Chapter 4: Hard Lessons
A/N: Sorry I've been gone for a while; work and a crashed computer have made it tough to keep working on this project. Okay, for those of you who don't like cussing and stuff, it WILL get worse as the story progresses, and I DO drop the F-Bomb at the end of this chapter. No pairings are final for a VERY long time (some time post-timeskip), so things can and will change. Thank you for reading and thank you even MORE for reviewing.
"C'mon," Kuroda said with an annoyed sigh, "You guys aren't even trying."
"This is ridiculous!" Sentai hollered from his harnessed position in front of the large pane glass window, "I've broken three of these and I'm about to go broke myself!"
"It's because you aren't doing it right," Tyler said from where he was harnessed in front of the window, "You have to gently release the chakra from the tenketsu in your hand. What you're doing isn't releasing its pushing, which is too much force."
"That's stupid, chakra doesn't work like that," Sentai said with an air of authority, "You just make it work."
"And I can see that that philosophy is working great for you." Kuroda yelled up to the fire user and earning a chuckle from Tyler and Serrot, "Well guys, we have a mission in ten minutes, anyone who isn't at the meeting area in five minutes losses mission pay." With that Kuroda disappeared.
"Uh," Serrot muttered as he looked down, "Didn't he put us in these rigs?"
"Yeah." Tyler said as he realized what Serrot meant.
"So how do we get down?" Serrot asked out loud.
"Oh to hell with this." Sentai muttered, "Creepy gets to skip out today but not me? I'm getting down right now." Sentai unsnapped his harness and fell to the ground, hitting and immediately breaking his leg in an agonizing scream.
"I have to fix him don't I?" Tyler said with a sigh.
"Now, today's mission is pretty simple," Kuroda said as his team sat down around him at training ground 6, "We need to move a bunch of large rocks from one area to another, and we only have a few hours to do it in."
"How large are the rocks?" Sentai asked out of turn, earning a glare from Kuroda.
"About a half meter in diameter," Kuroda said, earning a groan from his students, "But if you don't whine too badly I'll still pay you all and help you out."
"Aren't we being paid anyways?" Tyler said quickly.
"You were all late," Kuroda said quickly, "So I'll take your pay if you all don't do well enough."
"How is that fair?" Serrot asked with a frown.
"It isn't." Kuroda said frankly, "Now, this is an exercise that's similar to the window cleaning except it requires a bit more pushing than just releasing." Kuroda took off his shirt, revealing his completely wrapped body, "I recommend that you take off your shirt and just wear your undershirt or wrappings unless you want to tear up your clothing."
"Okay then," Serrot said as he stripped off his shirt and undershirt, "Don't wanna mess that up either. Is that alright?"
"Yeah it is." Tyler muttered to himself as he watched the other three take off their shirts and Kuroda shot him a look, "Catch up, this is kinda my thing." He said with a shrug as he took off his shirt as well.
Suddenly Tyler caught Kirisho out of the corner of his eye, whom he hadn't seen join them, and noticed that he had also removed his pants.
"Uh, creepy," Tyler said, hoping he didn't already know the answer, "What are you doing?"
"I can't afford to pay for any new clothes," Kirisho said as he prepared to take his boxer shorts off, "So I'm going to do this naked."
"No you aren't," Kuroda said quickly, "You put your pants back on right now or I strangle you with them."
Kirisho stopped for a moment and looked at Kuroda, then shrugged and pulled his pants back on, earning a relived sigh from the other genin.
"Would you really have done that?" Sentai asked quietly.
"What do you think?" Kuroda hissed.
"My guess is yes," Serrot said as they each walked over to a rock, "So, we just push chakra into our arms and legs right?"
"Yes," Kuroda said as he picked up the large rock with relative ease and began walking down the path, "It's no substitute for legitimate strength, but it can be helpful."
"Combat usage?" Kirisho asked as he easily manipulated his chakra and hefted the boulder.
"Minimal due to it burning through chakra very quickly. It's really only useful if you have good reserves." Kuroda answered as he slowed down to let Serrot and Tyler catch up, "Serrot, are you using your own strength or chakra?"
"More my own strength than chakra, why?" Serrot answered.
"Because you need to be using both equally." Kuroda said with a sigh, "Having all the strength in the world doesn't mean anything unless you have some kind of control to back it up."
"How does that work?" Serrot asked, "Chakra control has nothing to do with physical strength."
"On the contrary," Tyler chimed in in spite of his exertion, "Chakra control is directly tied to your physical endurance since chakra is a blend of spiritual and physical energy."
"Oh," Serrot said sheepishly, "My bad."
"It's okay," Tyler said with a grin as he watched the guys ahead of him sweat and move, "I'm sure you'll figure it out."
"I still don't get it." Sentai mumbled tiredly from next to the one stone he had successfully moved.
"It's not difficult." Kirisho said from next to his six boulders.
"Could be harder." Tyler said with a chuckle from next to his four as Serrot grumbled from his three.
"Would've been easier if I could've used all my strength." Serrot mumbled as he stretched to make sure he didn't hurt anything.
"Don't whine." Kuroda snapped, and then sighed, "You all have the weekend off."
"Really?" The genin all asked in unison, somewhat taken aback.
"I've been working your asses off since the team formed a month and a half ago, so yes." Kuroda conceded, "You deserve it I suppose."
"So, who wants to come over and hang out this weekend?" Tyler asked quickly, "We could have a party or something?"
"Sure, that'd be fun I guess." Kirisho said with a nod.
"We should invite the other teams," Serrot suggested, "Get to know them a little better."
"Yes, we should do that." Tyler said with a chuckle, "Maybe we could play truth or dare or something."
"Will you guys need booze?" Kuroda asked, earning a confused look from his genin team.
"We can't drink, none of us are over 18." Tyler said quickly.
"We can actually," Kirisho said helpfully, earning a confused look from his fellow genin, "Once we become ninja we are allowed to drink, smoke and have sex."
"Why?" Serrot asked in confusion.
"Remember that boy you killed and those men I butchered?" Kuroda said plainly, causing Serrot and Tyler to shudder as they replayed the image in their head, "If you can take their lives you should be allowed to take the edge off, or at least that's the idea."
"Oh," Tyler said in confusion, "Well, I guess if my parents are alright with it then sure."
"Great, let Kiba or Kakashi know if you need some." Kuroda said with a sigh as he began walking away.
"Are you gonna go to the party Kuro-sensei?" Serrot asked, causing Kuroda to stop dead in his tracks.
"Are you serious?" Kuroda asked in cold surprise.
"Yeah, you're our sensei, of course you're invited." Tyler said with a warm smile.
"And I want to get to know all of my teammates, so c'mon." Serrot said with a grin.
"No," Kuroda said with an annoyed grunt, "I'm your teacher not your friend."
"Oh," Tyler said sadly, "Okay then, bye." He said as Kuroda walked away.
"Kuroda-san, why aren't you throwing kunai at me?" Hinata asked as she panted after an hour of taijutsu practice against a dummy log.
"You have the weekend off, you've been making decent, if somewhat less, progress than I expected." Kuroda said from behind the log as he thought about her progress.
"I-I do?" Hinata asked in quiet surprise as she finished the kata, "B-but what will I do?"
"Socialize, make friends; that crap." Kuroda muttered, "My team is throwing a party, and chances are Naruto will be there, so you should go and try to at least say hello."
"D-d-do you think I could do that?" Hinata said, her stutter getting worse as she thought about her crush.
"First off, there is only one d, in do," Kuroda said in a huff of restrained annoyance, "And second, yes. You say hello, ask how he's doing, and then politely try not to say anything dumb for a few minutes."
"Y-you think I'll say something dumb?" Hinata asked nervously as she pressed her fingers together.
"Only if you do." Kuroda said with a chuckle as she gave him a confused look, "Just stick with Tyler and he'll help you out, okay?"
"Okay," Hinata said quickly, "So I can go?"
"Yes," Kuroda said with a sigh of now unrestrained annoyance, "Get going before I decide to stop pretending your strikes aren't pitiful."
"T-thank you Kuroda-san," Hinata said with a quick bow, "I'll be back on Monday."
"Good." Was all Kuroda decided to respond with as the Hyuuga quickly disappeared down the road, "Time for my training."
"Kuroda-san?" The girls shy voice said from a short way down the road, "A-aren't you coming?"
Kuroda thought about it for a moment, then nodded, picked up his things, and left the training grounds with an annoyed sigh.
"Sure, I'm on my way." Kuroda said with an annoyed sigh as he picked up his training bag.
Serrot walked to his shop on autopilot, completely ignorant of the world around him, as he thought of his team and what he might do at the coming party. He continued walking, not quite hearing the person following along behind him calling for him. Suddenly he felt a squeeze on his shoulder, and he whirled into a spin, ready for combat when he realized that it was Tyler.
"Hey," Tyler said with a warm smile, "No enemy here, I was just wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me before the party for some supplies."
"Sure, I'd love to." Serrot said calmly, but on the inside was rejoicing at the idea of going shopping for the first time in months.
"Okay, great, let's get going." Tyler said with a smile as they walked in the direction of the shop district, "So, what do you usually do for fun?"
"Well, I usually work in the forge so that I can save up enough money to shop." Serrot said thoughtfully, "Sometimes Kiba and I pull pranks, hang out with people, watch movies and all that stuff. How about you?"
"Oh, you weren't there when we did this on top of the academy," Tyler said with a nod, "Well, I like making friends, chatting with people, learning new ways of using medical jutsu, and just generally making the world a better place."
"Huh," Serrot said with an approving nod, "You seem to like doing things that are more productive and helpful than I do."
"Well, I just want to help people." Tyler said with a shrug.
"Oh," Serrot said in surprise as he caught sight of someone, "Hey, Kiba." Serrot said with a friendly smile as they got nearer to the Inuzuka.
"Hey Serrot," Kiba said as he hefted the bag of dog food he had just gotten for Akamaru, "What're you up to?"
"Just going shopping with my teammate Tyler." Serrot said, motioning to Tyler, "Tyler, this is Kiba Inuzuka."
"Oh, I've heard about you," Tyler said with a smile as he shook Kiba's free hand and Akamaru yipped a greeting, "You're the assault/tracker nin on team 8, right?"
"That's me," Kiba said with a grin, "So what're you all shopping for?"
"Party stuff." Serrot said helpfully, causing Kiba's eyes to light up.
"Do you need booze?" Kiba asked quietly, causing the other two boys to give him a surprised look, "What, my mom lets me drink all the time."
"Uh, sure I guess," Tyler said with a nervous chuckle, "We won't get into trouble or anything, right?"
"Nah," Kiba said with a dismissive shake of his head as Serrot stepped away to go get plastic cups and the like, "I know a guy."
"Well, I'll trust you, but let's keep it light." Tyler said with a nod, hoping he wasn't going to regret this.
"Got it." Serrot said, coming back to them with three huge bags full of disposable party ware.
"That was fast." Tyler said with some surprise.
"We're ninja." Serrot said with a shrug, "So Kiba, we have a new target."
"Oh?" Kiba said as his eyes sharpened and his mind began thinking of new ways to prank people, "Who?"
"You see, I have this teammate named Tree," Serrot said with a devious grin.
"Actually, his name is Sentai." Tyler interjected.
"Anyways, this Tree," Serrot said, ignoring Tyler's correction, "Has angered me greatly, and almost badly damaged my family jewels. If it weren't for Flamer here I'd be in deep trouble."
"My name isn't Flamer." Tyler interjected, but was ignored once again.
"So, how do we play this? The orange bandit?" Kiba suggested, knowing one of Naruto's pranks would probably do the trick.
"Nah, I have a better idea, something less obvious." Serrot said as he turned to Tyler, "Hey Flamer, do you think you could make his senses all screwy?"
"Could you be more specific?" Tyler asked in confusion.
"Like, he can smell sound and taste what he hears, that kind of thing." Serrot said, hoping the medic nin could do what he was asking him to do.
"Hmm," Tyler murmured thoughtfully, "I suppose I could give it a whirl, and we're doing this to Sentai?"
"Yes." Serrot said with a nod.
"Okay, consider it done." Tyler said, shaking Serrot's hand.
"I'm gonna go line up the booze, what do you ladies drink?" Kiba asked.
"Uh, beer?" Serrot responded.
"I'm not a lady, and just get whatever." Tyler responded, causing Kiba to chuckle as he walked away.
"Wait," Serrot said as he realized why Kiba had been chuckling, "Dammit."
"Well," Tyler said with a stifled laugh as he put an arm around Serrot, "Let's get to my place buddy."
Suddenly Kurenai appeared out of the crowd, "Kiba, you need to assemble at the Hokage tower immediately, bring a pack for several days of travel." Kurenai said, and then the genjutsu message faded away.
"Excellent timing," Kuroda said as he walked out of the crowd, "We have a mission, basic recon, shouldn't be a problem, but it's going to take several days. Meet me at the eastern gate in an hour." With that Kuroda disappeared into the crowd.
"I guess we won't be having that party after all." Tyler said with a sigh, "Well, we can always do it after the mission I suppose."
"Kurenai-san, thank you for assembling your team so quickly," The Sandaime Hokage said with a warm smile as he shuffled the mission papers in front of him, "Based on your reports they have all been doing well."
"Yes Hokage-sama," Kurenai said with a respectful nod, "Kiba has been doing well in tracking and taijutsu, Shino is rapidly advancing in his families bug jutsu, and Hinata has been doing very well in taijutsu lately."
"Good to hear," The Sandiame said with a nod, "Because I am giving you a C-ranked mission, just like you requested."
"Thank you Sandaime-sama," Kurenai said with a respectful bow, "What is the mission?"
"A bridge-builder named Tazuna needs an escort to the Land of Wave." The Sandiame said with a gesture to the door, "Tazuna, if you'd be so kind…"
"Now, you all need to understand," Kuroda said sternly as he briefed his assembled genin, "Combat is not something one can walk into and instantly be at ease with."
The genin shifted uneasily as they all recalled their shortcomings in their first battle, and Kuroda fixed them with an angry glare.
"The last thing you all need to do is focus on your, many, shortcomings." He said spitefully.
"Sorta hard to do when you say it like that." Sentai murmured.
"And you need to think about what you did right. Sentai, despite your idiocy, you cast some reasonably powerful fire jutsu." Kuroda said with a nod, "That says a lot for your talent, but you need to find a way to make it work against a well-trained enemy."
"Serrot," Kuroda said, "Your combat capability is solid, but you can never let an enemy back you into a corner like the bandit leader tried to do. Do your best to maintain situational awareness and to stay one step ahead of the enemy. Always think about his next move and plan accordingly."
"Tyler, same deal." Kuroda said, motioning to the medic nin, "If it weren't for Serrot having an incredible talent for putting himself in harm's way, you'd be dead. Just keep your head on a swivel, and try not to let them get the jump on you."
"Finally, creepy." Kuroda said, turning to Kirisho, "I know you have dismal combat skills, so I'd like you to take something up. Your intelligence capabilities are great, keep it up."
"Thanks for saying something nice about me." Kirisho muttered.
"Yeah Kuroda-sensei, I'm glad to see you have a heart." Tyler said with a warm smile.
"Wait," Serrot said as he shook his head in confusion, "Did no one hear the insults?"
"C'mon man," Sentai said with a disappointed shake of his head, "Don't be that guy."
"Enough." Kuroda said with a cut-off gesture, "You all need to do better on this coming recon mission. It'll be very simple, we just need to see if there's a bandit presence in that area."
"And if there is?" Serrot asked.
"Eliminate the threat." Kuroda said coldly, causing most of his genin to shudder, "So, let's get moving."
"So, Kuroda-sensei," Serrot asked as they leapt through the trees at a decent pace, "Where are you from?"
"North." Kuroda stated, causing his genin to look at him in confusion.
"North Fire Country?" Sentai asked.
"Nope." Kuroda stated again, causing his genin to give each other meaningful looks again.
"So, you're a foreigner?" Tyler asked.
"How about you Serrot?" Kuroda asked, trying to shift the conversation elsewhere, "For the son of the Ninja Slayer you aren't that good at combat."
"I never knew she was the Ninja Slayer," Serrot said nervously, "Her and dad never talked about it."
"I heard she almost killed all three Sanin at once," Tyler said in awe, "And that she took on the Yondaime Hokage on her own once during a fight."
"Holy crap," Serrot muttered in awe, "I don't even know who she is."
"Do you know who anyone else is, really?" Kuroda asked, causing Serrot to give him yet another confused look, "Sentai could be a sleeper agent from Mist, Tyler could be a drug addict, and I could be trying to get you killed so that I don't have to do paperwork."
"Wait," Tyler said, shaking his head at that, "What are we talking about?"
"I," Serrot said, trying to wrap his head around what he had learned as he glanced around nervously at his teammates, "I don't know anymore."
Kuroda's hand shot up into the 'halt' gesture, and the entire team stopped dead. Kuroda gestured 'two bandits left, six right'.
Kuroda quickly motioned for Serrot to attack the larger group of enemies, and for Tyler to support him while Kirisho and Sentai gave over watch. They all nodded in agreement, and leapt into action.
Kuroda threw a windmill shuriken at the two enemy scouts, killing them instantly, as he dropped to the ground. At the same time, Serrot leapt down in front of the bandits, and quickly realized that there were far more than six enemies in front of him. He slapped himself mentally as he realized Kuroda had made the 'fifteen' gesture, not the six gesture, and leapt into combat.
Serrot's first strike sent the bandit end over end, and another rushed him from his left, and he lashed out with a kick to the man's chest, winding him as three more of his allies rushed the Konoha genin.
One of the men grabbed his head with one hand, screamed, and spun as he began slash wildly at allies, causing Serrot to silently thank Kirisho in his head. Serrot spun as an enemy thrust a spear at him, and he slapped the haft with one hand and struck the attacker's throat with the other. Suddenly, he realized that he was surrounded, and three of the men charged.
Serrot took a deep breath as time seemed to slow down around him, and ducked the first man, who struck with a sword, rolled forward under a spear thrust, and kicked up through the shaft of the spear into the bandits jaw, knocking him unconscious instantly. Suddenly, Serrot felt very cold, and looked down to see a spearhead protruding from his chest.
"Crap." Serrot grumbled, then fell to the side, and struggled to stay conscious.
"Ha, stupid little ninja," The bandit leader laughed, "What kinda idiot takes on fifteen bandits on his own?"
Just then, three kunai snapped out of the trees at high speed, killing three different bandits as Kuroda landed amongst them.
"Time for you to die!" The bandit leader yelled as he drew his sword.
"You first, asshole." Kuroda snarled as he flashed through some hand signs, "Lightning Style: Thunder Wave!" He yelled as a powerful blast of sound and force exploded outwards from him, knocking the nearest enemies off their feet, and completely disorienting the rest of them. During the confusion, Tyler dashed in, and quickly dragged Serrot out of the engagement zone. Once out Tyler quickly threw up a genjutsu of a bush over himself and Serrot. Just as the bandits finally began to pull themselves out of their shock, Kuroda leapt backwards into the trees.
"You're up Sentai, no friendly fire." Kuroda yelled, just as several fireballs hurled into the enemy, obliterating them in an inferno.
"Well done Sentai." Kuroda said with a nod, "Tyler, is he going to live?"
"Not sure yet," Tyler said as he used the chakra scalpel technique to carefully remove the spearhead, "But it doesn't look like anything important is too heavily damaged for me to repair."
"Isn't that part of his colon?" Kirisho asked as Tyler ran a hand coated in medical chakra over the damaged organ.
"Yeah, but I can fix it." Tyler said distantly as he continued to mend various internal injuries, "It'll be a bit until he can move though."
"Great, now we're off-schedule." Kuroda mumbled in annoyance, "Good job idiot." He said, addressing Serrot.
"C'mon, it's not like he meant to get hit." Tyler defended, hoping their sensei would actually keep it in mind.
"But he did get hit because he wasn't quick enough," Kuroda said with a half-snarl, "Let that be a lesson to you all, all the strength in the world does mean shit if you can't dodge."
"He was surrounded." Kirisho countered.
"True, but when surrounded, you do what you did. Throw out a well-placed genjutsu to sow confusion, break away and hit them again." Kuroda said analytically.
"And you gave him the go ahead signal." Sentai pointed out.
"I misjudged his skill," Kuroda said in disappointment, "A mistake I will not make twice, with any of you."
"What does that mean?" Tyler asked.
"That means that you," Kuroda said, pointing to Kirisho, "Need to target more than one enemy or else your genjutsu are going to be worthless against large groups of enemies."
"Anything I need to work on?" Tyler asked.
"Yes, I want you in the fight ASAP, especially once you learn how to use a blade." Kuroda stated, "And Sentai, you attack first. Do not wait for us otherwise you won't be worth much in combat."
"Fine, I get it, we suck!" Sentai yelled angrily, "Why do you even put up with us if you hate us so much?"
"I don't hate you," Kuroda said coldly, "There's a really good team in you fools somewhere, and it's my job to find it."
"Doesn't seem like it some days, Kuroda-sensei." Tyler said with a chuckle.
"Too bad," Kuroda said with a cold smile, and then he snapped to attention as he heard the cry of a bird, "I'll be back, sit tight, please try to keep each other alive for more than five seconds." He said as he leapt off into the trees.
"What the hell is wrong with him?" Sentai asked aloud in annoyance.
"He's cold, reserved, and his file is highly classified." Kirisho said, earning strange looks from Tyler and Sentai, "Ergo, he's a trademark sociopath."
"I'm not deaf," Kuroda said, landing silently amongst them, "We have to be moving in the next ten minutes, Team 8's mission went to shit and we're moving to support."
Kuroda's tone was cold as usual, but something about his voice caused a cold shiver run down the genin teams spine.
"What will we be encountering, sensei?" Kirisho asked.
"Have any of you heard of Zabuza Momoshi or Gato the crime lord?" Kuroda asked, earning nods from Kirisho and Tyler, "We're going to fuck up their day."