Heya everybody, here's the newest chapter of Genesis, containing the first action scenes! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last few - it's a real inspiration to write. Hope you all enjoy this one, and please take the time to review!
Banglamiss: sorry I forgot to reply in my last chapter! I'm not going to reveal exactly how the plot's going to go now, but if it all goes well I will do a sequel. It might be further from the plot of the actual anime that this story is though. Thanks for reviewing hope you like this one :)
A pink head and a black head were turned pointedly away from each other. A blond head was clasped in hands in between them. The sound of feet tapping on the ground echoed through the clearing of trees in which the three people sat.
Suddenly, a voice broke the rhythmic sound of the tapping.
"Stop that." Sasuke snapped.
"What?" Sakura said immediately, almost as if she had been waiting for him to speak.
"That stupid tapping."
Sakura raised her eyebrows and began to tap even louder.
"Why are you SO annoying?"
"Because you're a stinky old grouch!"
"Ahem..." the three whizzed around to see a man with spiky silver hair and a mask covering half of his face standing in the clearing.
'I didn't even notice him! How did he get here so quietly?' Sasuke thought to himself.
"I am your new sensei. My name is Kakashi Hatake."
"You're pretty late Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said loudly.
"Oh sorry about that," he said calmly, "I was lost on the road of life."
Three mouths dropped open and sweatdrops appeared on the heads of all three Genin.
"Well, I can see that you are already acquainted," he looked at Sakura and Sasuke with raised eyebrows, causing them to glare at each other, "but since this is the first time I have met you, let's start with some introductions. I want you all to say your name, followed by things you like, things you dislike, and what your dream is. Let's start with you." he gestured towards Naruto.
"My name's Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said with a toothy grin. "What I really like is ramen. I like all different types of ramen, and I like trying them out in my free time. What I don't like is days when I don't get to eat ramen. Those really suck. And my dream is to find an unlimited supply of ramen and try all the different types of ramen in the world."
Sakura and Sasuke's eyes twitched.
"Is it just me or is the word 'ramen' starting to sound weird to you?" Sakura muttered. Sasuke smirked in response but then remembered that he did not like Sakura and resumed glaring at her.
"Ok... Well, that's nice..." Kakashi-sensei said, "And what about you?" he pointed to Sakura.
"I'm Sakura Haruno," Sakura smiled. "I like... People who are friendly, and kind and helpful and try hard." she winked at Naruto. "I DON'T like grouchy people who think they're doing the world a favour by existing." She turned pointedly to Sasuke with a challenging expression. He simply narrowed his eyes in response. "And my dream is..." her eyes grew far away. "To serve this village as best I can and make everyone proud. And maybe one day... To be Hokage." Her eyes shone.
She was taken out of her reverie by a snort from Sasuke.
She turned to him, glaring, immediately resuming her belligerent air. "What?"
Sasuke simply turned towards her expressionlessly, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.
"If you have something to say then spit it out!"
"Ok, that's enough now." Kakashi-sensei interrupted. "Thank you very much Sakura. Now what about you?" the silver haired man turned to Sasuke.
"I am Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke deadpanned. "I don't particularly like anything. I particularly DISlike loud mouthed losers who think they know everything." He didn't even have to look at Sakura to feel her glare burning his face. "And my goal..." Sakura sensed a subtle shift in Sasuke's tone. He enunciated clearly, "...is to avenge my clan and destroy a certain someone." The air was suddenly laden with tension. Sasuke clasped his hands together and looked at the floor. All thoughts of annoying team members had left his mind. Sakura stared at Sasuke. Naruto gulped. 'I hope it's not me...' he thought.
"Well... Isn't that nice." Kakashi said awkwardly. "Thank you for sharing that with us Sasuke. Now that I've got to know a little bit about each of you, I think we can begin our training."
"Bring it on!" Sakura punched the air with her fist. Naruto grinned. Sasuke blinked emotionlessly.
"Now, have any of you just eaten?" Kakashi asked, his head tilted to one side.
Sakura blinked in surprise. "No…" The other two shook their heads as well.
"Great." Kakashi shut his eyes in a fake smile. "Ok then, let's begin."
A faint tinkling noise was heard in the clearing. Sakura narrowed her eyes.
"What is that?"
Kakashi-sensei then revealed what he was holding in his hand – two bells.
"Your task for today is very simple. Each one of you must take one of these bells from me before the sun sets. If you don't get a bell, you'll be tied up to one of those posts and forced to watch while I eat my dinner. Then you'll be left there overnight, and I'll be here in the morning to untie you just in time for breakfast."
All three of the genin gulped. Judging by how late he was today, it would be more like dinner the next day before he reached them.
"Oh yes, and of course, you'll be sent back to the Academy and won't reach the status of Genin."
Sakura's eyes widened. She clenched her fists. There was no way she'd let that happen.
"So shall we begin?" Kakashi looked around.
"Wait." Sasuke's emotionless voice sounded. "There are three of us and only two bells." Sakura frowned as she saw that he was right.
"Of course! That way, one of you will definitely end up tied to the post and sent back to the Academy."
Sakura gasped. Naruto gulped. Sasuke's lips tightened.
"Alright then, if everything's clear, begin!"
For a split second, nobody moved. Then Sakura and Sasuke disappeared.
'Guess they were scared…' Naruto gulped. 'Well this is my chance!' He snatched a kunai from his weapons pouch and ran towards Kakashi with a battle cry.
However, he was stopped instantly by Kakashi, who grabbed his head.
"Way to be obvious Naruto…" Kakashi yawned. Suddenly he felt a movement in the air behind him. His eyes widened and he whizzed around to see Naruto flying down at him from above. 'A shadow clone!' he thought. 'Good, but not good enough.' He smiled as he reached up and grabbed the head of the clone. He spun around, spinning the two Narutos at high speed, until he formed a whirlpool of Naruto, at which point he let go, causing the two to fly into the distance. He sighed and settled down against a tree, taking out his copy of Icha Icha Paradise.
From inside the trees, Sasuke looked down at him with narrowed eyes. Naruto had actually managed to create quite a good diversion, but Kakashi had not even broken a sweat whilst dealing with both Narutos. Sasuke watched as he leaned casually against a tree, his head buried in a book. Now was his chance.
Sakura watched Kakashi-sensei from inside a bush. She gritted her teeth. Now was her turn to strike.
But before she could move, a sound halted her in her tracks. Several shuriken whizzed through the air and embedded themselves in Kakashi-sensei. Sakura gasped. His body fell to the floor, unmoving. Sakura was paralysed, as she saw Sasuke come out into the clearing from the trees and walk tentatively towards Kakashi-sensei, his eyes wide. Just as he was about to reach him, a cloud of dust burst out around the body. When it cleared, a log containing shuriken sunk into it was revealed.
Sasuke gritted his teeth as Sakura's eyes widened. 'A substitution!'
Suddenly, Sakura gasped. Sasuke tensed at the same time, sensing the change in air pressure behind him, but before he could turn around, he heard a voice in his ear.
"Too slow."
Sakura watched as Kakashi-sensei kicked Sasuke, sending him flying. However, as Sasuke flew through the air, he managed to turn himself around. Kakashi saw him perform some hand signs. His eyes widened. 'Impossible.'
"Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"
A huge ball of flame blossomed from Sasuke's mouth totally enveloping Kakashi-sensei. Sakura gasped. Sasuke managed to slow himself down until he reached a halt. He walked to the area he had just filled with his fireball jutsu, where the flames and smoke were now clearing. His eyes widened.
It was empty.
Sakura narrowed her eyes, perplexed. She had a full view of the area and had not seen Kakashi-sensei escape the fireball. Where could he be?
Sasuke, meanwhile, looked all around him but could not see Kakashi-sensei anywhere.
"Where are you?" he growled.
"Right here."
Sasuke drew in a sharp breath to hear the sound coming from underneath him and looked down to see Kakashi's hand emerging from the earth and grasping his foot. Suddenly, Sasuke felt himself being pulled downwards, and before he knew it, Kakashi-sensei was above ground, and had thrust him below the surface, his entire body except for his head.
"You have talent for sure." Kakashi said from above. "And you're definitely different. But who knows if that's a good thing?"
Sakura smiled slightly. Then she narrowed her eyes. It was now or never.
Sasuke gasped as all around Kakashi-sensei appeared clones of Sakura, too many to count. 'So many…'
Kakashi also raised an eyebrow. 'Multi shadow clone jutsu? What is it with these Genin and high level ninjutsu?'
All at once the clones converged on him and began attacking him. He deflected and returned the attacks easily, causing the clones to disintegrate one by one into clouds of dust. Suddenly, from amidst the dust, came a kunai. Kakashi dodged it simply to be greeted by another, which he deflected with his own. At the same time, numerous shadow clones threw themselves at him.
'Well, she's definitely making me multitask! But it's still not enough.' He dodged another kunai that was sailing towards him and heard it whistle past his ear. He saw a flash of white accompany it.
He frowned. 'Wait a second…'
Sasuke saw the area in which the large crowd of clones which had surrounded Kakashi-sensei suddenly erupt with a loud bang, uprooting many trees and enlarging the clearing to thee times its original size. He frowned. 'That sounded like a paper bomb… or rather, several paper bombs…'
As the smoke cleared, he saw Sakura emerge cautiously from the trees and step towards the cloud of smoke. However, as it cleared, there was no sign of Kakashi-sensei.
Sakura narrowed her eyes. 'No matter,' she thought, remembering Sasuke's fate, 'there's only one place he can be now.' She drew her fist up and looked down at the ground.
Sasuke stared at Sakura. What on earth did she hope to achieve by punching the ground? Even if Kakashi was under it, it would be highly unlikely that he was right below her feet, and even if he was, there was no way her punch would penetrate deep enough to reveal him!
Sakura's fist crashed down onto the ground. Sasuke drew in a breath and his eyes widened. All of the ground within a twenty metre radius of Sakura's fist was turned upside down, revealing a surprised Kakashi-sensei standing in the middle.
'How… is that… possible?!' Sasuke thought, staring at Sakura in shock.
'Her strength is unbelievable…' Kakashi thought with a raised eyebrow.
"Found you." Sakura said triumphantly. She ran straight at Kakashi-sensei, her hands performing the signs for shadow clone jutsu all the while. However, when she lunged out to punch him, Kakashi-sensei disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a log.
Sakura gritted her teeth. 'A substitution.' She whizzed around just in time to catch sight of Kakashi-sensei near the trees just behind Sasuke's head.
She immediately ran towards him, out into the part of the clearing she had not destroyed. However, just before she reached him she felt herself immobilized. With a gasp, she looked down at her feet to see Kakashi-sensei's hands grasping her feet.
"You're not the only one who can do shadow clone jutsu my dear." The Kakashi-sensei who stood next to Sasuke said, as the other rose up from below the ground. "Now, I'd better bury you before you knock me out with one of those punches!" The other broke in, and before she knew it, Sakura was buried neck-deep in the ground, just like Sasuke.
"Well, you two are full of surprises aren't you! But unfortunately for you, the sun will soon begin to set, and you still haven't touched either of these." He patted the two bells. "Well, I'm off for now." One Kakashi-sensei burst into smoke whilst the other took out his book and walked leisurely into the trees.
Both Sakura and Sasuke glared after him. Then they began to survey each other from the corner of their eyes. Each thought of what they had seen of the other, and both of them were grudgingly impressed.
'Fire style jutsu are supposed to be impossible for genin… they require far too much chakra… How did he learn that?!' Sakura frowned.
'Multi shadow clone jutsu is a jounin level technique that requires incredible amounts of chakra… and that inhuman strength… just what exactly is she?!' Sasuke frowned.
'But, more importantly, the sun is setting…' Both of them looked with anxious eyes at the ball of fire whose bottom was just about to touch the horizon.
Suddenly, the trees rustled, and a blond head emerged. Naruto stumbled out of the trees, massaging his head. "Man did that hurt!" he complained loudly.
Suddenly, he caught sight of Sasuke and Sakura's heads.
"Naruto." Sakura said calmly.
"…WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto screamed and began rushing around the heads waving his arms about. "SAKURA AND SASUKE ARE TALKING HEADS ON THE GROUND WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE OH MY…"
"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted. Naruto stopped in mid air. "Calm down. Kakashi-sensei just buried us beneath the ground. Now will you please help me out of here?"
"Why would he help you? We're competing against each other." Sasuke said cuttingly.
"Ah screw that!" Naruto said, striding over to Sakura. "Of course I'll help you!" He used a kunai to dig away the earth around Sakura's shoulders and then tugged her out of the hole in the ground.
"I suppose you two plan to get the bells and leave me here." Sasuke said with narrowed eyes.
"Of course not you idiot!" Sakura thwacked Sasuke's head, before punching the ground near it, creating a huge crater, which freed Sasuke and enabled him to move out of the hole. Naruto, in the meantime, stared with his mouth hanging open at Sakura.
"H-How.. did.. how is that.. what..?"
"Oh, it's a long story, forget it. Now how to get those damn bells…" Sakura frowned in concentration.
"Why?" Sasuke said suddenly. Naruto and Sakura looked at him in confusion.
"…Because that's our task and we'll be sent back to the Academy if we don't…" Sakura said.
"No!" Sasuke said irritably, "I meant, why did you help me? You two could have tried to get the bells while I was trapped in the ground and there was no way I would have been able to get them before you."
"Well, that's not the meaning of a team stupid! We're in a squad for a reason!" Naruto grinned.
"Yeah!" Sakura smiled. Suddenly, something clicked. "Wait a second…
Kakashi-sensei spun around, surrounded by a whirlpool of Naruto.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" A huge ball of flames blossomed out from Sasuke's mouth.
"…Naruto you're a genius!" Sakura enveloped Naruto in a huge hug.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. 'Well there's one I haven't heard before…'
"Erm… gee thanks Sakura!" Naruto's muffled voice was heard. "Um… what did I do again?"
Sakura released Naruto and smiled, her eyes in battle mode. She gestured to Naruto and Sasuke.
"Gather round."
