sakura didn't even blink. She directed her clones at Shino and Kiba who quickly jumped back.
Shino sent out a hoard of bugs that quickly pulled out all the chakra from the clone while Kiba tore through it with Inuzuka taijutsu.
"Good, had you had problems with Sakura's admittedly weak mud clones, I might have had to send you back anyway. As Sakura will tell you, now that you are a member of my team you will expect attacks anytime day or night and you will be able to defend yourself, or at need a teammate. Now, I'm going to go register us with the Hokage. Sakura, tell them about your training."
Sakura paled as Anko left. She really hated special days. Now she would have to keep the newbies from being eaten or else face Anko's wrath.
- o -
Danzo looked on to the reports that had been gathered the past two years. He should be pleased. Hiruzen had accepted many of his suggestions. The academy was doing far better than before and was set to turn out some of the strongest genin in a decade. In fact two teams had already formed, which promised to be credible. He was a bit surprised that Anko proved to be a good teacher but he could not deny the results she had achieved so far.
The third likely team of Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Chouji was well a disaster waiting to happen, mostly because of Sasuke's instability. The fact that they were apparently considering both Asuma and Kakashi for that team, at least initially did mitigate it somewhat. Apparently the Hokage considered Sasuke a likely target. Of who didn't need discussed. That much was obvious. Itachi's threat also complicated things.
What was more irritating was he didn't see a way to fix the mess that Hiruzen would accept. It wasn't as if he could fake the boy's death and get him some proper training. He was too visible, and with the damage already done to the boy from Itachi it was less than certain than even his proper training would be enough. No, the logical conclusion was to give him a lobotomy or something. Give him just enough smarts to not be a pain to care for and use him to hopefully produce some non useless Uchiha. Of course, it was important that he first activate his eyes so again, there was nothing to be done. Forced activations were as apt to kill the subject as product a useful result. Those eyes were annoying like that.
Come to think of it, it was past time he started figure out who to use to create those non useless Uchiha. How exactly do you balance a clan with serious mental stability issues? Perhaps Kurenai and Tsunade's assistant could be induced to do so? Ordinary civilians tended to be useless as the offspring tended to have weaker chakra reserves. Could he take advantage of that mess in Kiri in some way, either for this task or to bolster his own forces? It bear thought.
So too did the overall reason of why things were changing. He didn't disagree with most of the changes, but there was a hand stirring the pot, and it was not his. That was not acceptable.
- o -
Ibiki entered the Hokage's office. He had just finished the final session. Ino Yamanaka had apparently asked and somehow gotten permission to in secret conduct the final interview with Kabuto. That sweet little girl was more than enough to scare him. He was still surprised that Kabuto was originally intended for execution without interrogation, but he did not ask questions of the Hokage, nor did he doubt Kabuto needed to be killed..
Normally when a Yamanaka works over someone the subject has no visible reaction. Not so with Kabuto. He just kept screaming until some part of Ino that remained in herself absently used a chakra scalpel to slice through his vocal cords. When she finished he was left doing little more than drooling.
After she returned to her body she looked down at Kabuto coolly.
"When will he recover?"
Ino blinked. "It was my understanding that this was to be the final Interview. He will not be recovering, ever. Breathing is almost too complicated for him now. You may want to see if Tsunade wishes to study his healing factor. I have a report to write for the Hokage."
"Did you get what you went in for?"
Ino smiled. "I did indeed."
"We'll, if you do find yourself bored in the future, you might have a career in T&I, well as long as you don't enjoy it too much."
"Been there. Done that. Had the therapy." With that the disarmingly cute academy student walked out the door.
"Just what the heck was that supposed to mean?"
- o -
Two months. They had survived two months of hell. Shino was by nature normally a very calm person, but two months on Team Anko was enough to shatter that. Kiba had made some progress on his fire affinity, in that he could almost get a leaf to burn in a reasonable amount of time. His own work with whatever he had was less successful. The training for Earth Release was to get a leaf to crumble to dust. So far it had not worked.
His taijutsu, and just his general running ability had grown leaps and bounds though, as had Kiba's for that matter. They, however, had a long way to go. Sakura was much faster than them, even with the two hundred pounds he knew was strapped to her. The interesting thing was he knew her musculature could not handle that, not and also maintain her speed. She had to be using chakra to boost her speed, yet his bugs sensed little chakra from her. Did she have little, or was she hiding what she had? For that matter how did she sustain the constant chakra usage? Anko was pushing her far harder than them, though their pace was also increasing, and from what Sakura had said it was highly likely they would have to catch up.
That brought a worrying thought. He had a limited amount of chakra available for general use. His colony took most of it. He didn't think it was physically possible for him to burn chakra at the rate Sakura must be and maintain his colony.
He looked around at the small clearing that his team favored. He was surprised to see not just Anko and his teammates join him, but Naruto, Ino, and Hinata along with the Hokage, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. Just what was going on that merited these people? Kiba too looked confused, though Anko's early training seemed to have instilled a certain amount of patience in the pre-genin.
The Hokage said, "It has been decided for your two teams to begin group exercises. That will be for a little later today. For now we have two tasks. First I have some additional chakra paper for Shino. I would like to see his affinity again. Hinata make sure to watch closely."
Shino took the paper and once he saw Hinata activate her eyes he let a trickle of chakra flow into the paper. Once again the paper fell apart to tiny crystals.
Tsunade picked one up before it fell to dust. "This is rare. It is called crystal release. The user can literally build crystals out of almost any material. A user can even crystallize around a person. That isn't immediately fatal, but if the crystal is shattered they are quite dead. Unfortunately I have no idea whatsoever with how to train it, nor even where to go to get that information. I only ran across a user once, and only saw her in one fight. She was formidable."
The Hokage asked, "Ino, would you be able to transfer the knowledge? Would such a small amount be a danger to Shino?"
Ino said, "No, a day or less should be fine. I'm game if both Tsunade and Shino are."
Tsunade said, "Fine, but no wandering. I'll focus on the memory."
Shino said, "Agreed."
Ino looked at Tsunade and swiftly formed a familiar hand sign. Ino's body started to drop to the ground only to be grabbed and let down gently by Hinata who was closest. Naruto quickly moved to cover Ino's other side, his eyes alert for any possible danger.
- o -
Ino appeared in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. She knew it was beyond what she agreed to but she didn't care. She exerted her will, bringing Tsunade's mental form into focus.
"What are you doing?" she hissed. "I said the one memory."
Tsunade wiped the rain off her face only for more to fall as the storm continued to batter them both.
Ino exerted her will, her chakra streaming through Tsunade's mindscape. Calm was restored and the sun came out through pure force of will. She said, "My imposed calm will not last. Please, there must be something I can do to help you. I am not the little girl you see. If you do not trust me, then consider my father. He is also perfectly qualified to help."
"You think you can help me? Are you insane? You can't raise the dead. Maybe if you came back earlier it might have worked, but they are dead! Can't you just accept me as I am? I am fine!"
Ino focused once more, letting her mental avatar become not the body she wore now, but the one she had before. She grew in height and filled out. Her outfit changing to her standard Jounin uniform.
She pulled the protesting older woman in a hug as she pulled with her chakra. There was pain that must be faced, but she would not face it alone. This was going to take some time, but as a Yamanaka she had a duty to Konoha that she could not ignore.
- o -
"What is taking so long?" asked the Hokage.
"I don't know," Jiraiya said.
"Get Inoichi."
Less than ten minutes later Inoichi arrived with Jiraiya. He put a hand on Ino for a few seconds and then a hand on Tsunade's head for a little longer.
"Ino is fine. Tsunade is fine. From what I can tell Ino is working."
"What do you mean working?" asked the Hokage.
"If there is one thing that is constant with Ino it is her tendency to meddle. I do not believe Tsunade is in any danger. In fact, I would bet considerable money that my daughter is helping her somehow. Normally chakra expenditure would be an issue, but her reserves are holding up fine. My recommendation is to wait."
"Couldn't you go in and see what is going on?"
"I could, but my presence is liable to make whatever they are working on more difficult or undo much of the progress."
"How long?"
Inoichi shrugged. "It is hard to say. With her reserves this session could take hours."
"Fine, we will postpone this task. Inoichi your in charge with this. We can begin the second task without Ino."
"I understand."
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade with an oddly soft expression before the expression vanished. He said, "Anko, we are going to try to look at your seal with the goal of eventually removing it. That probably won't happen today, but we expect to make progress."
Anko looked at them with hope in her eyes. "Really?"
"Do you wish your Genin to remain here?"
"What the hell, they might as well know some of the dangers out there."
Jiraiya said, "Hiruzen, can you give us a perfectly flat stone work area, say five hundred feed in diameter?"
The Hokage went through a series of hand seals and slapped his hands against the ground. Trees, grass, and shrubs were swallowed by the Earth only for it to change to what appeared to be nothing more than polished granite that appeared to be perfectly flat.
Jiraiya said, "Inoichi, Naruto, Hinata take Ino and Tsunade at least a thousand feet away. Kiba, Shino, Sakura join them there and help Inoichi watch over them. I'll need Naruto and Hinata back."
They quickly carried them away and made them comfortable.
"Okay Anko, I can either cut your coat away or you can remove it, or possibly lay on it."
She slipped it off exposing her muscle shirt covered with mesh. Jiraiya looked to be starting to drool before Anko glared at him. She laid the coat down and laid down on it, exposing her seal for all to see.
Jiraiya then unsealed a whole bundle of unlined perfectly white paper.
Naruto created eight solid clones which were followed by as many from Hinata. Each Naruto clone took a large sheet of paper and put it at a cardinal point around Anko.
Jiraiya said, "I'm going to have to unseal the containment seal Anko. That is going to hurt. I have a copy of a dental device I know you are familiar with. It should protect your teeth and tongue."
"Fine, give me it." She took the two pieces of the device and slipped them around her teeth.
Jiraiya said, "Naruto, I'm not certain how long" He was surprised when Ino walked over to them. "Am I late?"
"No, do you want to give Shino the memory first?"
"I already did."
"Is Tsunade well?"
"She is fine. It is just better to let her rest so I deepened her sleep before I finished."
"Thank you." he said quietly.
"No need. Now, I see Naruto is I guess handling the drawing while Hinata is handling corrections. I assume you will want me to help as well."
"Do you have the chakra for it?"
"I believe so."
"Do it."
Ino created eight shadow clones that with herself immediately moved between the Hinatas and the Narutos.
- o -
"What is going on?" Kiba sent surprisingly quietly for him.
Inoichi said nothing.
Shino said, "I think Ino and her clones are somehow linking the Naruto and his clones to Hinata and her clones. The only logical reason to do that that I can think of is for Naruto to have access to Hinata's visual information."
Inoichi's head swung before he caught himself.
"It is also possible that either Naruto or Hinata needed some special ability or sense that Ino alone brings to the table, but it is more likely the former, particularly given her father's sudden movement just now."
They watched as Anko convulsed in pain without a sound. They watched as black marks spread from that thing on her neck all over her body before spreading out on the spread papers. They watched as the copies of Naruto quickly and precisely copied every mark and line even as the whole thing seemed to shift.
They saw the Naruto's set pens down and switch to a standard sealing brush before rapidly drawing a seal around the edges of the paper. Each Naruto then quickly applied chakra directly to the paper generating a seemingly blank paper. They picked back up their pens and continued. Two minutes later the whole thing repeated.
- o -
Ten minutes Tsunade woke and walked over to the edge of where Jiraya was working. The sweat and strain was obvious in Jiraiya's expression. Anko's whole body was covered in the filthy seal. She seemed to be barely moving now.
One Naruto near Anko's head said, "We're done, you can let the seal contract."
Jiraiya released his hold on the seal. The seal quickly shrunk back into the original curse mark, though it seemed to continue to throb. Jiraiya started to get his brush.
A clone of each dispelled every five seconds. Jiraiya was just about to begin a new seal when Naruto said, "Wait, I think we can improve on it."
"Are you sure? That mess is going to take time to study."
"Yes. I can't remove yet, but I'm sure we can do better."
"Fine."
The remaining clones dispelled. Ino continued to hold Naruto's free hand even as her other hand held Hinata. Naruto grabbed his sealing brush as he knelt behind Anko. He said, "We're going to have to remove the clothing from her back to apply the new seal."
"Just do it brat, but if you enjoy it, you will pay." Anko's voice was weak as she made the threat.
"Hinata?"
Hinata let go of Ino's hand before forming a chakra scalpel and activating her eyes. She sliced away her clothing in a few quick swipes without even making a nick. She then grabbed Ino's hand again and stood on the other side of Anko before grabbing Jiraiya's brush.
The three worked in a very strange kind of harmony as line after line was laid down in a mosaic you wouldn't expect to come together, but one that did nevertheless and in a design that was awe inspiring in its complexity.
It took them almost an hour to lay down the seal before they both set their brushes down. Hinata then took Naruto's free hand and three pairs of hands laid on Anko's back as they all shouted, "Fuin!"
The lines snapped around Anko's seal with crushing force. When they were done all that was left was a single dot surrounded by an Uzumaki spiral.
Anko was out cold. Tsunade quickly checked her over before covering her with her cloak. "She is weak. I can't even detect that curse seal unless I'm right over it. There might be some side effect in it being all but removed, but I'd say it worked. How long will that, whatever it was, last?"
Naruto was sitting down with Ino to his right and Hinata to his left. He said, "I'm not sure. I didn't put any time limit into it. It is, however, not linked to Anko's chakra system so it is limited to the chakra we fed into it, but we could in theory add more. I doubt it would last forever, but maybe years?"
Hinata said, "Our goal was to at least prevent Anko-san from having to deal with the pain and the continuous mental probing the seal was causing. It was trying to weaken her willpower. It is fortunate that she is a very strong kunochi, or it might have worked."
The Hokage said, "Okay, I will want this counter seal checked daily until we can establish a pattern. Do you have any idea how long it will take to fully remove it?"
Ino said, "The seal is fully separated from Anko now. We managed that much. We just need to figure out how to physically move it and the counterseal at the same time."
"Wouldn't it be simpler just to move the cursed seal?"
"No," Naruto said. "The thing seemed almost alive. It is not going to go quietly. It might kill Anko if we did that. Isolating it from Anko was all we could figure out for now. I, or rather, we hoped that by isolating it from Anko's chakra system we could weaken it. I don't think that is going to work though. I don't understand it, but it is connected to..."
Ino said, "Crap, that thing is somehow connected to Orochimaru!"
Jiraiya said, "He is going to know, isn't he?"
Naruto said, "That we did something, almost certainly. I'm sorry. I didn't anticipate that. If we would have used the regular seal he might not have know we were doing anything but probing."
The Hokage said, "Don't be. If this seal gives Anko some peace of mind then it is worth it. I will deal with my student."
Anko's students walked back. Inoichi left.
Sakura and Kiba looked down in concern. Sakura's fingers glowed a pale green for a second, but that quickly vanished.
Kiba looked down at his fierce teacher, who seemed to be nothing more than asleep. He asked, "Is their anything we can do?"
Tsunade said, "I don't see anything that requires hospitalization. I'll leave a shadow clone here that will inform me if anything changes. For now just watch her till she wakes."
The Genin nodded.
The Hokage said, "I'm going to go get Kurenai. Naruto, Ino, Hinata, she will be your Jounin sensei. I considered assigning Inoichi, but I'd rather keep him in reserve here in Konoha. Stay here, get to know team Anko. Kurenai should be here shortly. Jiraiya, Tsunade your with me. We may need to make some plans."
Ino turned to team Anko. "You guys do know that you can't repeat anything that happened today right? I'm sure Anko will say the same thing when she wakes."
Shino and Sakura nodded, though Sakura seemed more thoughtful.
Kiba said, "Sure. Anko is pack, and others don't need to know all of a pack's secrets."
Ino said, "Shino, I may be able to help you learn crystal release a bit, or rather Hinata and I may be able to help you like we helped Naruto, just remember to keep it a secret."
He said, "I thank you for the offer, but I require time to fully absorb what you showed me first."
"Of course."
"I do have a question though. I was considering asking Lady Tsunade, but perhaps one of you can help, or anyone really. Sakura is clearly using a considerable amount of chakra to be able to run and fight as fast as she can. Even with the same training, I am unsure if I can compete with that."
"Your bugs?" Ino guessed.
"Yes. My colony takes most of my chakra."
Naruto perked up. "How many, well, bugs do you have?"
"I am currently limited to just under a thousand. Once I am older and my chakra reserves grow that limit will raise, but unfortunately it means my available chakra won't significantly."
Naruto said, "I was thinking of putting a seal on each one so they could store chakra for longer periods of time, but that is a lot of bugs."
"They also only live for about a day. You're seal idea is interesting though. Would there be some way for me to apply it? If during an attack my swarm could store much more chakra, well they would be that much more effective."
"I dunno. I've never heard of a seal that made seals. I don't think that is possible. The fourth was said to be able to apply a seal just by touching, but I have no idea how to do that."
Ino asked, "Would he be able to form a seal out of crystals?"
"I know blood works and chakra ink works, but then that usually contains blood too. Some specialty inks work as well. It might work, but I tend to doubt it. The properties are probably wrong, plus you would have to very precisely shape it. Here, let me get a brush, I'll draw one and we will see if they work with your bugs."
"insects is more correct."
Naruto nodded. He unsealed some of his own seal paper. "Do you want this to just absorb? I'm not sure how I can make it controllable by an insect. If I set it to just absorb it will eventually create a small explosion."
"How big can you make the explosion?" asked Shino curious.
"Not very big. There is a limit to how far I can shrink the seal and it has to fit on your insects. Actually can I see one?"
One flew out of Shino's arm and landed on Naruto's seal paper. Naruto gently moved that piece of paper to the side and started drawing on another. Less than a minute later it was filled with a quite complex network of lines and curves. "Can you ask him to move to the middle of this?"
The insect did so. Naruto then touched the corner of the paper with his hand and whispered, "Fuin." The seal shrank rapidly and moved up onto the bug.
"Hmm, now we need to test."
A shadow clone appeared beside him. It said, "Dang it. I hate it when I'm made as a test dummy. Come on."
The clone walked away after the insect hopped on.
Shino said absently, "It seems to be working. Excess chakra is draining from the insect and going somewhere."
Hinata activated her eyes. "About fifteen percent of the clones chakra has been consumed." A few minutes later she said, "About twen" before the insect on the clones neck exploded annihilating the clone.
Naruto said, "Well that was not one of my clones more fun ways of dying."
"Naruto-san, I would quite like to know how to recreate that."
"We'll sure, it might take awhile. Actually, I've got my old introductory sealing book at Ino's house. Perhaps you could pick it up after this?"
"Thank you."
"Shino," Sakura said, "I can help you build your chakra and make the most of what you do have."
"That would be appreciated."
"Damn," Kiba said. "Got anything cool to show me? Maybe make my punches explode things?"
Ino asked, "Do you know what your affinity is?"
"Fire? Why?"
Ino said, "A bunch of people can teach you fire, but it takes a lot of effort to get really good at it. Hinata, maybe a demonstration?"
Hinata activated her Byakugan and gestured in the distance. A six inch column of water formed and shot towards them before spinning first into a torus. She then moved it about a thousand feet away and said, "Naruto? Care to do the honors?"
Naruto nodded as he focused his own control over wind and wove it into the water as they both increased the rate of spin until a low howl was heard.
"A tornado," said a surprised Kiba?
"A rather lethal combination, at least for weaker opponents. Move it into the nearby trees."
They watches as the trees were rapidly stripped of leaves, bark and smaller branches before they let the combination die off.
Kiba said, "How long would it take me to do that?"
Ino said, "It could take years, but we have a trick or two to learn it a bit faster."
"Can you show me?"
"We may be able to help, but first you have to reach at least Sakura's level on your own."
"Ah man."
Ino said, "Cheer up. The skills Anko teaches will save your life and there is no better way to learn them. In fact, I'm hoping she can help us hone our skills."
A voice was heard that sounded quite familiar. "Oh, you were were you? Me and my snakes can't wait."
Ino grinned, "We are looking forward to it, but more seriously, how do you feel?"
"Fine. Like a new woman even. I can't even feel anything from that bastard's evil hickey. Did you manage to remove it?"
Naruto said, "No, though the seal we put on it completely negates it. It is going to be awhile before we figure out how to get it off you without problems. It was a very complicated seal."
"How so?"
"We didn't notice or realize it until it was too late, but the seal is somehow connected to Orochimaru. He will know something happened."
"Will he be able to use it against me?"
Naruto said, "He shouldn't be able to, but we don't understand the seal fully. Another problem is the new seal is powered only by the chakra we added. Once we figure out the usage rates we can add more or show you how, though I'd rather you did not to be honest. I don't want to give that seal any path back to you. I'm not sure you realized how dangerous that was, or how lucky you were that your will was stronger than its corruption. The counter seal helped, though I doubt it could do so forever."
"But you think you can remove it right?"
"Probably. In the short term I want to see if this seal weakens it. There is also the possibility that Orochimaru could still sense your location, even with the containment around it."
"Damn. Is there anything I can do?"
"Killing Orochimaru would help," he said dryly.
Ino added, "We know we aren't likely to do it anytime soon, but the more ready we all are the better chance that someone will kill that monster."
"Fair enough."
They were momentarily interrupted when Kurenai arrived. She immediately asked Anko how she was. She insisted she was fine. They briefly brought her up to date.
- o -
Kurenai said, "So, I am to teach you three genjutsu and be your Jounin instructor."
Ino subtly took Hinata's hand. Suddenly Kurenai found herself lost in an unending forest. She dispelled it, only to find a layer underneath it. She dispelled it again only to find another and another. Finally irritated she used raw brute force to shatter them all at once.
Hinata winced, even as Ino turned to face her friend and formed the mystic palm justu and checked over her carefully.
"So, you have some skill already."
As the other two were busy, and Hinata seemed to be a bit out of it Naruto answered, "Hinata is the only one of us with any talent at it.. Ino can do basic ones."
Kurenai turned to Hinata. Ino said quietly, "You will have to wait a few minutes. Your brute force attack injured her."
"Does she need to go to the hospital?"
"No, I've got it."
Kurenai said, "I noticed that you took Hinata's hand shortly before you began."
"That is my thing. I helped her speed everything up so together we could keep up with your rate of dispelling. I didn't expect that attack." She paused as she let her jutsu die out.
"There Hinata you should be fine, but it probably wouldn't hurt to have Tsunade double check. I'm sorry Hinata. I should have been quicker. I wasn't quick enough to ground that attack. It slid over my defenses and shot through yours."
"I'm fine. We will both work on protecting ourselves better. Had that happened in battle we could have been killed."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Naruto muttered.
Hinata looked at him fondly. She gave him a small smile that Kurenai easily caught.
Kurenai said, "To be fair, few are skillful enough with their control of genjutsu to directly slice through all layers like that."
Ino said, "Itachi Uchiha is in the bingo book. I doubt we could have held him for even an instant."
Kurenai's eyes widened. "Is their a particular reason you three are comparing yourself to an S class missing nin?"
Ino said quietly, "Because problems not prepared for tend to be the ones that kill you."
"Fair enough. I'll want to talk with you some more about what you did with Hinata, but first, why don't we cover everyone's remaining affinities and such? I specialize in genjutsu, though I can do the usual basic fire jutsu's and such."
Naruto said, "As you guys saw earlier, I'm wind and Hinata is water. Ino is complicated."
Kurenai and Anko looked at Naruto then at Ino.
"Ah man," Kiba said, "you can trust us. You already know I'm fire. Anko said it was strong, but I can't do much yet."
Anko said, "I'll vouch for them."
Sakura said, "I have Earth release."
Ino said, "I never doubted we could trust you, but this really is a secret, but I suppose you need to know or we can't take our training seriously. I sort of have Wood Release."
Sakura's eyes goggled. "You have the first Hokage's kekkei genkai?"
"No. It is close, but it seems more about control. Yes, I can make plants and trees grow, as well as use Earth and Water separately, but so far I'm not suddenly creating a forest or anything like that. I also can't use water nearly as well as Hinata, despite no lack of trying."
Hinata said, "I'm working on controlling air as well, though it has been challenging. I am hoping to manage a pseudo ice release eventually."
Kiba asked, "So is Naruto also working on some insanely powerful move?"
They didn't say anything.
"He is, isn't he? Dang it, I'm going to get left behind."
Kurenai said, "I've looked at the reports of your progress. You are ahead of where genin usually are."
Anko added darkly, "Typical genin usually die before they become chunin."
Naruto said, "Developing skill takes time, but maybe seals will help? Bought or made works, depending on what you and Shino work out. Sakura might be a good candidate to learn too. Here, let me show you. I hate to waste one of these, but I suppose it is for a good cause."
He pulled out a regular seeming Kunai from his pouch. His hand glowed briefly before the glow transferred to the Kunai just before he released it. The Kunai left his hands and shot like a bullet towards a tree several hundred feet away. It exploded on impact, cutting the tree in half.
"Damn," Kiba said.
"I want some," said Anko. Kurenai also looked appreciative.
Sakura asked, "How did that Kunai do that? I didn't even see any seals and I looked."
"I shrunk the array. Its kind of tricky to get right, and the user almost needs to do it, since it is hard for others to sense the array. It would have been bad if, for instance, I used that Kunai in a spar."
Shino asked, "Could we not paint the end of the handles or something?"
Naruto shrugged. "I don't mind making them. I can't leave the seal visible though. Jiraiya doesn't want the design copied, just in case one was lost. Expanding that one triggers it. They do take awhile, so I'd prefer not to make a lot of them, but sure if you guys want half a dozen or so each, then that is no problem. You supply the kunai."
"Done," both Anko and Kurenai said as they each fished out half a dozen high quality kunai and handed them to Naruto who absently sealed them away.
Sakura asked, "What about how fast it went? Also does it have to be standard carbon steel or would something else be better?"
"Oh, that was just me adding in a bit of wind chakra. You may be able to do something similar with pure chakra flow, but then Ino has lost several clones to testing that, so better not try that. I still haven't gotten that quite right."
Kiba backed away a couple steps.
Anko said, "Noted. I still want a set. I'll mark them myself."
Kurenai, "Same here. The explode on impact is incredibly useful. I'll take the risk. Can they be sealed?"
Naruto said, "They can, but I'd rather create the sealing array for them, and maybe have Jiraiya check it over. I'll need your help to finish the seals as well. Right now they can be armed accidentally, I have an idea to link them to a users chakra signature and a specific pattern of chakra."
Kurenai said, "If they can be armed accidentally..?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Eh, I'm working on it. I increased the threshold for now. They aren't too easy to accidentally arm. I just haven't had a lot of time. I'll fix it."
Anko said, "Whatever it is, it would have to be easy and quick. It is useless if I have to fiddle with it. I already have some kunai with prepared explosive seals added. It has to be faster than that."
Naruto unsealed a scroll that contained what looked like nothing more than a large maze. "I was thinking of basing it on how this works, though less complicated."
"What is that?" asked Kurenai. "It looked like a maze."
"It is a maze, but it is actually a chakra control exercise. Hinata do you want to have a go at it?"
"Sure."
Naruto set the nearly two foot by two foot square paper maze on the flat granite that Hiruzen had previously prepared. Hinata touched a point where the person would normally enter the maze.
They watched in surprise as a softly glowing blue line quickly traced its way through the very convoluted maze to emerge out the other side.
Naruto said, "I meant to try to make one where the maze changes, but so far I haven't had time. Either way, if you can control chakra to this level then unlocking a kunai quickly shouldn't be hard, and I can make more puzzles."
Kurenai hesitantly took Hinata's place and tried but the blue line barely moved.
Naruto said, "Don't feel bad, I can't get all the way through yet either. That thing is difficult. It's actually one of the more extreme chakra control training aids we managed to think up."
Sakura asked for a turn. She actually got more than a third the way through on her first try. Anko's eyes widened a little at that.
Ino said, "Well I'm feeling almost back to normal. How about you Hinata? Ready to put on a little dog and pony show?"
"I am well. I think I would like to help Sakura first. Her control just now was quite impressive. I was thinking of walking her through chakra enhanced attacks. Perhaps her attempts will help us to better understand the process."
Sakura said, "Um sure, I guess. I've been working on it with lady Tsunade but I haven't figured it out yet. It doesn't have to be taught like Tsunade does it? I'll stay conscious and all that and don't end up bleeding?"
Ino smiled a knowing smile. "You will be fine." She took Sakura's left hand with her right, while taking Hinata's right in her left. Hinata quickly activated her eyes.
Sakura said, "This is amazing, it is like I'm looking at myself, while looking out my own eyes at the same time. Here let me just start the process." She watched as the chakra flowed into her muscles and bones momentarily reinforcing them, but also thinning as it approached her knuckles. There was not enough chakra left to work. Sakura focused and more chakra moved down her arm. It took her quite a bit of trial and error but after about half an hour she thought she had the chakra about right.
Hinata thought, "No, you are still not right. Watch the flow in my arm." Without even separating their hands chakra shot towards the configuration she wanted. "See, each part is reinforced by the part behind." Ino let go of Hinata's hand and instead placed her hand loosely on her neck.
Hinata then repeated the process, lining up the chakra perfectly and then thrusting it forward out of her tenketsu's splitting a small hole in the Earth.
Sakura thought, "That is good, but it still doesn't seem quite right. What if we did this configuration?" She focused and the chakra flowed into a slightly different configuration. Before Hinata's chakra network had resembled a square lattice along her arm and into her hand. Sakura's on the other hand was triangular, flowing back evenly all the way up her arm and also reinforcing her shoulder.
Sakura then released the pattern and reformed it. It was a little quicker this time. Once it was set she pushed it forward out of the major tenketsu at her knuckles. The earth shattered in a very similar pattern. Sakura felt disappointment.
"No," Ino thought. "I think your approach is correct. Had that approach had a similar amount of practice behind it, then the result would have been considerably better. Let me try it."
Ino's chakra quickly flowed into the square lattice form she normally used before shifting into the network of triangles. It took a lot of focus to keep it there. Her habit was strongly ingrained in this old form. She shifted it back to normal then into the triangular form six or seven times before shattering yet another piece of ground. "It is going to take practice, but this works. I'd bet on it. Why did you choose it Sakura?"
"Oh, triangles are just stronger than squares. Have you ever seen that stuff they hang lights and such on? It is always a bunch of triangles."
"Amazing," Kurenai whispered. "You just made considerable progress on a very advanced skill in not a lot of time."
Anko said, "The Uchiha were so proud of their eyes but heck I'll take this approach any day. This is actually learning how it works right?"
Hinata said, "It is. Even Naruto can do the attack, though not yet without making a clone."
"Gee thanks," Naruto echoed dryly.
Kurenai said, "Given your chakra reserves, obtaining enough control to even come close to this is surprising. Can you show us?"
Naruto shrugs and creates four seal-less Kage Bunshin. They shunshin several hundred feet away and simultaneously launch four full powered chakra enhanced punches all aiming at the same rocky outcropping.
The earth shattered and a trench a foot wide opened up even as the clones were destroyed by the backlash.
"And that," Ino states, "is why Naruto doesn't dare try to use that without a clone. His chakra control is good, but not good enough to remotely do that safely, and I'm not sure the triangular formation will help enough, though it is probably worth learning."
Kiba asked, "Is it possible for me to learn that?"
Ino smirked. "First you have to get a lot closer to where Sakura is now. I can help you refine your control, particularly with Hinata's help, but you have to get close for me to do any good. In fact, your sensei and Sakura could probably help you as much as I could right now."
Anko asked, "What about me?"
Ino expression became grim. "I'm sorry until we get the rest of that seal off you, I can't risk the connection. The puzzle paper works though, and we have a few other things we have worked on that can be used to work on chakra based skills."
Hinata said, "I can also just talk you through improving some skills. Sure it is not as fast, but it works."
Anko nodded.
Kurenai asked, "We'll since you three are my new team, what are your goals?"
Hinata said, "To prevent the next Shinobi War."
Anko looked up curiously at that. She asked, "And what are you prepared to do to do that?"
Ino said quietly, "Whatever is necessary. Whatever is necessary. I suspect before all is said and done, a great many people are going to have to die, among them are those like Orochimaru and those worse than Orochimaru."
Kurenai said, "You are serious."
"We are," Naruto said resolutely.
Akamaru whined in concern.
Anko said, "We'll are there any other bombshells?"
Naruto said, "We'll there is one. Ino, do you think they should hear the story of the tree?"
Ino paled but nodded. "I'll do it."
"Long ago, well before the dawn of the modern age of shinobi a meteorite landing on our world. It produced a seed that grew into a great tree called the god tree. It was said that the fruit of the tree was never to be touched.
Unfortunately, there were others who knew what the fruit was. They were the Otsutsuki clan. One of them, Kaguya Otsutsuki came to our world to eat the fruit of the tree and used the power she gained to rule our world. She kept much of the world in what is known as the Infinite Tsukuyomi."
Kurenai gasped. "Tsukuyumi is the Ultimate genjutsu of the Uchiha clan."
Ino continued. "It is, but the Infinite Tsukuyomi was more. It is said that she enslaved almost the entire world in her world of illusion. Those enslaved had their energies slowly absorbed and fed back into the god tree. It was slowly turning them into a plant like lifeform that could still walk as a man called a Zetsu."
"Kaguya had two sons. Hagoromo and Hamura were unlike all others on our world. They were born with chakra. She was enraged that they had stole some of what she believed to be her power so she merged herself directly with the god tree. This changed her into the demon the world now knows as the Ten Tails."
Anko said, "Wait ten? I only know of the nine."
"They came later. Hagoromo and Hamura defeated the ten tailed beast and it was sealed into Hagoromo, who later became known as the Sage of the Six Paths. He was the father of Ninjutsu. He was also the patriarch of the Senju clan, much as Hamura is the ultimate patriarch of the Uchiha clan. Time passed. The Sage grew old. When he was near death he split the Ten Tails into the nine tailed beasts we have today. Tsunade is the last of that once great clan, though a few of their cousins the Uzumaki still remain, and you well know the fate of the Uchiha."
"Crap," Kiba said. "Is all that real?"
"It is," Naruto said. "Just after I was born the nine tailed demon fox was sealed into me. As a decedent of the Sage I am one of the few that could contain him and survive. The fourth Hokage gave his life to make that seal."
"It would explain much," said Shino. "My insects do not like your chakra. They sense what I now realize must be the nine tails."
"It is also why I have to always struggle with chakra control. The seal steals the nine tails chakra bit by bit and gives it to me. I can create hundreds of shadow clones but smaller things are more difficult for me."
"Damn," Kiba said.
Naruto said, "There is something else you need to know about that day. An Uchiha was there. He used his Sharingan to pull the fox from my mother and then control him."
Anko said, "Crap. Your sure of this?"
Naruto nodded, as did the others.
Anko said, "Knowledge that Naruto is the village Jinchuuriki is an S ranked village secret. Only Naruto can reveal it without being killed. You must not reveal it and as of right now I'm telling you, do not tell anything we have discussed today to anyone. Just don't and sure as hell don't mention the Uchiha's involvement. That is a mess that we don't need to spread."
Kurenai asked, "How do you know all this?"
Naruto said, "We got most of it from the fox himself."
Kurenai gasped. "You talk with it?"
Naruto shrugged. "It is sealed within me. It is not as if we can avoid each other."
Anko said, "And you trust it?"
"Not fully no, but much of it was confirmed in another manner."
Anko said, "How?"
Ino said, "That is a story for another time. We trust you guys, but that information would not really help you. If you must discuss it, the Hokage knows, as does Jiraiya and Tsunade."
"Help us with what?" asked Sakura.
Hinata said quietly yet clearly, "We said it before. We fully intend to prevent the next shinobi world war."
Shino said, "It is logical to plan, yet is there a current threat we are unaware of?"
Sakura said, "The Ten Tails and all that. There has to be a reason you told us. Wait, others know, don't they? The usual reason for battle is to control people or gain money. Surely they couldn't be crazy enough to try to somehow recreate that Infinite Tsukuyomi thing?" Both Naruto and Hinata flinched. Sakura and the others saw it. "Wait, if that is true. That thing took, or at least had available the power of all the tailed beasts or the equivalent thereof. If that is really needed then they. Oh crap. Some group is already out there and is going to come after Naruto?"
Ino said, "There is more than a little guess work in that."
"Am I wrong?"
"No," Hinata said quietly. She continued more forcefully, "And I do not intend to let them. If I have to become S-Rank to protect Naruto-kun then so be it."
"You sure as hell won't be alone on that day," exclaimed Ino.
"No, she will not," Anko said. "I became a ninja to protect not allow some fucked up Uchiha to put me in a dream world and digest me."
Kurenai said, "I'll have to talk with the Hokage, but I'm in, and I intend that all of you become as strong as possible. Even if this threat doesn't turn out as bad as we fear, there are always others. Hell, just how quickly you managed to freeze me of all people in a Genjutsu was enough to scare me silly. You could have killed me easily had you intended to. We have a lot of work to do, though things are beginning to finally make sense."
"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.
"Do you think you would be being trained like you were by Anko normally, or learning medical jutsu, or all the extra training Jounin and ANBU is getting. Like it or not, Konoha is preparing for war."
- o -
Anko's training was brutal, but then it wasn't only Anko. Kurenai, Anko's snakes, Kakashi, and occasionally Hayate and Yugao helped to train Team Anko and Team Kurenai.
Ino's key development was learning how to maintain a lesser version of her linking ability while the team members were separated. Distance was a factor, but it worked and it allowed a synergy seldom dreamed of. She was also practicing spreading it to both teams. Unfortunately, the mental strain limited her to ten minutes or so max. It was a limit she was determined to overcome.
- o -
Kakashi watched as Sasuke continued to train alone, often times making little to no advancement. Training alone was not necessarily a bad thing, but there were teachers that would be glad to teach him more. He considered pitting him against one of the others. Losing against Hinata would particularly gall him, yet would it actually help?
Hinata had much better training. That much was true, but it was the reason she had better training that Sasuke could not accept. He particularly wouldn't like to hear the truth he had recently been told about Itachi and all the rest, and that they had not killed Danzo, though the Hokage was certainly planning for that eventuality. His suggestion was simple. Tell the truth of the massacre. Pardon and get Itachi to return and kill Danzo and possibly the advisers for their parts. Implementing it was not remotely simple. There was also the fact that even pardoned Itachi still, as far as they knew, did the job, even if it was under Danzo's orders. The whole situation was utterly messed up.
He walked silently up to the door to the old Uchiha compound that Sasuke still inhabited. He knocked.
Sasuke was surprised.
"Hey."
"Hello."
"I'm going to be taking a genin team when the current genin graduate, but I was thinking of doing so early. Any objections?"
"No, they teach really little of use there."
"Hmm, yes despite the changes, the class does still have to teach at a rate where most can keep up. Still, it has improved has it not?"
"It has."
"I'd like to talk with you a bit about the Sharingan, if I may."
Sasuke shrugged, but stepped out of the way. Kakashi walked in and took a seat. Sasuke remained standing.
"What do you know about the Sharingan?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke was silent, clearly unwilling to speak on the topic.
"Well, I know various things. You see when I was younger one of my teammates was mortally wounded. His name was Obito. He offered me one of his eyes. My other team mate Rin implanted it."
"You have a sharingan?" Sasuke asked surprised.
Kakashi moved his headband up briefly to show Sasuke.
"I'm going to tell you the most important thing there is to know about the sharingan or any shinobi ability. It is only a tool. Yes, it has saved my life, and yes its ability to copy jutsu is useful, but it is not a substitute for proper training. Skills learned through copying are never quite as good. Worse, if you are not careful and your target is, you can copy someone deliberately messing up a jutsu and end up killing yourself."
"What? That is crazy. That would mean the target was trying to kill himself."
"That does happen, particularly if it results in a mission that would otherwise fail being completed. It could also mean that who your copying of is confident in his or her ability to salvage the jutsu to either make it work or at least not backfire. Actual skill with an element allows considerable control which a blind copy does not."
"What about taijutsu or genjutsu?"
"Genjutsu is the same, except more dangerous. Those can backfire badly to an unprepared mind. Yes, you can copy Taijutsu, but unless your body can handle the moves, they won't work probably, and even if they do, will you really understand the mechanics behind it so as to use it efficiently, or to be able to adapt it when you need to?"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you can become a strong shinobi with only the sharingan. It is a very powerful tool, and through pure copying and moderate effort you can get there. It is why the Uchiha were so feared. Of course, the Uchiha were hardly the only family to have special skills, and many of those are rightly feared as well. Now, if on the other hand you want to become a Ninja that is as strong as say a Kage, well the Sharingan alone will not get you there."
"I know, I've been practicing, trying to get strong."
"That won't work, or rather won't work well. You need training by professionals."
"But the Academy teachers only teach stuff I already know."
"Have you ever asked one to teach you more? Most of them would be glad to spend some time teaching someone who wants to learn."
Silence.
"There is another topic that we will be covering when our team comes together in the morning, but I'll breach it now."
"What?" he asked.
"Teamwork."
Sasuke glared.
"You don't believe that is important? Would you believe that three not even genin could defeat say a jounin, or at least fight him seriously?"
"Impossible. It would have to be a setup."
"Oh? Well I know my fellow Jounin Sensei Anko has been teaching three that you should be familiar with. She has Sakura Haruno, who she has taught for quite a few months now, and more recently she has taken on Shino and Kiba."
"I know. I was there," he said flatly.
"I see. I remember Anko describing that. Sakura got some earlier specialized training to try to shape her into a medic ninja. She has a particularly high intelligence added with perfect chakra control."
Sasuke snarked, "She can't be that intelligent. She refused to pick me."
"That was her choice. Now, I'd say that team could right now at least slow down most Jounin and in a year or so beat them, at least if they continue their current rate of progress. Does that surprise you?"
"A fan girl, a loud mouth, and the bug guy? You are not serious."
"We'll, would you like to try your hand against one of them? I'm not sure if Shino or Kiba could beat you just yet, but I'm betting Sakura could, and together they would wipe the floor with you."
"Fine, I'll take them all on, if it is what is necessary for you to take me seriously."
- o -
Anko said, "Now, as absurd as it is, Kakashi-baka has decided to pit you three against Sasuke. Actually he was trying to get just Sakura to fight him, but he apparently thinks he can beat you all. Sakura, needless to say, if there is any regression to your fan girl days, you will regret it painfully. You three are to take him down and take him down hard. Don't cause any permanent injuries, but do impress on him that you are Team Anko and not to be fucked with. Got it?"
"Hai."
Sakura looked worried. Anko caught it. Sakura said, "I'll take it seriously, but this doesn't seem remotely fair."
"It is not remotely fair, but he is the one who thinks teamwork doesn't matter. If you still give a crap if he lives or dies, I highly advise you to make him take you and your team seriously. A real enemy would not leave him alive. They would rip those fancy eyes out and leave him for dead. Well that or rip his eyes out, keep him sedated, and continually extract his sperm to give to chosen kunochis."
Sakura and the others gasped.
"Life isn't fair. Not that many years ago Hinata was kidnapped by the ambassador of Cloud. Do you think she would have lived the good life if she reached there? No, she would have had her eyes removed. Some of her eggs would be removed to be used directly, but after that as soon as she could safely carry a child she would be artificially inseminated. So as not to harm the child, she would probably be kept drugged up. She would probably live a long life popping out babies."
Sakura looked like she was about to throw up.
"Your horrified? You should be. I hear Cloud's new leader is quite a bit better, but would he have stopped what was working well? It is possible they would, but they probably wouldn't just let her go. That would confirm their crimes and even a good leader is going to be wary about doing that. She might have been killed, or she might have just been shuffled off to the control of one of the ruling families, with nothing but the location changed. That is the world we live in. Just be glad that none of you have any extremely precious kekkei genkai. If you are caught there is likely an end to your misery, but it is you and your team mates out there. Don't forget it."
Shino asked, "What happened after that? I recall there was some threat from Cloud."
"Hinata's father killed the ambassador. They threatened war if we didn't turn him over. We were in no shape to fight one. I'm not sure who ordered it, or the exact details, but Hinata's father's identical twin in the branch house was sent. The seal on his head kept the cloud from harvesting the Byakugan. If you want more details you will have to ask Hinata. I do know that it is a very touchy subject between the main Hyuga house and the branch house."
A few minutes later while her team were thinking over her words Sasuke and Kakashi arrived.
Kakashi said, "Okay guys. This is all out, but any moves designed to cause permanent injuries will result in that side losing and one of us stopping the match, violently if need be. Before we start, I want you all to drop your equipment pouches. Each will be given a new pouch with six practice Kunai and six practice shuriken. If one of us call a hit fatal, then you are to drop and anyone attacking you is to stop. We won't bother calling it for minor hits. There is too much room for interpretation there. All jutsu are allowed unless they are likely to permanently maim or worse. If things get out of hand one of us will step in. Once again, knowingly starting an attack that you expect to permanently main or kill will result in instant disqualification, and possibly formal charges. You have been warned."
They set their equipment down and took the pouches Kakashi provided.
Kakashi asked Sasuke, "Would you like any advise before we begin?"
"No."
Kakashi nodded.
Anko asked, "And would you guys like any advice?"
Sakura, Kiba, and Shino said, "Sure."
"Meh, it is tempting, but I don't want to make this too easy for you. Let that be a lesson to you Uchiha. Don't give away free advantages. That gets you dead."
Kakashi said, "I do have one suggestion. Kiba, your dog is too young for combat. Give him here and I'll summon Pak-kun to keep him company." Kakashi quickly did several hand signs before summoning a small pug dog who asked, "What's up?"
Kakashi eye smiled. "Babysitting duty?" Pak-kun shuddered in horror as Akamaru was sat by him and then came up to him and licked him. "You will pay for this Kakashi!" Akamaru yipped.
- o -
Shino thought this whole thing was pointless. It didn't advance the strength of the hive.
Sasuke could see this so called team looking at him curiously even as they kept each other in sight. He decided to finish off the weakest link first. He charged at Sakura.
Shino saw Sakura's sign. She wanted to try by herself at first. He gave her a subtle sign back indicating his agreement with it. Of course if things changed he would be right there.
Sasuke attempted to straight out punch Sakura? Was he really that stupid? Seriously, he didn't even attempt to evaluate her skills. That was a mistake, as evidence by Sakura knocking his arm to the side with her left arm and then delivering a low powered chakra enhanced punch that at least cracked several ribs. Sasuke was wary now as he stepped back.
Sakura smirked as Sasuke charged again. She slammed a full powered chakra enhanced punch at the ground that shattered the earth. This only seemed to anger Sasuke further as he desperately fought to keep his footing and avoid falling in.
Sakura gave them another sign. Finish it off it is. His swarm came out and began to leach his chakra even as Kiba dashed in and began beating the hell out of him. Sasuke tried to defend, but between his insects injecting paralysis toxin and draining his chakra, the pain from his ribs, which Kiba was avoiding and the shear number of low powered hits Kiba was getting in, he had no chance.
Anko said, "End it."
Kiba launched an uppercut to the bottom of his jaw knocking him unconscious.
He awoke a few minutes later after a bit of minor medical jutsu from Anko. "Rise and shine. You lost."
"Impossible. I'm an Uchiha."
"You lost the second you completely underestimated Sakura. Hell, you lost with the first hit she made, or didn't you notice her shattering the Earth? Do you know what happens to a human when you hit one like that? They end up mopping up the remains."
"Just because she learned a trick means nothing. Once I get my sharingan..."
Kakashi said sadly, "So, your saying an Uchiha is only his eyes? You would have easily won against Sakura if she had not started taking her training seriously and had a competent teacher. She is not even from a clan. She has no special ability, beyond perfect chakra control, and that is more than offset by not having a great deal to start with. Yet, with all that, I suspect she could beat quite a few chunin. I actually kinda wish I had her on my team."
"Not going to happen Kakashi."
"I figured as much. Your other two are coming along nicely too. Good work Anko."
"Thanks Kakashi."
Kakashi turned back to Sasuke. "You assumed you could quickly take out Sakura and then deal with the other two. While Sakura did give you a break and took you on one on one initially, you nevertheless failed to watch her teammates. Neither Kiba or Shino were giving their all either. Heck Kiba was specifically avoiding aggravating your injury. Face it Sasuke. You lost and it was more than fair. You chose to take on the whole team, but Sakura would have won just as easily, and I'm not convinced that her teammates would have lost either."
Sasuke glared even as Sakura came over to where he was still struggling to stand. She said, "Lay down. I think I can fix it."
"You're no medic."
"Not yet, but you can either let me work, or you can remain injured."
Anko said, "I sure as hell ain't carrying him to the hospital, not when I know Sakura is perfectly competent in this much."
Sasuke glared but finally settled on, "Fine."
Sakura knelt beside him as she used a chakra scalpel to remove his shirt. She then dispassionately used her mystic palm jutsu to begin the healing. "There are dozens of bone fragments. Remain still, this is tricky."
Sasuke continue to glare as she carefully rearranged fragment after fragment and then carefully began to fuse them back together.
Kakashi said absently, "Hmm, I envy you Anko. I can't count the times I wish I had a competent medic on a team. In fact I haven't had one since my genin days with Rin. Sure I can do some crude healing, but medic ninja grade control is rare." His expression was pained before it settled back to neutral.
Anko said, "Yah, while I can still easily kick her arse in combat, she is already better than me for some things like this. Now I just have to get these other two up to her standard. They are doing okay, but are still a bit slow. It may have been a mistake for Sakura to tell them that the Snakes wouldn't actually digest them."
"Oh, have they had that experience then yet?"
"Not quite. They are learning quickly and the few times I thought one of my pets would get to have some fun Sakura managed to save the victim. It was really quite rude."
Sakura huffed. "I'm not about to let my team sleep the night in the guts of a snake. It is disgusting. Besides if I can save them and I don't, then what kind of team member would I be?"
"One that would no longer be on my team," Anko said coolly.
Sakura nodded, as if she expected no different, even as she continued to heal the Uchiha. Her chakra began to falter. She said, "I do not have enough chakra to finish this, not with all my earlier training today."
Anko asked, "Do you know the theory about using Chakra from another?"
"I know the theory yes, but Tsunade would be very angry if I tried an unpracticed skill on a patient that could just as easily be healed in a hospital." Sakura's healing chakra faded.
"What did you get done?"
"All the bones are fixed, but need more healing to be combat worthy. He could heal on his own at this point, but I really recommend he go to the hospital."
Kakashi said, "Good enough. In fact, were we in the field, you would have likely done the most important part. My own skills could probably finish the task, but why don't we let the doctors do their thing."
Kakashi picked up the Uchiha before disappearing in a shunshin.
After they left Shino said, "In an emergency my insects can transfer chakra to you. I do not have a great deal to spare and it would be harder to control."
"I'll keep it in mind. Thanks."
"Okay kiddies, let's review the battle. Actually you know what you did there. Let's go over our earlier spar. That was at least interesting."
- o -
Sasuke waited for a medical ninja to enter. It was an older scarred veteran who was wheeling himself in.
"What? I may have lost my legs, but I'm hardly useless." He then started leafing through the folder he was given. "Hmm, preliminary treated by an in training medic ninja. It notes that due to earlier training she was low on chakra and could not finish. Interesting, well let's see what she got done shall we?"
Sasuke forced himself to remain patient as the older man calmly formed the mystic palm jutsu and scanned his ribs. After a minute or two he whistled in surprise. "This is good work. If your friend ever decides to quit the ninja gig you have her look me up you hear?"
Sasuke nodded dumbly.
"Here let me just finish up the job. I don't see anything else that really needs treating. You can live through bruises." His hand flared with warm green light as he reinforced the healing that was already done. About ten minutes later he said, "You're done. The ribs are now as strong as they were, though you may experience a bit of pain for a week or two. Anything beyond that come see me, or for that matter that friend of yours."
"Okay."
"I'm curious. Did that friend of yours have a name?"
"Sakura," he said flatly.
"We'll you tell Sakura that I'll be watching for her and if she needs any tips to give old Arnaeth a call."
Sasuke nodded and left.
- o -
Danzo considered a few new tidbits of information. It would seem that Tsunade's hidden student was Sakura Haruno. She apparently did a credible job of healing the Uchiha heir. He wondered if perhaps she also caused the damage? If so it would be remarkable progress for a not yet genin. He penciled her in for possible recruitment. He looked through her history to see why she was not previously considered. It was as he expected. Other than the intelligence, there seemed far too little potential to make it worth it, particularly given that the Haruno clan did have enough connections to make her disappearance troublesome. There was probably nothing to be done about it now. Tsunade's student, secret or otherwise was too high profile.
His musings were cut short when Fu and Torune entered his office. As soon as Torune's destruction bugs were let loose he started to stand only to find a massive seal array holding him in place as the bugs started to devour him alive.
As life was leaving his eyes Hiruzen Sarotobi walked in. "Yes, we got to your people. It took time, but we undid your seals and deprogrammed your people. Goodbye Danzo, you will not be missed." Sarotobi turned to Torune, "Leave no trace. There will be no record of the eyes he stole. The rest of the truth is bad enough."
Torune nodded without emotion.
"Yes, Sarutobi thought, he was glad the Yamanaka were on his side." Young Ino had actually personally deprogrammed Fu while her father handled Torune. Jiraiya handled the seals. At first he had thought Naruto might be required, but they weren't that bad. No, the real problem was not killing Danzo. The real problem was the cleanup of all of Danzo's work.
He wished that they could help Fu and Torune more, but there was nothing to be done. It was likely that they would never recover the range of emotions a normal person had. The Yamanakas had simply removed the programming to serve Danzo above all. The programming to serve Konoha was left, and would likely have to remain, at least for awhile.
"Bring Sasuke to my office. I will tell him the news."
- o -
Sasuke listened quietly to the old Hokage and looked at the range of proof that was collected and the truth about his brother. When Hiruzen was done he started to stomp off.
"Not just yet Sasuke-kun."
"What else do you want?"
"I cannot undo what happened, and your brother remains in a position that Konoha needs him to remain in. I wouldn't have informed you at all if you were not directly affected."
"And that is supposed to help?"
"What would you have of me?" he asked quietly. "I could recall Itachi and release the information of what happened to Danzo. Doing so would make Konoha look weaker, but not so weak that we are likely to be invaded. None of it will bring any of them back. You killing your brother certainly won't help."
"I know that! They didn't have to die."
"Itachi told us that they all knew. I have the report here somewhere." He pulled a file out of the pile and handed it over. It was in Itachi's handwriting.
"The plan for a coup led by my father appears to have clan wide support. It was discussed openly in a meeting of all clan members. The only ones not to attend were the women and children still in the academy or younger."
Hiruzen said, "I actually planned to have just those of age killed. My advisers argued for more, that there was no salvaging the situation. Those that were left behind would inevitably blame the village. I ignored them and continued with my plans. Sadly, Danzo went behind my back and ordered Itachi, but ultimately the buck stops here. I was also the one that decided that at the time Konoha needed Danzo alive more than dead. In hindsight, that was another of my mistakes."
"Why? Why were my clan planning a coup?"
"Did you know that some Uchiha could control the Kyuubi?"
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"It was rumored that they were behind the Kyuubi's release. I'm not entirely sure who started the rumor, though I did learn recently that there was some truth to it. No, I'm not blaming your clan for it. That would be stupid. It is what it is. I worked for many years with Fugaku. I knew he resented that he did not have higher position even though he was a senior adviser. To tell you the truth I even thought Itachi might make Hokage someday, but that is impossible now."
"Why?"
"Because, whether it was on orders or not, he still killed his entire clan."
"I need to think."
"What we have discussed remain village secrets. You may not reveal it and you may not leave Konoha. If you wish to speak to Itachi contact me. It may take considerable time to work that out but I'll get it done."
"Fine."
Hiruzen watched as young Sasuke walked out. He wondered if this was the right choice. It was what Kakashi wanted, and worse comes to worse Kakashi knew his duty. They had given him a chance. It would be up to him to make something of it. It was far too late to fix his own mistakes. He was just trying not to make any more.
- o -
Kakashi had spent two weeks attempting to get his team to have some kind of synergy and had failed. Sasuke seemed out of it and stubbornly did his own thing. The Nara did exactly enough to avoid more trouble and the Akamichi followed suit.
He sat there for awhile longer before saying they were done for the day. Sasuke immediately ran off, but the Nara and Akamichi was slower. Kakashi said, "A moment."
Shikamaru looked extremely annoyed to be delayed form his likely nap. Nevertheless he turned and waited.
"I have a problem. I have a prospective genin team that at this time I cannot in good faith promote to full genin."
Shikamaru looked at him as if asking what do you want me to do about it?
"I want you to tell me how to fix it."
"Troublesome."
"I considered ignoring it and just hoping for the best. The first mis-ranked mission would likely either result in you three coming together or well dying. I believe you three have potential, and I'd hate to see it wasted."
Shikamaru said, "You expect missions to be mis-ranked?"
"It happens form time to time. It is a leading reason that most genin do not make it to chunin. A Jounin can only do so much. Keeping themselves alive is one thing, but keeping potentially three others that are way out of their depth alive at the same time can be more than is possible."
The Nara asked, "Are you going to do that?"
"No. Killing off three clan heirs is frowned upon, and given that none of you are properly motivated that is the most likely action."
"Then what?"
"I'll tell the Hokage you failed my final genin test. It will be up to him at that point. It is possible you will just be dismissed from service."
"Would that be so bad?" asked the Nara.
"You tell me. You've bound to have read some history. Do you think you are truly safe in Konoha against all threats? Are you okay just tending your deer or whatever while your team mates risk their lives?"
Chouji asked, "Whare are the others doing? Naruto, Ino, and Hinata were first and then Sakura left. She ended up picking Kiba and Shino for team mates. What happened to them?"
"Oh them, they are doing well. I suppose we could go see what they are up to if you want."
Shikamaru said, "It wouldn't be too troublesome?"
"I'll take care of it. I'll see you all in the morning."
After Kakashi left Shikamaru said, "He didn't say it wouldn't be too troublesome."
Chouji said, "Food?"
"Sure, why not?"
- o -
The Hokage said, "Sasuke is still considered unreliable. I really don't want all their skills getting out and if they don't take it seriously, their would be no point."
"You could tell him about what Itachi is doing. That might give him a purpose."
"What part of unreliable do you not understand? I have already told him more than I really want to. Has he asked to see Itachi?"
"No. Just because his brother did it under orders doesn't change the fact that he did it, and you killed the person who ordered it."
Hiruzen said, "What about asking Ino to stop by your training ground? Perhaps something a bit less confrontational. She shouldn't be spilling secrets of course, but she might have some ideas. She did know him after all."
"Is she okay with that? I thought you said Sasuke betrayed Konoha in that future you don't say much about."
"He did, but she said she felt he deserved a chance. In the future Orochimaru managed to mark him like Anko is marked. He didn't resist much at all. He ran to Orochimaru when it looked like Orochimaru was his path to power. Now maybe that was an improved seal, but Ino's best guess was that Sasuke just didn't care how he got power."
Kakashi asked, "What do you think Ino will accomplish? You have to want to be helped for a Yamanaka to do any good."
"I was hoping that just enough of the Uchiha pride would be sparked."
"Meh, if you want pride then send Hinata. All he would remember is a meek girl probably, and the Uchiha Hyuga rivalry might be interesting. It doesn't really solve the teamwork issue though."
"Actually, " the Hokage said, "I have an idea. It will require a little bit of work on the Hyuga's part, but it would be a good test of her skills."
- o -
Shikamaru saw Sasuke heading their way. Kakashi was nowhere in sight. Suddenly Hinata of all people appeared in a swirl of water. She faced all three of them.
"So you three are what is left huh? They say you want to see us fight, but I rather doubt you are worth our time. Perhaps I should dissuade you from wasting our training time."
Sasuke glared at her. "I'd like to see you try Hyuga."
Hinata smirked at him. It was a very Anko like smirk. She then turned to Shikamaru and Chouji. "How about you two? A useless slacker and one fat… oh I mean big boned child." She said the last with just the perfect amount of Hyuga arrogance that they had no idea she had practiced.
Chouji saw red and charged. Shikamaru groaned, but quickly followed even as Hinata easily flowed around Sasuke's taijutsu while simply pirouetting away from Chouji's more clumsy attack.
Shikamaru's shadow flowed, but she danced and spun. She smirked at the Nara and activated her eyes. Water flowed toward her in several streams from the distance. It quickly flowed around Shikamaru obscuring his vision and breaking his control of his jutsu.
Hinata continued to dodge. "Is this really the best you have?" Chouji changed into a meat tank. She hopped on top and used her advanced chakra control as if he was a ball in the circus. She then bent down and started forcing chakra into the tenketsu she could get to. Less than thirty seconds later Chouji was disabled and out of the fight.
She dodged Sasuke again. He was forming hand signs. A ball of fire shot towards her. She pulled the water away from Shikamaru and drove it against his fireball even as she fast stepped to a safer distance. Shikamaru's shadow was in fast pursuit. "It is dangerous to leave you unoccupied, and while I could summon more water, I think it is past time that I end this game."
She blurred far faster that Shikamaru could make out. She had disabled a dozen Tenketsu before he knew what had happened. She did the other twenty in the common sequence almost leisurely as she waited for Sasuke to get to her. "Do you really think you can win? A few fire jutsu and some decent taijutsu against me?"
"I am not going to give up."
"So be it. How about this, just to make it interesting. No chakra. Pure taijutsu."
"You're on."
Hinata began to use the snake form Anko had taught her. It worked well against the Uchiha's taijutsu style. They continued for several minutes, but Hinata was easily wearing the Uchiha down. Sasuke got some hits in, but Hinata refused to acknowledge them, even as hit after hit battered against the Uchiha's form. Ten minutes later it was over with Hinata the obvious victor.
"Thank you Sasuke. I knew I was over reliant on my eyes and the gentle fist. I shall have to correct that. Enjoy your day. Once you and your team grow stronger we can try this again. Oh, and do tell Chouji-san that I apologize for my words. It was not personal."
She then disappeared in another water shunshin.
A few minutes later after Chouji woke up Kakashi arrived and said, "What happened here?"
Shikamaru glared at him. "That was an obvious setup. Hinata would never have insulted Chouji like that. She was told to."
Kakashi said, "Yes, it was. It doesn't change the fact that a girl from your class that was certainly weaker than Sasuke just kicked all three of your buts, and she did it without causing any of you significant damage. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"
Sasuke said, "She is going down."
Chouji said, "Hell ya."
"Troublesome. You know Chouji it was a setup. She apologized for what she said before she left."
Chouji asked, "Are you fine with a girl our age being strong enough to beat three of us without breaking a sweat? That water she used on you could have killed you."
Kakashi said, "Yes, she could have killed all three of you rather easily. She has very fine control over water. She could have shoved it down your throats and noses killing you quite easily. There is a trick or two to that can block your nose, but that is short term. You need air. With enough control you can use your chakra to divert water away form your nose and mouth, but that is a pretty advanced skill. I'm not actually sure how many Konoha Jounin could stop her if she was sufficiently bloody minded. Fortunately, she is a well behaved Hyuga princess, that has no plans for bloody revolution, so no worries about that." The last was said with more than a bit of amusement in his voice.
"Teach us," demanded Sasuke.
"Alright. You should know that since you guys got a little later start I've managed to get Asuma Sarotobi to pitch in from time to time with the training, so don't be surprised if he shows up one morning instead of me."
"Yah. Yah," Shikamaru said. "Let's just get on with this troublesome task."
"I wouldn't count on your shadow skills either Shikamaru. She is very good at not just seeing but understanding chakra with those eyes of hers. If there is a way to disrupt your shadow, well she has probably already figured it out, and if not, well she is likely meeting with her team right now and going over the entire battle. I know for a fact that had she her team here then Ino could have easily disabled Shikamaru with her clan jutsu after Hinata trapped him, and that is to say nothing about her other skills or Naruto's. You three have a long way to go just to not be dead last."
Sasuke glared at him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Chouji munched on some chips he pulled from somewhere.
