Hey there! I did intend to update much earlier this week, but I got lost on the road of life instead. Hey, I wonder if Kakashi's always late because he's writing fanfic? Anyway, I have decided that since I can't keep to a one-week update schedule, I'll switch to a bi-weekly one. (That's once every fortnight, not twice a week.)
Anyway, here is the fourth chapter of The Sun Kunoichi!
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Chapter Four:
Sensei's Test
Kurenai carefully observed the three genin sitting before her on the grass. A few kilometres from the centre of Konoha, they all sat in front of a training ground which Kurenai had booked for their first day. All three looked tired; she had encouraged them to reach the training ground as quickly as possible as a sort of warm-up exercise.
In retrospect, that may have not been the best of ideas. The Aburame boy, Shino, was making a brave face of not being tired by the journey from the academy, but he was obviously stifling coughs and his legs were shaking. Hinata's breathing was not as laboured, but she was propped up on her hand for support as she breathed in and out a little quicker than normal, her eyes looking too weary for Kurenai's liking. Kiba, on the other hand, seemed to have as much energy as ever, sitting upright with Akamaru sitting on his head. Kurenai wasn't sure, but she suspected Akamaru's tail was wagging.
"Okay." she said, "That was alright for a first time, but we'll need to move faster next time."
F-faster? thought Hinata.
Hinata thoughtfully rubbed her feet through her sandals as she tensed her dully aching legs. After Kurenai had met the team, she had lead them to this forest by chakra-jumping through– or, more accurately, over – Konoha. While Kiba had been lightning-fast and Shino had performed admirably, Hinata had sadly been far behind the rest of the group for the most part. Chakra-jumping depended on the direction of chakra to the feet, which Hinata had never been particularly good at despite years of practice; the journey had been a hard one for her. Her teammates, on the other hand, seemed just fine at it. If she had had more strength Hinata would have apologised to them for holding them up, but at this point she was content to lie on the grass and listen to her sensei.
Kurenai addressed the three.
"You comprise Squad Eight, the squad dedicated to tracking and reconnaissance. The foundation of a good recon squad is what, Kiba?
Kiba concentrated.
"Uhh…" he said.
Kurenai's gaze shifted from Kiba to Shino and back again. Kiba seemed to have no idea of the answer despite the hints she'd dropped just before asking the question, while Shino suddenly looked much more alert, sitting up as straight as Kiba and perhaps muttering to himself under his jacket.
Just like the report said, she thought.
"Kurenai-sensei…" Shino said.
"Yes, Shino?" she asked, while Kiba obviously thought harder.
"It is speed and endurance," Shino declared.
"Oh, yeah!" said Kiba, nodding. "Yep, that's what I was gonna say."
When? thought Shino, giving his squadmate a contemptuous look.
Kurenai nodded as she thought: Textbook answer - literally. Looks like I did end up with the bookworm after all.
Then again, if I remember that was from a textbook…
"The function of a recon team is to enter enemy territory, find out our required information, then return to safety. A recon team needs to be fast so it can complete its assigned missions quickly, before the enemy discovers its presence. Endurance is important because…Hinata?"
Hinata looked up and said:
"B-because we need to be fast all the time?"
Kurenai nodded at this.
"That's right," she said. "Not only do we need to be fast, we need to be fast for long periods of time. You won't do any long spying missions for a few years yet, but those require a lot of patience and obversation."
Patience and obversation? thought Kiba. Great.
Taking her own advice, Kurenai noted that Shino and Hinata seemed more energetic than before, their breathing normal. Kiba, on the other hand, was scowling, presumably because his teammates had both answered questions correctly while he'd said nothing important. Fidgeting with the cord of his jacket, he spoke again.
"So what's our test?" asked Kiba. "I mean, this forest's a training ground, right?"
Hasn't called me 'Kurenai-sensei' or even 'sensei', Kurenai thought. Iruka did say he could be troublesome…
…'troublesome?!' What am I, a Nara?
Suppressing a smile, Kurenai asked:
"None of you have entered this forest before, have you?"
All three shook their heads.
"They say it's dangerous," said Hinata.
"It's not," said Kurenai. "Well, not intentionally. This is one of the lower-level training zones; it's for genin only. We'll start by-"
"Genin only? Weak," said Kiba dismissively. "We can do up to Chunin level. This is kid's stuff!"
What? Chunin level? thought Hinata. Could…is Kiba serious?!
Hinata appears concerned, thought Shino.
If she was taking the dog-nin's wild claims seriously, then she was perhaps not as astute as he'd previously thought – everybody knew Kiba was of below-average intelligence. Alternately, it was possible that she was not concentrating on the matter at hand it all. She could have been considering Naruto's wellbeing instead, 'daydreaming' if you will.
He'd been wondering about that ever since Kiba had mentioned it earlier that day. Hinata had a crush on Naruto? Really, when did that happen? As he recalled, they'd been pretty distant for most of the time he'd known them, and he'd known them (or at least known of them) since he was six years old.
Kiba grinned at his declaration.
I'm gonna kick ass!
Kurenai tried very hard not to sigh out loud.
Just like the report, she thought. I didn't want to be stereotypical and say an Inuzuka'd be like this, but...
Shino pushed his glasses up from the bridge, and said:
"You should be more conservative in your estimates of our skills."
The grin disappearing from his face, Kiba cast his glare at Shino.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said.
"You passed the genin exams, but only by a narrow margin," said Shino in an even tone. "It is unrealistic to think you can perform at such a high level."
"Hey!" shouted Kiba. "You wanna prove who's the better genin?"
"I believe the exams already have," Shino stated.
Kiba stood up, fists bunched up, but Hinata quickly said:
"P-please, Kiba, don't fight! That's not what we're h-here for."
The standing dog ninja looked to Hinata. It figured that she'd be the one stepping in between he and Shino. Half mad at her but also half grateful, he unclenched his fists and sat down. He wouldn't have been nearly as mad if Shino hadn't been so stoic, so calculated about how he talked to Kiba. Sure he hadn't gotten as high marks as Shikamaru, but he'd still passed, and dammit, that made him just as good a genin as any other.
Kurenai looked on approvingly at Hinata. The girl was shy, but she had successfully defused the first of what were probably to be many fights between Shino and Kiba. Already starting to understand why Iruka had suggested these particular genin for her, she spoke again.
"Alright," she said. "You wanna prove yourself?"
Kiba enthusiastically nodded, and the other two looked more focused.
"There is a scroll in the training zone behind me," she said. "Whoever of you three touches it first leads the team."
Kiba frowned again.
"Uh...don't you lead the team?"
"Yes," said Kurenai. "And I'll continue to do so, provided I touch the scroll first."
Shino studied the kunoichi through his dark glasses.
Willing to risk potential loss of leadership? Unlikely. Purely a test.
Kurenai looked to Shino.
"Shino? You don't think so?"
Shino found himself shaking his head, and quickly stopped, cursing himself for letting his thoughts show so obviously.
"When do we begin, Kurenai-sensei?" he asked.
Kurenai stepped back, allowing all three genin a clear jump to the forest.
"Go," she said.
Kiba leapt to his feet and immediately ran off into the forest, the gate swinging open at his touch. Shino quietly and determinedly stood up and quickly walked to the gate, while Hinata sat up.
"Mmph," she said, collecting her thoughts.
"Hinata," said Kurenai, and the girl jumped a little.
S-sensei! I should go quickly. I shouldn't act like I'm lazy or she'll think badly of me.
Hinata looked somewhat nervous and scared to Kurenai. She began to wonder if Hinata was cut out for the job of a ninja.
Then she remembered the day she'd visited the Hyuga compound, and the blank yet harsh look on Hiashi's face as he paid almost no attention to Kurenai's questions about his daughter.
I'm not going to let her prove him right, she determined, and she spoke again:
"Don't you want to find the scroll before Shino or Kiba?"
Hinata felt that she should say yes (enthusiasm was one thing that teachers seemed to approve of immensely), but she could only mumble in response:
"N-no…I don't really want to lead the team."
Kurenai didn't criticise Hinata for not getting the point of the exercise, and instead asked:
"Why not?"
This question brought images to Hinata. Images of a mother that she barely remembered, ones that she wasn't sure were even real, saying her name softly. Images of her father trying to train her to be a great leader…then ones of the day she'd been told that she was no longer to be the ruler of the Hyuga clan. It hadn't been her father who'd told her, but she didn't remember the words of the person who did at the time. She only remembered images, the faces of Hanabi and Hiashi that had been etched onto her mind and coloured by her crying afterwards.
"I…"
Hinata faltered to admit what she was certain everybody already knew. Before her, her sensei gave a small smile, and nodded encouragingly, slowly.
"…I don't think I'm strong enough."
The secret out, she hunched over, clutching her legs.
"No," said Kurenai.
No? wondered Hinata. 'No' what?
"Your father doesn't think you're strong enough," her teacher explained.
Hinata breathed out a gasp. She had long believed this, but conformation of her father's disappointment was still confronting.
"What I mean is, your father doesn't think you're strong enough."
What?
"I don't understand," Hinata admitted.
"You might be weak," said Kurenai. "But if you were, why would you be one of the highest ranked students in your class academically? Why would you be the best girl in your year level at taijutsu?"
"But I was one of the lowest in the taijutsu part of exam," protested Hinata.
Kurenai shook her head.
"Doesn't matter. Apart from the final exam, you were consistently the best at taijutsu."
"O-only the best girl," said Hinata.
"Hinata, never let yourself think you're not as good just because you're a girl."
Kurenai had suddenly become very forceful, and Hinata felt herself compelled to nod sharply. Relaxing again, Kurenai continued:
"Besides, if you rank the boys and girls together, you're actually third best out of the class."
Hinata looked confused.
"What I'm saying," said Kurenai clearly, "is that your father is wrong about you. I've got no idea why he thinks you're weak, but he's wrong about that."
And virtually everything else, she mentally added.
Kurenai watched Hinata carefully as the conflicted girl sat in thought. She hoped she hadn't seriously upset Hinata's worldview – obedience to the father was particularly important in big old-fashioned clans, and you didn't get clans much bigger or older-fashioned than the Hyuga. Still, if it helped her to finally break free of the shadow of Hiashi…
Hinata stood.
"Thankyou, Kurenai-sensei," she said.
Here the wind changed again. Hinata resisted the urge to clutch her arms against the cold as she once had, instead sticking her hands in her pockets to warm them. The wind was blowing at her back, towards the forest. Was it a sign?
Feeling the warmth of her chakra spread up to her head, Hinata made a hand sign and directed the chakra forward, into her eyes.
"Byakugan," she said, and walked into the forest.
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Kiba leapt through the trees of the forest happily as his chakra rose and fell. Up and down his legs it went, coursing through his chakra network as he leapt and then fell again. It flew to his feet when he landed, then up to his legs when he jumped, then back down to his feet again. Unlike most other people he knew, Kiba was also quite happy to run on all fours. He guessed this was because of the Inuzuka clan's connection with dogs, but he'd never really looked into it. Some people still teased him because of how odd this looked, but he always casually responded with a quick retort if he could think of one or a pair of raised middle fingers if he couldn't.
There was one other boy who ran on all fours sometimes, but Kiba preferred not to think about him that much.
Kiba sniffed the air. Akamaru had been unable to find the scroll through its scent alone, but he could tell from the lingering scent of an unusual type of soap that Kurenai was still standing in front of the forest. He was wondering how exactly she'd be able to monitor them when a new smell, papery and thin, caught his attention.
Shino was standing below in a clearing, looking up at him blankly. Remembering the insults the Aburame had given him earlier, Kiba and Akamaru growled as one and threw a pair of shuriken at Shino as they leapt into the clearing.
He did not move as the shuriken flew towards him; he simply batted them away with his kunai casually, Kiba landing a few metres in front of him. The clearing was small, only six or so square metres in size, but it was not even ground. Gnarled and knotted tree roots erupted from the dirt across the forest floor, like an ancient, tanned scar.
Frowning at his squadmate's further success, Kiba reached for his kunai when Shino spoke to him.
"I request that you stop throwing weapons at me," said Shino.
Kiba kept a hand to his kunai's holster, but accepted Shino's idea and did not throw it. Hands in pockets, Shino said:
"We must speak."
"Yeah?" said Kiba, suspiciously. "What about?"
Shino stood up even straighter and frowned beneath his glasses. Try as he might, he couldn't fathom Kiba's responses to anything. The boy seemed to bristle whenever simple fact was stated, and Shino never shied from fact. It was thus not completely surprising that they would come into conflict. Shino did not desire this; unneccessary conflict was a waste of resources. All he needed to do was set the Inuzuka on the right path of reasonable deduction and not irrationally rushing into things.
This was, at least, what Shino told himself. But try as he might to ignore it, to quell his distaste for the Inuzuka under the guise of trying to be helpful, in truth he had no idea who Kiba was. He'd never expected to speak with the dog-focused boy, let alone be in a squad with him. Shino didn't understand Kiba at all, and both he and the questions that he raised in the Aburame's mind were just...
"Infuriating," he muttered under his breath.
Kiba did not hear this, but Akamaru's low growl next to him clued him in that whatever Shino had said, it wasn't complementary.
Breathing out, Shino concentrated on explaining the facts to Kiba, and made a note to use an uncomplicated vocabulary. After all, his dog had eaten his calendar.
Why do I remember that?! Shino thought to himself, although his confusion did not show on his face.
Kiba frowned. He was unused to long periods of silence that didn't involve eating or sleeping.
"Hello?" he asked the silent boy before him. "You in there?"
In where? wondered Shino, but he brushed it off and finally spoke again.
"This test," he said, "is not real."
Kiba tilted his head to one side in confusion.
What?!
"Is that, like, Aburame clan philosophy or something?"
Shino shook his head slightly, although this time he didn't notice as nobody brought it to his attention. Aburame clan philosophy, to the extent of Shino's reading of it, was mostly bug-focused. Here he was simply stating the truth.
"What I am saying is that there is no need for..."
Words failing him, Shino fell to gesturing with his hands to communicate. Well, it worked for ants, didn't it?
...mindless heroics? Canine idiocy? Bushido?
Kiba folded his arms.
"Oh, I get it," he said, annoyed.
Finally, thought Shino.
"You want the scroll, so you're trying to make me think it's all a joke!" said Kiba. "Well, forget it! I'm gettin' that scroll, and there's no way you're gonna stop me!"
"It is a game," said Shino through tersely gritted teeth, "only a game. If you cannot realise that, you are even more of an idiot than I th-"
Shino's train of thought was knocked out of his mouth in a gust of air as Kiba's fist slammed into him, sending him stumbling. Head ringing and eyes unfocused, Shino grabbed a tree in surprise as Kiba stood before him, crouched for combat.
"P-pu...eh," said Shino, winded. "Punching me won't invalidate my argum-meh..."
His head hung and his body drooped. Surprising as it was, the fanged boy had one hell of a punch.
Kiba looked concerned, and stood up straighter, the wild look in his eyes less focused.
"You okay?" he asked, stepping forward.
Now, thought Shino, and he struck.
"Woah!"
Kiba leapt back from Shino's punch, wondering whether the glassed boy had been faking his weakened condition or whether this was a desperation move. The kicks that followed, straight and true, proved that it was probably fakery – Shino was fighting just fine. Now more relaxed, Kiba dropped his concern but not his guard, leaning back and loosening up.
Shino held still as Kiba wobbled. Staring carefully at the other boy to discern what he was doing, Shino felt the tremor of a thousand or so tiny intelligences within him yearning to be free. He firmly communicated 'NO' to them (the feeling, if not the actual word), and concentrated on his taijutsu.
Swiping forward, Shino's fist missed Kiba as the dog nin did a sort of cartwheel, sending a kick swinging towards Shino's head that Shino only narrowly dodged. Rolling away from a kick from Shino, Kiba tripped over a log, but he swung back up around a tree and kicked again. Shino dodged and began a flurry of strikes from his hands.
"Why are you fighting?" he asked.
Kiba leapt at Shino with both fists and responded:
"'Cos I feel like it?"
Kiba's punches swung narrowly past Shino's thin body, Akamaru clinging onto Kiba's head as the small dog was rocked by his master's erratic movements. Shino rapidly dodged from side to side, chakra coursing through his body as he stepped over branches carefully.
"But why fight when you could be capturing the scroll?" he asked, out of breath.
Oh yeah! thought Kiba.
Seizing his chance, Shino hit Kiba in the mouth – a little harder than perhaps necessary, he later thought – and leapt off into the higher trees.
Swaggering even further as he reeled from the blow, Kiba glared at the retreating Shino, and leapt off after him. If he could follow Shino at a medium-range distance, the Aburame would lead him to the scroll, he knew it.
Shino leapt quickly from branch to branch, allowing the steady rhythm of the chakra moving through his feet to push him forward. He was tired, a lot more so than he should have been. It didn't make sense. If Kiba had only barely passed the genin exams, why was he so proficient at taijutsu? He would have had to have been exceptionally highly placed in taijutsu to make up for his obvious mental deficiencies. Then again, Naruto Uzumaki had apparently passed.
Considering this disturbing train of thought, Shino focused his gaze on the ground of the forest far below him, scouting for the scroll.
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Hinata leaned against a tree and panted for breath, her sides aching. Staring back at the path she'd taken, she guessed she'd alternated between running and walking for about a kilometre now. She had released the Byakugan some time ago. The three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision aspect of her bloodline limit wasn't much use when the others were obviously far ahead of her (although Kurenai seemed to just be standing outside the training ground), and she was wary of using the 'see through everything' part because of the three's agreement to only use their techniques in extreme situations.
She was torn from her ponderings on what exactly Shino's special technique was when she entered a long coughing fit. When she recovered, she reluctantly admitted to herself that perhaps she'd been lax in her training up to this point. Good taijutsu student or not, she was still far behind the boys in terms of endurance, and as for speed…
It would be much easier if I could chakra-jump, she thought.
Staring down at her feet, Hinata tried to focus her chakra and then sent it downwards. Feeling the particular buzzing warmth of her chakra reach the soles of her feet, Hinata stalled. This was the easy part; the difficulty was persuading the chakra to flow back up to her legs. Hinata tried hard, even going so far as to make a hand sign, but the chakra stayed in her feet. This was why she could never get the hang of chakra-jumping; her chakra seemed to always reach her feet and stay there until she released it.
Feeling her chakra waver, she sadly released it and it disappated, resulting in her feet glowing a little.
Suddenly, a small object dropped onto her lap. Jumping in fright, as it might have been a wasp or something, Hinata was relieved to discover that it was simply a leaf that had fallen from the tree above. She picked it up and stared at it, feeling the veins inside. As the sunlight suddenly increased, Hinata held it up before her, now seeing the lines of the veins in the light.
Her eyes widened.
Maybe…
"Byakugan," she said again. This time not looking for the scroll, she instead stared down at her own body, her chakra network laid out in front of her. Watching her feet and legs, Hinata impelled her chakra down to her feet, and watched the vein-like network light up as the energy pooled at the soles.
Waiting for her command, the chakra swirled as she began to coax it, in her mind, to go up to her calves and thighs. It remained stubbornly motionless.
Cursing furiously yet tamely as ever, Hinata looked away from her feet for a few seconds then back at them, trying again to push the chakra up into her legs. Still nothing happened.
Trying to calm herself down, Hinata breathed in and out slowly. In…out…in…out…
...the chakra started moving.
Not getting her hopes up, Hinata breathed in a little, and the chakra went up to half her calves. Breathing out, it returned to the feet. In again, and it reached the knee; out again, to the feet. It went no further the next few times. Hinata began to think it was hopeless; surely Kiba and Shino would have reached the scroll by now.
Then she remembered Kurenai's words. For anyone to think so highly of her, the failure of the Hyuga clan…well, Naruto always congratulated her when she did well in class, but she had to admit Naruto often had no idea what he was talking about; he was probably just being nice. She looked down at her feet once more, then up at the sun.
She deactivated the Byakugan.
"Hinata…"
She looked up. A memory came to her, words whispered over a cradle in the darkness of night, in the time when a child wavers between the real world and dream-filled sleep.
"You will guide the way, Hinata, but you will not walk it alone. There will always be a part of me that will live on in you, because inside of you is all the good that I have. You will be a light to others, and your name is the place of the sun."
"Mother…"
Stretching out her arms beside her, Hinata stood up from the tree and became still. The chakra within her glowed in the light, and it rapidly spread up to her legs. She felt the warmth of the sunlight upon her, and said:
"…thankyou."
Standing up carefully, she breathed out once more and set her sights on a tree branch about ten metres ahead of her. After spending so long wondering about herself, she knew she probably wouldn't be able to get the scroll, but she certainly wasn't going to let Shino or Kiba leave her in the dust.
Okay, she told herself. Just jump to that branch…
Hinata pushed off with her feet, and flew straight past the branch at a fantastic speed, climbing up further and further into the sky.
What?!
Shooting into the air, Hinata wondered if perhaps too much chakra wasn't a good thing, and so was relieved when she started to fall back down to earth. Landing would be easy enough; just direct chakra back into the feet to absorb the impact…now!
Dropping onto a tree branch, the chakra disappated into the air as Hinata tried to regain balance.
Alright, she thought. Perhaps I should try a little less high this time.
She wondered if she could replicate the chakra again, or whether the first jump was a fluke. Standing carefully on the branch, she thought on the moment again, and felt a deep satisfied happiness at her success. The chakra reached her legs again.
Reducing it a little from last time, she leapt off. She didn't go quite so high this time, althoughs she noticed with satisfaction that her jump was higher and longer than either Kiba or Shino's had been. Shifting the chakra to her feet and landing on another branch, Hinata smiled as she jumped into the air. She could see why Naruto had been so joyous when they first met.
With a newfound sense of purpose, Hinata reactivated the Byakugan and leapt over the forest.
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Shino dropped to the ground in triumph. Right before him was the scroll.
Stepping forward cautiously, Shino quietly waved his left hand, and a small insect appeared on it. Focusing on the insect's mind, Shino told it 'check', and it compliantly took wing, hovering over to the scroll and touching it lightly. The scroll did not explode, so either it was not an explosive, or it was an explosive that was not sensitive enough for a bug to set it off. Telling the insect to return, Shino had only just hidden it away when another person appeared from the high branches.
It was Hinata, somewhat muddier than last time Shino had seen her. There was also something else about her now, something different that went deeper than what Shino could see, a boost of power that he seemed to feel within himself despite there being no known reason for it. She was as timid as ever, but there was a little smile on her face, and her eyes seemed less afraid.
Curious, he thought.
"H-hello, Shino," she said, obviously a little disappointed but still mysteriously happy-sounding.
She looked to the scroll, and then to him.
"Have you touched it?" she asked.
"No," he replied, honestly.
"W-why not?"
Shino frowned at her question as well as her sudden shift in attitude. This was not like the Hinata he knew. Well, he hadn't really known Hinata for that long. In fact, he barely knew her at all. Was this normal? From Kiba's irrational outbursts to Hinata's oscillating from bright happiness to awkward shyness, Shino started to think he was the only normal one in his team. As such, he should have taken the scroll.
And yet he hesitated. Did he really want the responsibility of being the leader of such a bizarre group? Managing two very emotional people was not appealing to him, a man of sound reasoning.
Wait, what am I thinking? Shino mentally slapped himself. None of this is real!
If Kurenai-sensei were serious about potentially giving up the leadership of the squad, although she obviously wasn't, she would be trying much harder to beat the three genin to it. Shino knew for a fact that Kurenai was not anywhere near the scroll at this point; she was most likely still standing outside the forest. Although this obviously raised the question of how she could monitor who touched the scroll first…
"I do not believe that this is a real test," he explained. "Touching the scroll will not grant me, or indeed any of us, leadership of the squad."
Hinata had to admit, he had a point.
"M-maybe it was all a way for us to show our skills," said Hinata.
She wondered if Kurenai had spoken to Kiba and Shino like she had to her, or whether she'd been the only one. She felt mixed about Shino's suggestion. On the one hand, she was a little disappointed to find out that there was no chance for her to be a leader of a squad. She then realised that she probably wouldn't do very well at it – only experienced chunin led squads. And yet, the desire for more people to think of her as strong, as Naruto and Kurenai did, made her all the more determined to rise to the challenge.
Kiba loudly interrupted both genin's trains of thought when he and Akamaru landed before them.
"Alright, bug-guy," he said, "let's-…"
At Akamaru's nudging, he turned to see Hinata.
"Oh, hey, Hinata!"
He grinned at her in confusion.
"How'd you get here so fast?"
"J-jumped," she replied.
"Oh," said Kiba.
Akamaru nudged him again, and he nodded. He had smelt a new scent about five minutes or so back, and he had wondered what it was exactly before putting it out of his mind. Seeing it turn out to be Hinata was…interesting. If he'd had to guess, he would've said it was Sakura or perhaps Ino that he'd smelt, although there was no sense in them being there. Girl-chakra smelled different to boy-chakra, and Hinata had always had a fairly low amount. Now, however, she seemed to have as much as Sakura or Ino, although it was steadily getting lower and lower, as evidenced by the scent of girl-chakra decreasing.
He then addressed Shino. "Got here earlier, huh?"
"The way you chakra-jump is inefficient," said Shino. "It is unusual to use all fours. Coupled with the fact that I left our confrontation earlier, that is probably why you have arrived last."
Kiba failed to think of a retort, and so fell to a one-handed plan B, Hinata gasping nervously and Shino not responding.
"Well, we are all present," said Shino, trying to ignore Kiba's hand gesture.
"Did either of you touch it?" asked Kiba.
"Neither Hinata nor I have touched the scroll," said Shino tersely. "Because it's not real."
"Do you mean it's a genjutsu?"
Shino shook his head.
"How do you know?" asked Kiba.
"I simply do," said Shino evasively.
"Yeah, right," said Kiba. "I think you switched the real one. This doesn't smell right to be a real scroll."
"Are you saying I am an imposter?" asked Shino.
"No," replied Kiba. "You smell like Shino. But I am saying you're sneaky. Saying all that stuff about 'it's not real'? Clever."
"You are wrong," stated Shino, closing his eyes in frustration. "It is not a genuine test of leadership."
Kiba grunted in response. He took a step forward and crouched down in front of the scroll, catching the sudden whiff of a smell not unlike gunpowder.
"No!" said Shino and Hinata in unison, and Kiba touched it.
The ground beneath their feet immediately gave way and turned to flowing mud, and all three genin fell in up to their waists. The scroll itself floated above them, while Akamaru had evidently leapt to safety somewhere.
I suppose he is smarter than Kiba, thought Shino.
"Excellent work," he said, to which Kiba growled in response.
"K-Kurenai-sensei is here," said Hinata.
Both left their insults and looked up. Kurenai stood up above on a branch, holding the scroll. Kiba looked back down to the scroll on the ground, then back up.
"G-genjutsu?" asked Hinata.
"No," replied Kurenai. "that scroll is real, and I didn't use any genjutsu – I knew Shino would see through that."
Shino nodded, and Kiba glared.
"I used the Body Flicker Technique to appear far enough away for Kiba not to be able to smell me, and I knew Hinata wasn't using the Byakugan. Once I'd appeared, I ran to the scroll and took it before Kiba could. So I suppose I'm still squad leader."
"Don't count on it!"
What?! thought Hinata.
What?! thought Shino.
Oh, thought Kurenai, that's inventive.
Kiba burst through the treeline towards Kurenai, kunai in-hand and shouting loudly.
"You watching, Shino?"
Hm?
Colliding with Kurenai, Kiba felt his kunai-hand miss the jonin as she grabbed hold of it, twisting it behind his back and pushing him against a tree.
"Clever work, Kiba," said Kurenai. "But remember, I've read files on you. I guessed the Kiba down there was the Man-Beast Clone when it didn't say anything."
Man-Beast Clone… thought Shino. Of course! Akamaru isn't missing; he's Transformed into Kiba!
As if to illustrate his point, the 'Kiba' trapped with Hinata and Shino suddenly became Akamaru again in a puff of smoke, the little dog clawing its way out of the Kiba-sized hole it'd been in.
Shino nodded to himself, feeling…respect? He could see through genjutsu, but couldn't detect the presence of objects under the Transformation Jutsu. Even so, Kiba must have replaced himself with Akamaru very, very quickly for Shino to miss it. He supposed he must have shut his eyes for more than a blink or something.
"Akamaru, dig Shino and Hinata out, will you?" asked Kiba.
Kurenai pressed his arm to his back further.
"I'll save you the trouble," she said, letting go of Kiba to perform a hand sign.
Hinata and Shino rose up from the ground until they reached the surface, where it became solid once more. Now both very dirty, they stood up to attention as Kiba leapt down to join them and Akamaru, and Kurenai followed.
"The point of this exercise was to show you the kind of missions you'll be undertaking in the future. Speed and endurance…Shino, you reached the scroll the fastest at one hour, although you did spend a while fighting with Kiba. Hinata, you covered a long distance very quickly."
"Y-yes," said Hinata, with the air of someone confessing a sin.
There was a pause.
"Would you mind telling us how you did that?" asked Kurenai.
"Um…well…"
What do I say? thought Hinata. I love you, mother, but I can't say 'the memory of my dead mother inspired me to jump very high'. That sounds kind of strange.
"I guess I just got the hang of chakra-jumping," she said.
"How did you get so muddy before?" inquired Shino.
Hinata touched her index fingers together in embarassment.
"Um…I…sort of…missed a branch, and I…kind of fell in a puddle."
"…oh."
"Hang on," said Kiba, rubbing his kunai-arm. "I think we're forgetting something here. The person who's team leader now, right?"
"It's still Kurenai-sensei," said Shino. "She has the scroll."
Kiba shook his head, still triumphantly.
"Nuh-uh," he said. "The rules were whoever first touches the scroll wins. Akamaru pretending to be me touched the scroll first."
Shino and Hinata both blanched at the idea, and they looked to Kurenai.
"Akamaru did touch the scroll first-"
"Yeah!" shouted Kiba, punching the air.
"-but, I said 'whoever of you three'."
"Wh…"
Kiba drooped.
"Oh."
Shino watched as Kiba stuck his hands in his pockets, scowling.
Any tactical intelligence that might've been present in Kiba has long since departed by now.
"Okay," said Kurenai. "I'll let you guys go home and shower now. You can all get back to Konoha okay?"
All three nodded, but Shino asked:
"Sensei, how did you see when we were about to reach the scroll? You were outside the forest the whole time."
"Ah," she said, "that. There are security cameras in various places all around this forest, so I mostly used those. Never underestimate the power of technology."
The genin stood up and began to leave, but Kurenai stopped one.
"Kiba," she said, "can you stay back for a moment?"
Groaning, Kiba acquiesed.
"G-goodbye, Kiba," said Hinata. "See you tomorrow."
She crouched, then jumped off into the nearest high tree.
Shino walked past to join her, and said:
"You were correct about the test being real."
He then followed Hinata.
The other two gone, Kiba and Kurenai changed stances. Kiba looked more relaxed, but less happy, staring off into space as he leant on a tree nearby. Akamaru trotted up to him, but he looked down at the dog in anger.
"Go stand guard," he commanded.
Akamaru growled.
"Now," he snapped.
This time Akamaru did leave, walking off into the trees testily.
Kurenai broke the silence.
"Ninja are meant to be as subtle as a speck of dust in the air," she said. "You went through this exercise working as subtly as a brick."
"Yeah," acknowledged Kiba.
Kurenai once again repressed a sigh, and looked sternly down at her student.
"Kiba," she said, "Are we going to have a problem?"
Kiba frowned.
"Why would we have a problem?"
"How you speak to me, for a start," said Kurenai. "You're meant to call me 'Kurenai-sensei', or 'sensei'. Iruka told you this, I'm sure?"
He made no noise, as he would inevitably end up sighing annoyedly, so instead he simply nodded slightly.
"Squads are assigned to jonin because the Hokage feels you'd benefit from our experience in the field. We're here to teach you and to lead you. You criticised my rules repeatedly and picked fights with Shino instead of going to the actual objective, plus you – or Akamaru, I suppose – took the scroll recklessly. That kind of lone-wolf behaviour can get you killed on a real mission."
"It wasn't a real mission," said Kiba.
"We're not training here because we feel like it," said Kurenai. "You're meant to be learning, and instead you're just acting like I'm your enemy. If you don't want to be in a squad, you shouldn't come to training."
"Well, if I'm such a stupid genin, then no loss," responded Kiba, hands in pockets.
"You're not stupid, Kiba," she said sharply.
Kiba scowled back angrily.
"Look at our squad," he said. "Shino aces every test he's ever been in with blinking – not that you could tell, of course – and whatever special technique his clan has, it's probably a hell of a lot more useful than anything I have. Only reason Hinata's not the best in the class is 'cos she's so shy it's painful and Naruto barely notices she exists. And you, Kurenai-sensei, are soquiet and so fast you don't even need a squad. I am stupid, and I don't know what I'm doing here."
His fuming done, he folded his arms.
"Now can I go home now, please?"
Kurenai considered Kiba. Despite his unusually deep voice for a twelve-year old, he was still just a kid. She had to explain this to him without making him feel any worse.
"You're strong," she replied.
"Hmm," he grunted, unconvinced.
"Your score on the written test was low, Kiba. Low enough that you would have failed if you hadn't been the second-highest on the taijutsu test."
"Second highest?" remarked Kiba in confusion. "Huh, Uchiha. Of course. Another perfect genin."
"Academically, Sasuke Uchiha is the best of the year," she admitted. "But he's not perfect. He's arrogant and a loner; not qualities you want in a squad-based profession. Shino, although he's not as advanced academically or physically as Sasuke is, is not exactly a people person either."
"Yeah, I got that," said Kiba. "…sensei."
He somehow managed to slouch further.
"So…what, I'm here to make friends?" asked Kiba disbelievingly. "I didn't exactly get on well with Shino today."
"You were reckless," Kurenai admitted, "but Shino..."
"...is some kind of robot?" suggested Kiba.
Kurenai cut to the point.
"Kiba, you're on this team because…"
Kiba again witnessed an unusual silence as Kurenai thought.
"…a team's like a person. It'll never work without a heart."
He stared in disbelief.
"You think I'm…a heart."
What the hell kind of sensei did I get?!
She shook him from his confusion by asking:
"Kiba, what did you spend today doing?"
He thought on this.
"Uh…I got up…ate stuff…went to school-"
"With Hinata and Shino," she said. "I watched the three of you. You kept giving Hinata compliments-"
"She looked like they needed them!" interrupted Kiba. "Uh…sorry, sensei."
"No, that's right," she said. "She did look like she needed them. And every time she did, you were there for her. What'd you do with Shino?"
"Shino…I fought with him all the time."
"Why?"
"Well…" Kiba said. "It's just, like, he's sort of…"
He kicked at a clump of dirt nearby.
"…weird. Like, hard to read, y'know? I can't tell what he's about. Everything he says it sounds like he's been practicing how to say it in his head. Like he's written a speech before he even opens his mouth."
He looked back to his sensei.
"I mean…What kinda guy is that?"
"Shino's not like everyone else," she admitted. "The Aburame clan doesn't raise children the way the Inuzuka do. You're gonna need to work a lot harder to get him to loosen up."
"Wh...me?!" Kiba threw his hands up. "So it's now my job to turn Shino into a normal person? I'm here to be…a heart?"
"Can you think of anybody in your class, apart from Sasuke, that really doesn't like you?" she asked.
Kiba considered this for some time.
"No…" he admitted. "But Hinata's the same – everybody likes her."
"Hinata is also extremely shy," said Kurenai. "Can you imagine Sasuke, Hinata and Shino together in a team? They'd never even try to work together, and teamwork is vital to a squad's success in missions. Plus, neither Hinata nor Shino are as good at taijutsu as you, and Akamaru was literally born to track people. Apart, all of us have flaws, but in squads, we can fill those flaws in."
Kiba was not satisfied.
"Sensei, I don't think you get this. I'm…"
"…emotional?"
He nodded.
"Shino never gets angry. Ever. He's never looked sad, or in pain, or anything. Nothing fazes Shino. That's why I don't like him, Kurenai-sensei. Everything that happens to him, it just does nothing. Nothing at all."
He sighed.
"And I don't get anything first try," he said, "or even second, usually. I can't think of plans, sensei. I just know how to run in and fight like hell."
"You can't think of plans?" she asked. "Then how did you think to switch yourself with Akamaru so well?"
"I…that was a fluke!"
She privately did not believe this, but instead said:
"Alright, Kiba. You're not as smart as Shino. But if Shino can't feel anything, that's not a strength. And if he can feel things, but he never lets them show, that's probably the biggest weakness anyone can have. You're luckier than he is. You don't care what people think, because when you find out what the right thing to do is, you do it without any hesitation."
Kiba was disturbed to realise how true this was.
"Hinata-"
"Hinata is more like you. She knows what's right and she can feel it. I know she can be a great ninja – maybe the greatest of all. But she's scared. She's afraid of what will happen to her if she steps on anybody's toes. Hinata lets herself be kept down by her emotions."
She put a hand on his shoulder.
"You let them control you sometimes, but in the end you have power over them. They let you see what Shino can't right now, and they can take you to places Hinata won't dare to go yet. You're the right person for this squad, and the right ninja for me to train. That's why you're in my squad."
She silently let Kiba process this.
"Hinata's too emotional…" he said. "Shino's too…unemotional. I'm in the middle…and you want me to help them get better?"
Kurenai nodded.
Doubt lingered in his mind.
"You really think I can do all that?"
Kurenai raised her head.
"Yes," she said. "But, I could be wrong. Maybe you can't."
"I'll do it," said Kiba immediately.
Kurenai permitted herself a smile.
Kiba rubbed the side of his neck in thought. He then nodded as if coming to a decision, and knelt down in front of Kurenai, Akamaru at his side. Kurenai stepped back, surprised.
"W-what're you doing?" she asked, looking around in confusion.
"Kurenai-sensei, I'm sorry for my previous conduct," he recited. "From now on, I vow to follow your orders, keep the squad together, and kick ass. I swear this as a ninja of the Inuzuka clan."
Here both he and Akamaru bowed a little lower. Shrugging, Kurenai guessed:
"I…accept your vow, Kiba. Uh, rise a ninja of Konoha."
Kiba smiled, and stood up again.
"It's the Inzuka Oath of Service," he explained. "We used to swear it to the Hokage whenever we became genin."
Kurenai smiled at him.
"So you vow to follow my orders, keep the squad together, and 'kick ass'?"
"It wasn't quite the vow's exact words," admitted Kiba. "I kinda shortened it. It's meant to go on for twenty minutes, but I figured you'd wanna go home soon, Kurenai-sensei."
"Thankyou, Kiba," she responded. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes, Kurenai-sensei."
Stepping back, Kurenai leapt away.
Kiba stood up straight, eyes flicking through the trees. He brought his hands to the back of his head and sighed.
"Ay."
So…I gotta save Shino from being a tightass, and help Hinata get over her fears… This'll be interesting…
By now, Kiba did not doubt that he would succeed; the only real question in his mind was how he'd do it. But brainstorming for Kiba was useless without someone to bounce ideas off, someone he trusted…and most importantly, someone who couldn't tell him in words his ideas were stupid.
"Akamaru?" he called.
Slowly, the little nose of the dog peeked out from behind a tree, and Akamaru's head followed. The dog peeked out at Kiba, looking annoyed at him.
"Hey," he said, "you can stop standing guard now."
Akamaru woofed and waved his head around.
"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that! I didn't mean that stuff about Shino's technique being better than you."
The dog remained unconvinced.
"I was pissed off! I'd just lost the scroll!"
Akamaru looked at him.
"Okay, we just lost the scroll."
More frosty silence.
"…thankyou for being my decoy," he said. "I couldn't've done this without you."
Akamaru came out from behind the tree. Cautiously he stalked over to Kiba, who knelt.
"You're still my best friend," Kiba said. "Even if I do have to help Hinata and Shino out with being normal, remember?"
Pausing, Akamaru still waited for a moment. Then, he leapt at Kiba to send him to the ground, enthusiastically licking his master's face and barking.
"Hey! Hey! Stop! C'mon!"
Kiba pulled Akamaru off of him.
"Ugh! Now my head smells like your breath!"
Akamaru barked.
"Well, more like your breath. Stupid mutt."
The tiny dog woofed again as he made his way up to Kiba's head.
"You ready?"
He nudged Kiba.
"Okay," the boy said, and he chakra-jumped off into the rapidly approaching night.
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Unlike Hinata (who barely spoke to her appointed minders) or Kiba (who had none), Shino was actually on quite good terms with his minder, Zangai Aburame. The twenty-two year old did not only and specifically guard Shino, but Shino felt that there was a connection between them that he didn't really have with anyone else.
Zangai was tall, like most Aburame, and quite thin. Unlike most Aburame, however, his hair was blond; his father had been a businessman from the Land of Waves that had moved to Konoha and married an Aburame woman.
The two sat in the Eastern Hall of the Aburame compound, colloquially called 'the Nest' by some Aburame. Contrary to urban legend, the compound did not stretch hundreds of miles underground, nor did it have a network of subterranian passages all under Konoha; that would be a massive security risk. It was also not home to an enormous flying beetle that was the true leader of the clan, as Shino had once heard one rather wild-looking man claim to a group of enraptured onlookers. Built in the time of Shino's great grandfathers, the compound held virtually the entire clan within a deceptively small space.
The Eastern Hall was huge, but only Zangai and Shino were present at that point. Enormous lights illuminated the stone hall as the two ate.
Picking up rice with his chopsticks, Zangai broke the silence that had been in place since the start of the meal.
"How did your first training session transpire?" he asked, his sunglasses reflecting the high, soft light above.
Shino finished chewing, and said:
"It was…"
He considered his day. How had it been? Interesting, certainly. Trying? Difficult? Complex? Confronting?
"…good," he finished.
Zangai said nothing, but nodded in acceptance of this brief statement.
'Good', Shino thought, annoyed at himself. I think I should read the dictionary again.
Both ate on in silence, until Shino said:
"My teammates…they are unusual."
"How so?" asked Zangai.
"Both are over-emotional," said Shino. "One alternates between extreme nervousness, sadness, lack of accurate judgement of her own qualities…potentially depressive. The other is prone to wild delusions of grandeur."
"What are their names?"
"Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka," Shino responded.
Zangai contemplated this.
"The girl is a Hyuga…and yet she does not have a great deal of percieved self-worth?"
"No. Her ability obviously outstrips her confidence."
At first, Shino knew what he said was true, but then he thought again. She had been very low at the beginning of the training with Kurenai, her chakra-jumping poor…but then when he'd seen her again, she'd been much more competent. There, the power that he felt in her was much greater than before, he could understand that now. But how could that have happened?
He knew that chakra was made up of physical and spiritual energy. She had no physical change between their points of meeting, apart from being somewhat mud-covered, but her spiritual energy…
Shino had always been unsure about the 'spiritual energy' aspect of chakra. What exactly, was it? Every source he had consulted was vague, only alluding where explanations were needed. Could Hinata have found a massive source of spiritual energy in that forest? If so, how?
These were too many questions for Shino, so he spoke again:
"Hyuga…are they usually calm? I have observed them in the village, and they seem unmarred by problems of temperament."
"Seemingly," said Zangai. "However, Hyuga are not like Aburame. They prefer courtesy and ritual to logic and rationality; they would rather save face than save time or energy. It is a fact that the Hyuga, despite the masks that they wear, are ruled more by their emotions than they care to admit."
Shino looked to his minder.
"Zangai…don't we wear masks?"
Zangai did not need to be told that Shino was being figurative, but he slid his sunglasses up closer to his face as he prepared to answer the question.
"We are deeper than the faces we hide," he said. "We do not let our thoughts be seen by others without our knowledge. It is only actions that should be seen. A ninja unknown is a ninja all-powerful."
"So I have been told," said Shino. "And yet my squadmates, who are obviously emotional, were as competent as I during the exercise with Kurenai-sensei."
Zangai drank.
"I see."
They did not speak for a time, both eating their rice in silence. As Shino finished, however, Zangai said:
"Do not be troubled by the nature of your squadmates. Even clan members that should perform their duties more strictly have permitted their feelings concerning each other to negatively affect their actions."
Shino asked: "Truly?"
Zangai nodded.
"I have witnessed altercations involving Inuzuka and Hyuga members before," he said. "The Hyuga claimed that the Inuzuka was overly familiar with their dog partner on a regular basis, whilst the Inuzuka replied by accusing the Hyuga of being both the result of and a participant in repeated inbreeding."
Zangai put his spoon back into the bowl, and finished:
"Violence ensued."
Shino laughed. He knew it was a lecture disguised as a joke – or possibly a joke disguised as a lecture, he was unsure – but that Zangai had given him the opportunity to laugh was a subtle kindness that other minders didn't always give him.
It was a strange thing, really. For a moment, he had let himself laugh at something momentary that passed into nothingness in seconds. It felt…positive. Unusually positive.
Another thought crossed his mind, but he quelled it quickly, and he did not think upon it at all for the rest of the night. Yet it planted a seed in his mind, a germination that would come to grow in the time ahead of him.
What if I could feel like that all the time?
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