DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO THE SISTER YAMANAKA CHAPTER 7: A TEAM IS TESTED
"Let's hear it, Hiashi." Inoichi told the Hyuuga again. "Something is wrong, or else you would've left right after her check up."
The Hyuuga gave Inoichi a cold stare. He hadn't been comfortable with this whole thing since it began. Of course, the ones directly involved wouldn't listen to his warnings. Now, thanks to that, he was being forced to be the bad guy in this whole ordeal. Just because one is logical in thinking, that should not make them the villain. Hiashi believed that more than anything else. Still, he was bound by the Hokage and the council's orders. So for the time being, he had no choice.
"The seal is weakening." Hiashi said simply.
"What do you mean?" Inoichi asked.
"Exactly what I said." Hiashi replied. "While it is too early to figure out just what that will mean… I must let the council know."
Inoichi bit his lip a bit to learn this. Naru had never been popular among the majority of them. That much was made obvious by all the standards and rules they put down just for him to adopt the girl as a baby. They could use this news carry out their will. They could possibly go as far as to have the girl killed, before summoning Jiraiya. Some would probably see that as an underhanded tactic, dishonest for sure. However, Inoichi wouldn't put it past them.
"No…" Inoichi said.
"Gomen?" Hiashi asked.
"You can't tell them. Not yet." Inoichi repeated.
"Yamanaka, I have a job to do." Hiashi said. "I do not need remind you that I warned you such a thing could happen. Had we had gone through with my idea, such concerns wouldn't be here now."
"Hear me out, Hyuuga." Inoichi shot back. "You and I both know that the council will probably want to take action immediately. I doubt that that action will involve contacting Jiraiya-sama in any form."
"Such a thing is not my concern." Hiashi spat. "That thing you call Naru is nothing more than a ticking time bomb. You, I, the council, the Hokage, everyone knows it. Everything has a limit, that seal included. I will not be held responsible, because you were to busy protecting a demon!"
"You…" Inoichi muttered.
The Yamanaka charged at Hiashi, anger burning in his eyes. Hiashi remained calm as the man charged, his Byakugan eyes activating in silence. He nimbly side-stepped Inoichi's attack, quickly spinning around in the process. Hiashi's hand shot out, grabbing Inoichi by his left arm, and then striking him quickly in the joint connecting his forearm to his upper portion of his arm.
"Listen well, Yamanaka." Hiashi said quietly. "Despite what affection you have for that thing, I will not let it stop me in my duty. I will warn the council that a closer eye needs to be kept on it. I will not put the village and my clan at risk because of this."
"Your clan…" Inoichi muttered. "Tell me, Hiashi… If this was your child, what would you do?"
There was a passing of silence between the two. Inoichi staring into Hiashi's eyes. Hiashi glaring back into Inoichi's. He still retained his grip on the Yamanaka's arm, and Byakugan staying active. The silence was interrupted by a clearing of throat. Both men slowly turned to see Mia standing in the doorway of the den, a concerned look on her face. Hiashi released Inoichi's arm and deactivated his Byakugan. Inoichi stepped away from the Hyuuga, glaring at him one more time before facing his wife.
"Gomen for interrupting… whatever the hell was going on in here…" Mia said. "But I thought you both should know Hokage-sama is here…"
--
Meanwhile, Shino, Naru, and Kiba were making their way back to Training Field #8. Unfortunately for Shino, the lunch wasn't as productive as he hoped. In fact, Naru and Kiba spent most of it simply annoying the hell out of each other. He wasn't really sure what to make of the two… Kiba was a Inuzuka, so Shino was sure he'd be of use. However, Naru was different. Shino remembered the girl had failed the exam… Yet she was somehow along side of them today. So, as the group was leaving the ramen stand, he made it a point to ask his question, to which Naru was happy to explain. She did leave out certain points, such as Kyuubi, but the girl told them everything else that had happened that night.
"So after that, I used the Kage Bunshin technique and kicked Mizuki's sorry ass up one side and down the other!" the girl said excitedly. "And because of that, Iruka allowed me to graduate!"
"No way!" Kiba remarked. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that dobe of the class could pull off a jutsu like that?!"
"I can, and I can do it again!" Naru shot back. "And don't call me dobe!"
"At any rate…" Shino said interjecting before the two could have another argument. "Iruka-sensei believed Naru to be ready to become a Genin. We have no choice, but to trust in his judgment on the matter."
"You're a straight-to-the-point kinda guy, huh?" Naru asked Shino.
"I am merely speaking the truth." Shino replied.
The three remained in silence as they returned to the training field. Kurenai was already there waiting on them. She smiled and waved as the three entered the field.
"Glad to see you all came back." she greeted.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kiba asked.
"There have been times when a team did not return for the test." Kurenai explained. "I suppose the thought of failing and being sent back to the academy didn't sit well with them…"
"Well, that's not the case with me!" Naru replied. "I'm gonna take that test, and pass it with flying colors!"
"I see… Then I hope you are able to meet your goal. At any rate, I will now explain the test." Kurenai said. The three Genin watched as she reached into a pouch around her waist, and pulled out a single stone. The stone wasn't much different from your basic rock, save for one thing. The center of it had a design painted on it, that being the leaf symbol of Konoha in a bright red. She held it up for the three of them to get a better look at it. "As you can see, I have single stone I carry with me. This will be involved in the test. I want you to be able to find this stone."
"Nani?" Naru asked. "Gomen, but… There's only one stone, and three of us."
"That's part of the catch, Naru." Kurenai replied. "Only one of you will be clearly able to find it and it bring it back. That means that one of you will become my student, while the other two will go back to the academy… Or simply quit."
"So, not only do we have to beat the odds with the others taking these tests… But we have to beat each other too…" Kiba said. A smirk came to his lips as he looked over at Naru. "Well… This shouldn't be too hard then."
"What's that supposed to mean, Flea-Bag?!" Naru demanded.
"Come on, ya dobe." Kiba taunted. "You remember playing hide and seek when we were younger, right?"
"Hai… I begged Sakura not to let you in, but she said it wasn't as fun without you." Naru sighed.
"Well, you suck at seeking. It's not like it'll take much to knock you out of the running this time!" Kiba exclaimed. The boy began to laugh at the thought. However, at the same time Naru was glaring daggers at him, and responded with a quick punch to the back of the head. "Ow! What the hell is your problem?!"
"You are!" Naru replied, pointing dramatically at Kiba. "That's why I'm going to make sure I'm the one to find the rock!"
"Alright, calm down you two. There's more to this test than just finding this rock." Kurenai sighed. The Genin watched as she reached into another pouch and pulled out a small alarm clock of sorts. She wound it up, and sat it down on a stump beside her. "I have sat this clock to go off at exactly five this afternoon. That gives you three hours to track down the stone. Are there any questions?"
The group simply shook their heads in response. Kurenai nodded and quickly tossed the rock into the air. The Genin watched as everything seemed to happen in a clockwork manner. No sooner had Kurenai tossed the rock into the air, did a bird swoop down and catch it in its talons, flying off from the training grounds and into the forest surrounding the village. Kurenai chuckled a bit and turned back to the three.
"Well… That was a bit unexpected." she mused. "At any rate, the test begins now. Good luck, everyone."
Kiba smirked as he leapt forward. Akamaru followed closely behind and he pointed towards the sky.
"You saw that bird, right boy?" Kiba asked the pup. The dog barked loudly, wagging his tail in the process. "That's right! Now let's get moving!"
The took off after the bird, Akamaru leading with Kiba following closely behind. Naru took off close behind, ensuring the boy that she was going to be the one to find the rock. Shino simply watched on for a moment and sighed, before he chased after his teammates. This left Kurenai alone on the training field.
"This may be more interesting than I thought…" she mused. She pulled a book out from a pouch and sat down in the grass. "At the very least, it gives me a chance to catch up on my reading… I wonder if they'll be able to figure out the real purpose of the test."
The team was in hot pursuit of the bird. The winged creature was still holding onto the rock tightly, and it appeared to not have any intention of releasing it. To make things worse, the bird was in fact heading inside the forest. The location wasn't so much the problem. After all, the three had been in the forest more than once. However, managing to track down the bird could prove to be difficult in the forest.
"Crap… This may make it a bit harder…" Naru sighed.
"Maybe for you!" Kiba snapped. "But not when I got the best tracker in the village on my side, right Akamaru?"
"Big deal, so you got someone to do the hard part for you…" Naru said. She quickly picked up her pace and stuck her leg under Kiba, causing him to trip. "But that's something I can work around!"
Kiba cursed as both Naru and Shino moved past him. Akamaru waited back with his master to make sure he was alright, but only for a moment. Kiba ordered the dog to move with the hunt, and he would catch up as soon as he could. The pup barked in response and ran into the woods.
"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Naru shouted. "If that thing won't drop the rock, I'll make him!"
The blonde quickly reached into a pouch on her belt, and pulled out a hand full of shuriken. She tossed them at the bird as quickly as she could, the said bird just barely dodging them. It cawed in response, and suddenly swooped down towards Naru, causing the blonde to let out a small yelp as she ducked underneath it. Naru quickly rose back to her feet and tossed another handful of shuriken at the bird, striking it and causing it to fall to the ground. Its talons released the stone as it fell, which began to roll down a side path in the wood.
"At least you managed to stop the bird…" Shino sighed.
Naru was about to reply, when Akamaru ran past the girl. Her eyes widened as the dog began to run circles around her. Shino too watched in curiosity, his eyebrows raising just a bit. Eventually the dog barked happily, and began to run down the path in which the rock had bounced down. Naru was about to give chase, when she suddenly fell forward. Her eyes widened as she gazed down at her legs, which were now wrapped in a small wire of sorts. Kiba dashed past the two Genin, but gave a wink to Naru as he did so.
"Have a nice trip, Yamanaka?!" he chuckled as he ran down the path.
"That rotten, flea-bitten, jerk!" Naru shouted as she grabbed her kunai. She quickly cut the wire, and rose to her feet. "I'm not going to lose to him!"
Shino sighed again. He watched as Naru dashed down the path that Kiba and Akamaru went down. Then, he too followed them. It was a steep hill, one that was easy to lose your footing if you were not careful. Naru learned this quickly when she slipped and slid the rest of the way down. She landed with an oomph and a curse, slowly picking herself off the ground shortly afterwards. Her eyes widened at the sight she saw.
"You've got to be kidding me…" she sighed.
The hill that the team had ran down lead to a riverbank. What caused Naru's sudden depression however, was the fact that the riverbank was covered in various rocks. This meant that the stone the team was after was now perfectly camouflaged amongst the others along the bank. Naru turned to see Kiba shoulder's slumped and a sigh escape his lips.
"Great… Now what the hell are we supposed to do?" he asked.
"We find the stone." Shino said quietly as he joined them. "Remember, Kurenai-sensei marked the rock to look different than a normal one. So it should not be impossible to track down."
"You heard him, Akamaru! Let's find it and quick!" Kiba ordered.
The dog barked and began to sniff along the ground. Kiba followed the pup, and began to pick up several rocks, looking at each one carefully before tossing them aside. It wasn't long before the entire team was scanning the riverbank, all for a single stone. Time just seemed to crawl on at this point. Naru had never found anything so important, but so boring at the same time. After what she thought to be probably the three-hundredth stone, an idea popped into her head. She smirked as she reached over and began to shuffle through the pile of stones she had already gone through, until she found one that resembled the one she wanted. A giggle escaped her lips, one that caught the attention of both Shino and Kiba.
"What the hell are you laughing at, Naru?" Kiba asked.
"Simple, my dear Mutt-Brain!" Naru stated proudly. "I found Kurenai-sensei's rock!"
A moment of silence seemed to pass the group for a moment. Kiba rose from his pile of stones, and walked over to Naru. He quickly snatched the stone from the girl's hand and looked it over, before Naru snatched it back and glared at him.
"Baka… That is not Kurenai-sensei's stone!" Kiba snapped.
"Of course not!" Naru replied. "Yet…"
"Nani?" Kiba remarked.
"It's simple, Dog Breath…" Naru told him. She reached into a pocket on her shorts and pulled out a red marker. She began to scribble a design on the marker, her grinning as she did so. After a moment or so, she stopped and rose to her feet. "There! I give you Kurenai-sensei's stone!"
What was once just an average stone, was now almost a perfect copy of Kurenai's rock. Kiba took the stone from the girl again and looked it over, before looking back at Naru again.
"You're going to try and trick her?" Kiba asked.
"There's no try about it! I mean, look at this rock! It's a perfect match for the one she sent us after!" Naru said proudly. "Anyone would fall for it! Especially when it's being done by the Prank Queen of Konoha!"
At this point, Shino rose and walked over to Naru. He too looked at the stone carefully. After a moment, he shook his head, sighing in the process.
"It will not work." he stated.
"How do you know?!" Naru asked.
"I'm sure Kurenai-sensei has been writing and drawing for a long enough time to know whether something is her work or not." the Aburame explained. "Also, do you remember her introduction? Kurenai-sensei stressed that she hates cheaters. She can most likely easily tell, and if you bring her that, it's cheating."
"I guess you're right…" Naru mused, tossing the rock into the river.
"Just keep looking for the rock." Shino replied. "We should find it soon."
--
To say that Inoichi was surprised would be an understatement. After all, it wasn't everyday that the Sandaime came to your house unexpected. The old man looked at the scene before him, and cleared his throat as he walked inside the den.
"Gomen…" he said quietly. "I hope I was not interrupting anything important?"
"No…" Inoichi replied. "Everything is fine. Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable, Hokage-sama."
"Arigato, Inoichi-san." the old man replied. He took a seat in a chair, and gave a nod to both Hiashi and Inoichi. The two slowly moved to the couch in the den, and sat as well. "I heard about the check-up the council ordered you to give Naru, Hiashi-san. I'd like to hear the findings."
"Very well, Hokage-sama." Hiashi began. "As I told Inoichi, the seal is becoming weaker…"
"Weaker?" the Sandaime replied. "I see…"
"Hai." Hiashi said. "It is still to early to see what this means, but we should still take the proper precautions. I have told Inoichi that the council should be informed at once."
"And I disagree!" Inoichi retorted to the Hyuuga. "Hokage-sama, you know as much as I do what could happen if they learn this!"
"I do, Inoichi…" the Sandaime sighed. "However, I also know that they have the right to know, in order to ensure the village's safety."
"So we shall tell them, then?" Hiashi asked.
"We shall… Though not just yet." the Sandaime said. "We need to gather more information about the seal and study it. We need to find out all the possibilities that could occur."
"So, we wait?" Hiashi replied, a bit of displeasure in his voice.
"Hai. The seal shouldn't be weak enough at this point to cause major concern." the Hokage replied. "I fear that if the council did know about this, an unnecessary panic would rise. That is why I shall send for Jiraiya to return to the village. With both you and he looking at the seal and her chakra system, we should be able to determine the proper actions to be taken, Hiashi-san."
"If that is your wish…" Hiashi replied. "However, I warn you now. Should this pose a problem for any member of my clan, or Konoha as a whole. I will not hesitate to carry things out my way… If you will excuse me, Hokage-sama."
Hiashi politely bowed and left the home. The old man sighed for a moment, removing his hat and rubbing his forehead. Inoichi could tell the man was getting tired, and as much as he probably tried to show it, his age was showing.
"Arigato, Hokage-sama…" Inoichi told him. "This means a lot to me."
"There is no need in that sort of thing, Inoichi-san." the Sandaime sighed. "However, I can only keep this a secret for so long… As much as it pains me to say, Hiashi is right about this… I will send word to Jiraiya immediately. He will be the best chance we have at this moment to help Naru…"
--
"I FOUND IT!" Naru shouted in success.
"This better not be another stupid idea…" Kiba muttered.
"Shut it, Flea Bag!" Naru snapped. She proudly rose to her feet and walked to the boy. Sure enough in her hand was the stone with the right markings on it. "I found that stone, and now I'm gonna be the one to pass the test!"
Naru laughed in triumph. She raised the stone high in the air, as if showing it off for the world to see. Her moment in the sun wasn't to last long though. For at that moment, a white, furry blur leapt through the air and clutched the stone in its teeth. Naru turned around and her eyes widened to see Akamaru holding on to the stone tightly. Kiba was petting the dog's head as he released the stone into the boy's free hand.
"Nice work, Akamaru…" Kiba told him. "Now if you excuse me, I have a test to pass!"
The boy and dog took off running towards the village. Naru was hot on his trail. Shino sighed as he rose to his feet and followed behind. This whole thing just seemed so troublesome… There had to be some catch to this… Something that they just weren't seeing. Suddenly, his eyes widened. It him right then and there. However, he had to pick up the pace and manage to catch Naru and Kiba before it was too late. While Shino was trying to catch up to the two, Naru and Kiba were in the midst of an epic struggle for the stone. Kiba would have the stone for one moment, but then Naru would strike managing to rip it out of his hand. This kind of thing continued for quite a bit, right until they found themselves struggling for the stone, one of them with a hand on a side.
"Give it up, dobe… I'm passing this test!" Kiba shouted.
"Not before I do, Dog Butt!" Naru snapped back.
Their hands must've been getting sweaty, because at that moment the stone squeezed out of their hands. The stone skipped along the street, rolling right before a small boy and two of his friends. Naru and Kiba seemed to both freeze at this moment, staring at the sight.
"Hey… What kinda rock is this?" the boy asked. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a red swirl in the front of it. He had a blue scarf around his neck and a pair of gray shorts on. A strange helmet was on his head, with a patch of brown hair sticking out of the back of it. "Hey, Udon! Have you ever seen a stone like this?"
"I don't think so, Konohamaru…" the boy beside of him asked as he looked the stone over. He was wearing a long-sleeved, blue shirt and brown shorts. A pair of rather large glasses were over his eyes, and a small trail of snot could be seen hanging out of his nose. "What about you Moegi?"
"Nope!" the girl of the group replied. She was wearing a red dress, with a pink t-shirt underneath. She had red, almost orange hair that she kept up in pigtails. "I've never seen one like that!"
"It must be some kinda super rare, one of a kind stone!" Konohamaru shouted.
"Do you really think so?" Moegi asked.
"Of course! I mean, if no one has ever seen one like that before, then what else could it mean?!" Konohamaru replied.
Naru shoved Kiba out of the way and ran to the group of kids. She placed a huge smile on her face, one to show the kids that she had no thoughts of being mean to them. After all, kids liked it when adults were nicer to them.
"Hey! Arigato for finding that stone for me!" Naru told him. "I lost it earlier because of that jerk behind me. Would you mind giving it back?"
Naru smiled more, trying to show that she was a friendly person. Konohamaru looked down at the rock and then back at her before shaking his head quickly.
"No way, lady!" he shouted. "Why would I give a rock like this to just anybody?!"
"Please…" Naru begged in a very cute sounding voice. "Wouldn't you like to give it to a pretty girl?"
"Sure I would." Konohamaru said with a nod. "Do you know one?!"
Naru fell over at hearing this, earning several odd looks from the people in the area. A series of various curses escaped her lips as she picked herself up. Luckily, none of them could be heard over the laughing pouring from Kiba's mouth. Naru shot the boy a glare, and she turned back to Konohamaru.
"Look, kid…" Naru began. "I need that as a shinobi of Konoha. The future of the entire village rests on it!"
"Give me a break!" Konohamaru shouted. "I may be little, but I'm not stupid! How can a rock save the future of the village?!"
"Because… If I don't have that rock, I can't pass the second part of the Genin exam, which means I won't become an official shinobi of the village, which means I'll never get to become the Hokage!"
"Hokage?!" Konohamaru asked in surprise. "You mean you wanna be the Hokage too?"
"Too?" Naru asked.
"That's my dream! I wanna become the Hokage too!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "If a stone like this has the power to do that, then there's no way I'm gonna let you have it! Udon, Moegi! Let's get moving, and fast!"
The three kids turned to run. Naru quickly leapt at the three, tackling Konohamaru in the process. However, the boy quickly tossed it to Moegi. He cheered as the two ran away, before flicking Naru in the nose. This caused the girl to loosen her grip on the boy enough for him to squeeze out. He ran in the direction his friends did, sticking his tongue out at Naru as he did so.
"Good going…" Kiba sighed. "Now I have to chase down a bunch of kids…"
"Please… I told you once that I'm not going to let you pass!" Naru replied.
"How about both of you calm down for a moment." Shino said, suddenly arriving on the scene.
"Shino?!" Naru called. "Where have you been?"
"Following both of you around for the most part." the boy replied. "And now I'd like you both to just stop and listen to me for a moment. I think we've been going about this test the wrong way."
"Nani? What are you talking about?" Kiba asked.
"Think about it for a moment." Shino answered, adjusting his sunglasses a bit. "After we passed Iruka-sensei's test, what did he do?"
"He assigned us to these teams…" Naru replied. "But what does that have to do with anything."
"If you stop and think, plenty." Shino said. "Remember, he told us that these teams were formed by the Hokage, and he couldn't rearrange the members or formations. Now, each of these teams were formed in to three member squads… Four if you count the Jounin leader, correct?"
"Hai…" they both replied to the Aburame.
"Then, Kurenai-sensei assigned us this test." Shino continued. "To track down a single stone, and bring it back to her. However, she told us that because of the number only one of us would pass."
"We already know all of this, Shino…" Naru muttered.
"Alright, then tell me." Shino said. "What sense would it make then, for these teams to be assigned, if the Jounin sensei would follow through by breaking them up?"
"It wouldn't…" Naru exclaimed quietly. "Then that means…"
"It was part of Kurenai-sensei's test…" Kiba finished. "Not just to find a stone, but to test if we would be able to work as a team!"
"Correct." Shino said simply. "So, we only have half of an hour left to get the stone and bring it back to her. What do you say we work together to do so?"
"Well, it sounds like a plan." Kiba mused. "But it'll be tough… I mean, those kids have it now."
"Then we'll just have to track them down and get it back. And all of us have the techniques we need." Shino said. He pointed over to the ground at a tissue. "Did one of them drop that?"
"That Udon kid!" Naru replied. "He looked like he had a cold from Hell… So he probably had it to blow his nose or something."
"I know where this is going." Kiba said. He walked over and picked up, whistling for Akamaru to come too. "Alright, boy… Give it a sniff and lead us to them."
The dog sniffed the tissue and then the ground. He barked loudly, and began to run down the street, Kiba and the others following right behind him. The ran along the road, until they arrived at the area of the training grounds again. It wasn't the same one that Kurenai was waiting at, but it was close. The three Genin and dog paused in the bushes, slowly looking out.
"It seems Akamaru found our prey." Shino said quietly. "Now for step two… All we have to do is wait for the right moment…"
Meanwhile, Konohamaru was happily looking the stone over. He and his friends were completely unaware that Naru and the others were in the area. Instead, thoughts of becoming the next Hokage were filling his head, and how according to that blonde girl, this stone would be his key to doing so.
"Once the old man sees this stone, I'm gonna be the Hokage for sure!" he cheered.
"Are you sure, Konohamaru?" Udon asked. "It seems like there should be more to it…"
"No way! You heard that girl… She said that this stone was her key to becoming Hokage!" the leader of the group said. "I mean, just look at it! It's so… Shiny and fancy! It even has the symbol of Konoha on it! Everything just… fits!"
"Well, I can't see!" Moegi declared. "Konohamaru, let me have a better look at it!"
She surprised the boy by trying to grab it out of his hand. Instead of grabbing it though, she accidentally knocked it out of Konohamaru's hands. The stone hit the grass, rolling a bit towards the bushes.
"Be careful, Moegi!" Konohamaru snapped. "You're gonna mess it up!"
"Gomen, Konohamaru!" Moegi replied, rubbing her head sheepishly. "I'll go get it real quick!"
The girl rose to her feet and ran to the bushes and the stone. She bent down to pick it up, examining it carefully for anything that might have been wrong with it. However, has she flipped it over a scream escaped her lips and she dropped it back to the ground. Konohamaru and Udon quickly rose to their feet, and ran to the girl.
"Moegi?!" Udon declared. "What is it? What's wrong?!"
"Th-That rock!" she shouted. "It's covered in… in…"
"In what?" Konohamaru asked.
"In gross, icky, yucky bugs!" Moegi shrieked.
"Are you kidding me?!" Konohamaru asked. "All that 'cause of some bugs?! I'll get it…"
He walked forward and bent down to pick it up. However, right when his hand touched it, a familiar, tanned, female hand touched it as well. Konohamaru looked up to see Naru grinning at him just like before. His eyes narrowed as he clutched the rock. Naru too clutched it, but her face remained just as happy and friendly.
"Looks like you found my rock again!" she said cheerfully. "Arigato!"
"I told you, I'm taking the rock!" Konohamaru replied. "There's no way I'm gonna let you take it and become Hokage!"
"Really?" Naru asked. "Then how about giving it to one of my friends?"
"I said no!" Konohamaru replied.
However, right after he stated that he felt Udon tap him on the shoulder. Konohamaru looked over his shoulder at the boy. He was standing, shaking a bit and pointing ahead of him. Konohamaru blinked in confusion, and slowly looked where he was pointing. His eyes widened as he saw not just Naru, but five identical copies of her standing in front of him. He quickly spun around and saw five more. The three children had been completely surrounded by her.
"Now… Like I was saying before…" Naru said quietly. "May I please have my rock back?"
"F-Fine!" Konohamaru shouted as he let go of the rock. He, Udon, and Moegi quickly ran out of the circle as fast as they could. "But don't think this is over! You are officially my rival for the title of Hokage!"
Naru chuckled as the kids ran away. Her Kage Bunshin all quickly puffed away in a cloud of smoke, leaving only the original Naru. Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru all climbed out the bushes, and Naru turned to them with a smile.
"Mission complete!" she cheered.
"Alright!" Kiba replied. "But… What are you gonna do now, Naru? I mean, you just got a boyfriend and all…"
"Shut up!" Naru shouted, punching the boy in the back of the head.
"Let's just get the stone back to Kurenai-sensei…" Shino sighed.
The two agreed, and the team made a dash for Training Ground #8. Kurenai was still reading her book at the time. She paused, glancing over at the clock. The alarm would be going off any moment now, and she still hadn't seen or heard from the group. She slowly sat up and stretched, a small yawn escaping her lips. It was at that moment though, that Naru's shouting could be heard.
"Kurenai-sensei! Kurenai-sensei!" the blonde girl shouted. "We got it! We got the rock!"
The three arrived in front of Kurenai, and Naru placed the rock in the Jounin's hand. It was at that moment that the alarm clock went off. The three of them and the small pup had just barely managed to beat the time limit. Kurenai smiled at them as she examined the rock, taking the time make sure it was the right one. She gave a nod and turned back to her team.
"Very good…" Kurenai began. "However… What do you mean we got the rock? I thought I told you that only one would pass…"
"Ha! That's where we got you!" Naru replied.
"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked. The three of them explained the whole incident to the woman. The chase through the forest, having to search for the rock at the riverbank, Konohamaru's stealing of it, and finally how all three of them came together to get the rock back and bring it back to her as a team. Kurenai smiled as she heard the tale and nodded. "Excellent work… You all seem to finally understand what the point of the test was. It was not just to test abilities, but also to test your abilities to work as a team. I'm proud of all three of you."
"Heh… It was nothing!" Kiba chuckled.
"Maybe because you didn't do much of the work…" Naru muttered.
The two glared at each other again. Shino sighed once more. Kurenai chuckled and shook her head.
"Now, now… Calm down…" she said. "Just because the test is over doesn't mean that you can all just forget what you've learned during it. You all must be tired, so I'm going to call it a day. You may all go home and get some rest."
The three nodded. Kiba and Akamaru began to run from the training field, proud of their accomplishment. Shino gave a respectful nod and exited as well. Naru was about to leave, when Kurenai suddenly cleared her throat. The blonde turned around, looking at her sensei curiously.
"Kurenai-sensei? Is everything alright?" Naru asked.
"Hai… Everything is fine, Naru." Kurenai replied. "I simply wish to speak with you for a moment."
"Sure…" Naru agreed. "What's up?"
"I wanted to talk about a certain technique you know. I believe you know it as the Ina Tenkuu Kiri Jutsu, correct?" Kurenai began.
"Hai… That's the genjutsu that I used on Mizuki…" Naru replied quietly. "But… why do you wanna know about it?"
"Well, the truth of the matter is, that technique is a very powerful genjutsu… It's not one that many can learn… Which is part of the reason you were placed on my team." Kurenai explained. "The Hokage-sama believes that you have the potential to be a very powerful shinobi, especially in the field of genjutsu."
"Really?! The old man thinks that?!" Naru exclaimed.
"Hai… However, he also believes you could use a lot of work." Kurenai replied. She noticed Naru looked confused, so she went on. "Although you do know how to use a powerful genjutsu, you do not have the skills to perform others… Or even truly understand how to use them well. According to the report the Hokage received from both Iruka and Inoichi, your basic handling was sloppy, and you could use a lot of work. That is where I will come in."
"You, Kurenai-sensei?" Naru asked.
"Hai. I am a Jounin, this you already know." Kurenai said. "However, I am also known as the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha. There are few in this village who have a better handling of genjutsu than I do. So, I'd like to train you further in them. I believe the Hokage was right in his judgment of your potential, and I'd like to help you. Will you allow me to do this?"
"You really wanna help me?" Naru asked.
"Of course." Kurenai replied. "So, what do you say?"
"I'm in!" Naru cheered.
"Good…" Kurenai said. "I will arrange a time when you and I can be alone to work on your genjutsu skills. I'm looking forward to working with you, Naru."