Chapter 8: Team Training
I'm baaaaaaack! So how have you all been? I know you all are practically dying for me to get on with this story of mine, but we shouldn't jump into the action just yet. That would be rushing things, and rushing things will only make problems.
So now we're going to be seeing Team 8 as they train, do missions, and improve as a whole before we continue with canon and start the Wave Arc. I assure you, things are going to be very different then how they originally were. You might like these changes.
Enough rambling, on with the show!
For three weeks, Team 8 has been training hard to improve upon their personal skills and teamwork. They would meet at the training grounds at 8:00 in the morning and commence with this schedule.
8:00-9:00=Warmups
9:00-10:30=Teamwork Exercises and Chakra Control
10:30-12:00=Sparing
12:00-1:00=Lunch Break
1:00-2:00=Genjutsu Detection and Releasing
2:00-5:00=Missions
Each training session helped them become closer to one another and grow stronger each day. Of course, they never would have thought that Kurenai would be a drill sergeant with her being a new Jounin.
And they never expected how torturous she could be with her Genjutsu. Though, Hinata never complained when her Genjutsu's involved a certain Jinchuriki doing certain things that resulted in Hiinata getting massive nosebleeds, much to Naruto's confusion, especially since she would never tell him about those Genjutsu's. And blush furiously whenever he came near her during those days.
However, today was going to be a new experience for Team 8...
(Training Grounds 16)
"Did I ever mention how much I hate Genjutsu?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms and huffed.
"Every day since we started," Shino told him as he observed a beetle that landed on his finger. Naruto just gave him a look while Hinata giggled at his face. Kurenai chuckled at her students antics while they took a short break from their training.
"It's not my fault I can't cast a single one," Naruto said.
"Well, it kinda is," Kurenai said. "The Genjutsu that I know don't require a lot of chakra, and it's because of your large reserves that you can't cast any of them."
"Why must I be cursed with such a hurtful gift?!" Naruto wailed as anime tears fell down his face. Kurenai sweat dropped and considered sending Naruto to a psychiatrist before shaking the thought from her head.
"N-Naruto-kun, it's not t-that bad," Hinata said as she tried to console her secret love.
"I know Hinata-chan, it's just very frustrating," Naruto said as he detached his arm and threw it up to grab an apple. He pulled back and handed the apple to Hinata, who blushed a bright red before she took the apple and ate it with a smile on her face.
"Alright, now let's-" Kurenai was cut off when another person entered the training grounds. She had light brown eyes and purple hair that was done up in a spiky ponytail. She was wearing a mesh shirt that was practically see-through, reaching down to her thighs. An orange skirt was hanging from her hips, not even reaching her knees. She also had a tan trenchcoat that did nothing to hide her figure.
"What are you doing her Anko?" Kurenai asked.
"Hey Kure-chan, you're needed in the Hokage's office for a small mission," Anko said as she took out a dango stick and began to munch on it.
"But I'm training my team," Kurenai protested.
"What do you want me to do about it? I'm no teacher," Anko told her.
Kurenai grinned and made a hand seal. "Well now you are." She then vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Anko and her three Genin in the training grounds. Anko stood there with a blank look on her face before her brain processed the information.
"How could she leave me with these gakis!?" Anko wailed as she gripped her hair.
"Something tells me that we won't like this," Naruto said as he looked at the purple haired ninja.
Anko then stopped her wailing and turned to Team 8 with a unnerving smile on her face. Upon seeing the smile, Hinata went to hide behind Naruto, who had decided to hide behind Shino, who was glad that his jacket and shades were hiding his panicked expression.
"So, kiddies, let's start with some survival training," Anko said as her smile became more sadistic. She bit her thumb, made a few hand seals, and slammed her hand on the ground, resulting in a large cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, Anko could be seen standing on top of a silver large snake with green markings running across its body. The snake hissed at the Genin while looking at them hungrily with its yellow eyes.
"N-Naruto-kun, I-I-I'm s-scared," Hinata said as she trembled at the sight of the large snake.
"You sssssummoned me misssstressss?" the snake asked.
"Yes I did Mai," Anko said as she stroked the snakes scales on its head. "Kure-chan left me to take care of her team while she was summoned to the Hokage's office. So we're going to give these gakis some survival training."
"Kurenai-ssssssan left YOU to help her team?" Mai questioned.
Anko grumbled, "Yeah, I can't believe it either. Now let the chase begin!"
The snake then lunged at Team 8, and the Genin just barely managed to jump away as the reptile slammed into the ground and created a large dust cloud. When the smoke cleared, Mai and Anko were gone and a large hole was in the ground.
"Great, a snake that can dig," Naruto moaned as he tensed up, hearing a hiss behind him. "Did anyone else hear that?!" He yelled as he whirled around, trying to find the snake.
"You're being paranoid," Shino told him as he sent out bugs.
Hinata was looking around with her Byakugan and trying to find out where Anko and Mai went.
"Naruto-kun! Behind you!" Hinata yelled as she saw the duo racing to hit the blond from behind. Naruto jumped out of the way and the ground burst open as Mai flew upwards, trying to swallow the Genin as he tried to get away, keyword being tried. The snake closed its jaws around Naruto, resulting in the snake's eyes widening before spitting Naruto out as it began to gag.
"What the Hell!? Are you made of ramen?!" Mai screamed as she continued to spit in disgust.
"Oi! You have a problem with ramen?!" Naruto yelled back. Anko, Hinata and Shino watched with sweatdrops as the Jinchuriki and the snake Summon argued back and forth about ramen. Mai declaring that it was disgusting while Naruto argued that it was the food of Kami.
"That gaki really loves his ramen," Anko muttered as she jumped back onto Mai's head. "Can we get back to the tour-I mean training?"
"Asssss you wisssssh," Mai said as she lunged towards Naruto as he jumped into the air while slamming his heel on the snake's snout. Mai recoiled in slight pain, and backed up into Shino's waiting bugs. The insects began to suck on the chakra that held the summon in this realm instantly. Mai was able to shake off the insects before they took too much chakra.
Hinata then began to fire several Air Palms at the snake, distracting it long enough for Naruto to wrap up the snake with his threads. Mai dug into the ground, forcing Naruto to let go unless he wanted to be dragged along for the ride.
"Not bad gakis, but it's gonna take more than that to take down this snake," Anko said as she sat in a nearby tree and munched on some dango.
"Anybody know where that snake went?" Naruto asked as he looked around.
"I d-don't see her a-anywhere," Hinata replied.
"She keeps changing locations before my insects can tell me where she is," Shino said with slight irritation.
"Cover me, I'm going to try using my threads," Naruto said as he knelt down and planted his hands on the ground. Hundreds of threads shot out from his sleeves and burrowed into the ground where they began to spread out and search for the snake.
Naruto then grinned and began to pull on his threads, but was immediately pulled back. Seeing his struggle, Hinata grabbed onto Naruto while Shino grabbed Hinata and the three Genin began to pull hard on the threads. Anko watched in amusement as the trio tried to drag Mai out of the ground, but that amusement turned into shock as the ground the threads dug into began to break. Moments later, a silver tail wrapped up in threads was slowly dragged out of the ground as it wiggled furiously.
"Let go of me!" Mai yelled as she was dragged out of the ground. all wrapped up in threads.
"So do we pass Anko-san?" Naruto asked as he tightened his threads around the snake.
Anko was flabbergasted at how her Summon was so easily taken down by three Genin. She was broken out of her stupor by the sound of Kurenai laughing as she landed beside her friend.
"Kurenai-sensei!" Team 8 yelled at the sudden appearance of their teacher.
"I thought you had a mission to go on?" Naruto asked.
Kurenai laughed and said, "This was a little test my friend Anko wanted to give to you guys after I bragged about how well you've grown. So we created a little lie so you guys wouldn't think that I was in the area."
"Very elaborate, I never expected it," Shino said as he adjusted his shades.
"That w-was very mean K-Kurenai-sensei," Hinata said.
"Well, I guess I could have just told you guys straight off the bat instead," Kurenai said as she rubbed the back of her head.
Naruto waved her off and said, "It's fine sensei, you were just doing what you thought was best."
'It's amazing how forgiving this kid is,' Anko thought as she watched the teacher and her students interact. She then sent Mai back to her own realm, freeing her from her bonds in the process.
"So how come you never introduced us to your friend Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Anko-chan's usually busy at the T&I Department, she's one of their best interrogators," Kurenai explained.
"So don't do anything bad or you might have to deal with me," Anko joyously said as she licked a kunai, making the three Genin shiver.
Kurenai smirked and addressed her team, "To celebrate your surviving of Anko's exercise, I'm going to take you guys to the Higurashi Weapons Shop to get some weapons, something I should have done a month ago."
"A-are you going to b-be paying for us s-sensei?" Hinata asked.
"Hai, and don't worry Hinata, I already got Hiashi-sama's permission on you getting a weapon, despite the Hyuga's tradition of only using kunai and shuriken," Kurenai told her only female student.
"Well, I'm gonna go and attend to the dango stick that's calling my name," Anko said as she disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kurenai then lead her team back into the village and down to the market district.
(Higurashi Weapons Shop)
Kurenai opened the door and let her Genin inside the store. The shelves were filled with every weapon imaginable, and makable. Attending the counter was a girl who was only a year older than them. She was wearing a pink sleeveless vest with dark green pants. Her hair was done in two buns that made her look like a panda. She had a Konoha forehead protector placed on her head with several bangs falling on the side of it.
"Welcome to Higurashi Weapons Shop!" the girl greeted with a small bow.
Kurenai gave a bow of her own and said, "Hello, I'm Kurenai Yuhi, leader of Team8. I was wondering if you would be able to help my team get some weapons that suit them."
The girl grinned and walked around the counter while saying, "Of course I can! My name's Tenten Higurashi by the way." She then grabbed Hinata and dragged her forward, resulting in an 'eep' coming from the Hyuga heiress. Tenten began to circle the younger girl like a prowling lion.
"Hmm, you don't have a lot of muscle on your arms. Despite being a Hyuga, you appear to be a person who would prefer to not kill you enemies," Tenten noted as she observed Hinata.
"You can tell all that just by looking at a person?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
"It's one of the skills that my tou-san taught me," Tenten declared proudly. She then went into one of the aisles and disappeared for a few minutes. When she came back, she had a bow and a quiver of arrows in her hands.
"These are special," Tenten began, "the quiver has multiple storage seals inside so you can carry a larger number of arrows. You just reach back and the sensor seal will release an arrow into your grasp. There is a connection seal on the bow that lets you know when you have less than twenty arrows. The arrows are also special, you can infuse your chakra into it to shut down your opponents tenketsu since your a Hyuga."
"Thank you v-very much," Hinata said as she bowed.
"I'm shocked, after being Neji's teammate I expected every other Hyuga to be a cold and unimpressionable person," Tenten said.
"Wait, you're on a team with Neji?" Naruto asked. Tenten nodded and Naruto immediately grabbed her hand while saying, "I feel so sorry for you. You're stuck with that teme every single day." Everyone, sans Hinata and Tenten, sweatdropped, thinking that Naruto was over exaggerating.
"I can give you some lessons on using these sometime," Tenten offered.
"I-I can't accept th-that," Hinata declined.
Tenten shook her head and, "I'm free on every Thursday so there's no need to worry about wasting any of my time." Hinata accepted the training offer after the rest of her team encouraged her, especially Naruto.
"Now for you," Tenten said as she turned her attention to Shino. She began to circle the Aburame and make several notes about her findings.
"Like most Aburame, you rely on you insects for long-range attacks. Your clan does not put too much of an importance on Taijutsu so you could be considered the opposite of a Hyuga in that regard. I think I have something that you'll like," Tenten said as she retreated back into the store once more. This time, she came back with two katanas that seemed to have been cut down from their original size.
"Just plain katanas Tenten-san?" Shino questioned.
Tenten shook her head and explained, "These katanas are made of chakra metal, so you can conduct your chakra through them to give them an added effect depending on your chakra nature. They might be a little long for you, but I think you'll be able to handle it."
"I appreciate this very much," Shino said as he gave a grateful bow to the older girl.
"I believe I can get my cousin Shika to give me some lessons, she also uses a sword along with her insects," Shino said as he examined the blades.
Tenten waved him off and approached her last customer. She took a longer time observing Naruto, resulting in him becoming slightly nervous from her close examination. Hinata had to remind herself that Tenten was just doing her job and not gazing at Naruto like he was a piece of meat. Like she does when nobody is looking.
"You're really unique, I'm having a hard time figuring out what weapon might suit you," Tenten said as she walked around the blond. "Your muscles say that you like to fight with your hands, but something tells me that you can extend your range with it." Naruto slightly flinched and continued to listen. "You don't look like the sword type, but I think I have something that you'll really like."
Tenten then retreated into the store once again and left the group lone for five minutes. After she returned she came back with a box and set it down on the counter.
"These are something that Konoha's been recently been making, and it just strikes me as something that fits you," Tenten explained as she tore off the tape and opened the box. Inside were two metal gauntlets that had pointed metal fingers. There was a larger area that surrounded the wrist section that held a spinning dial with four blank spots on it. (It's the same thing the Demon Brothers wore, except with the following changes that will be said.)
"Wow! These things look so cool!" Naruto shouted as he picked one up and began to examine it.
"You didn't even hear about the features yet," Tenten said with a grin on her face. "The fingers are made of a specialized metal that will allow you to perform hand seals without any problems. This spinning dial is here so you can write storage seals on the four blanks spots, making it a good place to store anything you need to carry. It's also made of chakra metal."
"Who came up with this type of weapon?" Kurenai asked.
"Tou-san said that it was mentioned by one of the shinobi council members in a meeting and the Hokage wanted to see if it would make a good weapon for our ninja," Tenten explained, having remembered what her father told her.
"I really like these things," Naruto said as he tried both of them on. The gauntlets felt comfortable and fit him like a glove. True to Tenten's word, the fingers were very flexible, yet durable. He was able to make every single hand seal that he knew with little difficulty.
"Alright, how much do I have to pay?" Kurenai asked, wanting to get to the bad news, for her at least.
Tenten walked back to the register and pushed a few buttons before turning back to the Jounin and declaring in a cheerful tone, "$40,000!"
Kurenai froze and promptly fainted when she heard the amount. Hinata ran towards her sensei and shook her shoulders to try and wake her up since she was familiar with fainting. Kurenai woke up a few minutes later and took out her wallet with shaky hands and pulled out a large amount of dollars. Tenten happily snatched up the money and put it in the register while Kurenai held a small funeral for her wallet.
'Wonderful, now I'm going to have to eat ration bars for at least a month!' Kurenai wailed in her thoughts.
"Thank's for buying this stuff for us Kurenai-sensei!" Naruto called out as he and his friends ran off to test out their new weapons.
(Hyuga Complex)
Hiashi was sitting in his office looking over some reports. A Hyuga Chunin was assaulted on a border patrol mission by a team from Kumo. She and her team were able to fight them off, but received a few injuries in the process, nothing threatening though.
This disturbed Hiashi greatly, this was the third attempt Kumo made for the Byakugan this month. He thought that they would stop after the event on Hinata's third birthday, but he was unfortunately wrong. They started their attempts again only two years ago. Thankfully they only happened when any Hyuga was near the Konoha-Kumo border, but it still bothered him.
Another thing that was bothering him was that he was starting to receive marriage proposals from suitors. Not only did it make him feel like they were aiming at his daughter like she was a prize, they suitors were practically close to his age! He would NEVER even CONSIDER accepting a marriage proposal from any of them. Hiashi was a firm believer that people should just get into a relationship the old fashioned way, meaning that two people should just start out with a date and see how it goes.
After all, it worked out wonderfully for him and Hitomi.
"Tou-sama!" Hiashi was shaken from his thoughts when Hanabi rushed into his office with a grin on her face.
"Yes Hanabi? What is it?" Hiashi asked as he put his files away. He could get back to them later. Or tomorrow.
"Hinata-nee-chan and Nato-nii-san came back, and they have some new things with them.
'So Kurenai-san finally took them to get weapons,' Hiashi thought. 'I wonder what they got.'
Hiashi got up and followed his youngest daughter to where she left her older sister and her brother figure. Hanabi lead him out to the gardens where Hinata and Naruto were showing their weapons to Hitomi, who was looking happy for the two Genin.
Hiashi walked up to the three and said, "So I heard that you two finally got your weapons, care to show them?"
Hinata showed her bow and arrow to her father who took them in his hands and examined them before handing them back to his daughter.
"I must say, this is a good weapon for you to use," Hiashi said. "The material is a good chakra conductor and very durable. The seals are also good and don't look like they'll wear out anytime soon."
"How do y-you know about seals T-Tou-sama?" Hinata asked.
"My sensei was Jiraiya of the Sannin, he was considered an expert in Fuinjutsu and passed a few lessons to us, only one of my teammates was able to become better than him," Hiashi explained.
"Wanna check out my new weapons Hiashi-sama?" Naruto asked with a large grin. Hiashi looked and saw Naruto's gauntlets as they gleamed in the sun..
"They make you look somewhat threatening," Hiashi said. Naruto became irritated and sent the Hyuga head a small glare.
"What do ya mean 'somewhat threatening'?" Naruto asked as he tapped his foot.
"I think it's because of your whiskers Nato-nii-san," Hanabi said, "they make you look cute. Isn't that right nee-chan?" Hanabi nudged Hinata, who squeaked when she was put on the spotlight.
Blushing, Naruto turned away and declared, "They do not make me look cute! They make me look scary!"
"Aww, but you looked so adorable back when you were only a little boy," Hitomi said, making the young Uzumaki turn into a tomato.
Unfortunately, I'm finished. I know it's shorter than usual, but I really have nothing else I can think of. This was more of a filler chapter so you guys could see how well Team 8 was bonding with each other and to get them some weapons.
You guys may be curious about their weapons, but let me explain. I remember reading a story where Hinata used similar bows and arrows, but I forgot some of the details to it, and what the story was called. For Shino, it was something I thought he would be able to use well. Naruto's weapon was something I thought really hard about, considering his Jiongu. Think about it, sharp clawed gauntlets, extendable arms. See anything yet?
Now I have a question for all of you. What do you think about my story idea 'Dark, But Not Evil'? I'm planning on starting it after the Suna-Oto Invasion is over and done with. It's not going to be a Kingdom Hearts/Naruto crossover because I'm only going to be adding the Heartless and Nobodies to the Narutoverse. You can find the information of the story on my profile.
Please Review! Ciao!
