The Hidden Truths of the Village Hidden in the Leaves
Summary: Starting after the trip to the Land of the Waves, Sasuke has developed a sense of overprotectivness a shinobi feels towards their partner and Naruto has to deal with new surprises every day. The secret behind the Uchiha clan massacre is revealed and Orochimaru is scared of one man. ANBU and foxes flock towards Naruto as much as danger does. A whole new take on the life of Team 7 and co.
"Thank you for the wait, everyone. We have your results now, so please listen carefully." Sabako called as Iruka drew the points on a big chalkboard. The fact that they didn't use words but drawn chibi forms of their senseis to identify the teams bemused the genins but they didn't say anything. If they were bored and that childish, who were they to take away that simple joy from them.
"Currently, after the points of the first test of the first part of the Genin Games have been checked, we have Team Kakashi and Team Gai tied and in the lead with five points each. Not far behind is Team Kurenai, with four points, and then, with zero points, it's Team Asuma. However, the points from the second test of the first part of the Games puts Team Kakashi in a definite lead of a total of fourteen points, second place is Team Gai with eleven points with Team Kurenai following them with the total of ten points and Team Asuma with nine points."
"What!?" Neji all but roared. How could they be tied first with Kakashi's team as the best then be second place with three points difference!? He looked over to the Uchiha, who seemed mighty pleased with the results and Neji scowled. "How?"
"In the first challenge, there are two parts." Iruka started his explanation. "The first part is seeing through the illusion in order to find your comrade, which is an important skill in a life and death situation. After you were finished with recognizing your teammates, you participated in their part of the test as well, using henge to disguise yourself and as such creating an illusion yourself, which is equally, if not more, as important as finding your friend. The first part had the maximum of six points to be achieved but the second part had nine as a limit. Teams Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma have gotten nine because they have all participated, successfully, in the test. Your team, however, had only two people preforming the jutsu, so you lose three points, leaving you with additional six. Which means, you get eleven points for the first two tests of the first part."
"However," Joko said as he replaced Iruka by writing on the board. "Team Kakashi will get another three points for knowing their comrades enough to almost always recognize them, leaving them with seventeen points. They also get additional points for knowing ways to recognize their comrades among many replications. For that, they now have twenty points. Team Gai gets three points with an additional point, making their score a total of fifteen points. Team Kurenai gets three points, leaving them with thirteen points, and Team Asuma now has two more points, meaning eleven. These are points for the first test of the second part of the Genin Games. Congratulations, I must say that I am impressed."
"I don't understand. I thought we were displaying necessary shinobi skills. How is knowing one's favorite food an important shinobi skill?" Tenten asked, not at all pleased with the results.
Joko turned to look at them with a dead serious expression on his face. ''And it is an important skill needed to become a successful shinobi. You must know your comrades, because there is always someone really talented in henge out there. You might find yourself imprisoned and someone comes acting like one of your friends or comrades in order to trick you into giving away valuable information. You must be able to see through this deceit not just by looking for any traces of henge, because there are other jutsus. Perhaps they have simply taken over their min? The Yamanaka of Konoha are feared everywhere for that particular talent that runs through the family. Then there are puppets, who can be perfect replicas but have no light in their eyes. You might be sent on a mission to free someone but that someone turns out to be a spy. Before coming onto the Fire Country's territory, you must determine if they are friend and foe, and you can do that only by asking the right questions.''
''I see. That's right. If an enemy were to approach us as a friend and we didn't figure it out until it was too late, we could either endanger the mission or die.'' Sakura muttered to herself, seeing the logic.
''After you finish the third test of the first part of the Games, I will give you your second test. Be ready to guard and share secrets. If not up until now, you will get to know each other quite well after my tests are over.'' The black haired chuunin promised before giving the word back to Iruka.
''Alright. The final test will be a bit tougher. See this paper here,'' He brought up a white paper with Team Kurenai written on it in nice, flowing kanji. ''There are four of a kind, hidden somewhere in this clearing. You will have to find all four, but be prepared. There are a hundred fakes hidden there as well. You will have to use whatever sources you have to find the real ones. They have no chakra traces nor any smell. You can tell that they are real only by searching for traces of henge. You will have one copy with you, so remember to study it really carefully. You will have a time limit of a total of five minutes. If you don't finish in that amount of time, you will get no points. If you find those three other papers in four minutes, you will get a point. Three and below is two points, and if you somehow finish in a minute, you will get three points. Observe each other but remember that the real papers of each team won't be in the same place. First up is Team Asuma, so please step forward, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji.''
The three mentioned stepped up and got ready for the search. When Iruka told them to go, they wasted no time in splitting up, the paper in Ino's delicate little hand. Shikamaru stopped in the middle of the clearing and looked around, spotting two papers on his right. On his left, he found five more. Chouji had stumbled upon thirteen of them and didn't know what to do, so he took them all. He knew Shikamaru will know what to do and how to find the real papers. Ino looked around, studying each bush and found another seven. By the time his two teammates have returned to his side, Shikamaru had found another three papers.
''Yosh, line them up so that I can see their shadows.'' The lazy boy instructed and Ino and Chouji did as they were told.
''What is he doing, I wonder.'' Kakashi said under his breath and Asuma laughed lightly, knowing that they had devised a good strategy. If anyone would be able to crack the misery of these papers, it would be Shikamaru.
''Shikamaru comes from the Nara family. Their specialties are shadow jutsus so they first must study shadows themselves. These slips of paper that are decoys have been put under henge, but their shadow will still appear different than the thing they are supposed to imitate. The differences are small but Naras could see them. That is why Shikamaru is the best on my team to judge them, those papers.''
The Nara studied the papers and pointed at one in Chouji's hand. ''That one is one of the real ones. We need to search for more.''
''Hai.'' The two said and then Ino and Chouji were off again, only to return with another twenty seven papers between them. Shikamaru studied them as well and shook his head. The girl cursed, knowing they were running out of time, so she rushed off, Chouji quick to follow her. They returned with another fifteen each this time and Shikamaru picked up another real paper. One more to go.
''Wow! They already found two papers and have yet to reach three minutes!'' Naruto exclaimed, amazed with how well they were working together. He watched as Ino and Chouji returned with another bundle and Shikamaru studied it, only to shake his head at them and then all three ninjas started looking around, aware that time was running out. In just the last few seconds, Shikamaru spotted the last real paper and ran for it, lifting it in the air just as the stopwatch showed 3.00. ''They did it! Way to go!''
''You shouldn't cheer for the competition.'' Neji told the blond, glaring at him for disturbing the peace with his loud voice. Naruto turned to regard him with an annoyed look on his face while Sasuke was subtly glaring at him from the corner of his eyes.
''This might be a competition, but we are all going on a big mission together soon, so we need to learn to be friends and at least tolerate each other. Supporting another team is not against the rules, is it? Besides, two of my best friends are on that team and I intend to support them.'' The blond huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, all but daring Neji to disagree with him.
''Let it go, dobe.'' Sasuke told him from behind his shoulder. ''It's our turn.'' With a final glare at the Hyuuga, Naruto went to join Sasuke and Sakura as the raven haired boy took the paper from Iruka.
''Start!''
Taking a good look at the paper for three seconds, Team Kakashi dispersed around the field, searching for the other decoy papers and the three real ones. Sakura was mostly relying on her perception of reality and genjutsu to search for them as she took paper after paper with her. When she had around thirty, she stopped and started going over them at top speed. She was just standing there, in the middle of the clearing, shuffling paper after paper, sparing them only a second's glance. On the other side of the clearing, Sasuke had found thirty four papers and had activated his Sharningan, the best possible asset in this challenge. The legendary Sharingan eyes of the Uchiha clan can see through any technique. You could make a thousand and one clones and the user of the Sharingan would still be able to tell who the real person is. It's the reason that this particular Kekkei Genkai is forbidden in the first test of the Genin Games; he would have been able to find his teammates without even really studying them. A glance would have been enough. Much to his chagrin, the real paper was buried somewhere near the very end of the bundle and he had shuffled through them all with an even greater speed than Sakura. The girl had still found one real paper before he had since it had been buried in the middle of her slightly smaller pile. Sasuke shuffled to the end, still, hoping that he has the third paper as well, but no such luck. A look over to the girl showed that she had hoped the same but had also had the same result.
The turned around just as Naruto called out to them, waving a slip of paper in his hand over his head. One look at it had Sasuke yelling at Iruka to stop the time and the man did so. On closer inspection of the blond, they saw that he was surrounded by thirty five papers, all having been stabbed with a kunai. There was smoke drifting upwards and Sasuke realized that Naruto had used his Kage no Bunshin to finish up as fast as he could. He didn't hide his smirk. 'So the dobe does have a brain in that blond head of his.'
Sakura was equally delighted to see that their teammate was taking things so seriously. 'Way to go, Naruto!'
'Oh? So he remembered that the henge can't be held if the object is damaged? Good thinking, Naruto.' Kakashi thought approvingly. If Naruto hadn't done things his way, they would have lost quite some time. This way, all three of them found one paper using their abilities to do their best.
'They sure did get strong.' Iruka thought as he looked down at the time. 0.59. Less than a second and almost competing with the last record, set almost fifteen years ago. ''Team Kakashi receives three points, leaving them with twenty three points. Good work, guys.''
''Three points!? Hear that, Kakashi-zensei! We got three points! Alright!'' Naruto was already jumping up and down, not noticing the surprised stares thrown his way by the rest of the genin.
'That was ... the Kage no Bunshin jutsu, not just ordinary clones.' Shikamaru observed, looking at his old friend in a new light.
'How can such a weak looking person master a jonin level jutsu?' Tenten wondered, bitting the nail on her thumb.
'Wow, Naruto-kun sure is amazing. I can't wait to fight him, too.' Lee was getting fired up. Okay! He was going to work hard, too!
''Is that really the Naruto who couldn't preform even the most basic jutsus in the Academy?'' Ino asked, not knowing how a person could get so much stronger in such a short time. If only she knew that Naruto mastered that jutsu in a couple of hours.
''Yosh, Akamaru. We'll have to work hard so we don't lose to that guy.'' Kiba told his dog and Akamaru woffed in agreement. Neji just stared at the boy he had thought of as weak, having seen just how easily those clones had appeared and how easily their numbers were held. To create so many clones without being out of breath was something to marvel at, especially if this guy was a rookie genin with only a couple moths of real ninja training.
''Naruto-kun is so strong.'' Hinata mumured with a blush on her face as the team rejoined the other genin. It was now their turn and she will have to work hard.
''Team Kurenai is up!'' Iruka called and the three jacket-clad genin walked up to him to receive their slip of paper. ''Alright, go!'' Shino didn't move but Akamaru and Kiba rushed off towards the trees, listening for Hinata's directions as she activated her Byakugan and told them where to look for the papers. The dog lover didn't hesitate in following the directions and soon, between him, Akamaru and Shino's hardworking bugs, they had all the papers. Now was the hard part. They started looking over them but they couldn't find much difference in one paper from the rest, Not even Shino's bugs could say if it was the real thing or not and, as the chuunin had already informed the, there was no scent on the things so Akamaru and Kiba couldn't sniff them out.
''It's no use. Hinata, Shino, take a kunai and start stabbing. We'll be using Naruto's approach to things.''
''Hai.'' It took them two minutes to stab every piece of paper before they found their three needed papers and by that time, they had already spent over three minutes for this test. Iruka wrote down their time (3.16) and told them they get one point. ''Now you have fourteen points. Good work. Next up is Team Gai. Please come to receive your paper.''
Neji, Tenten and Lee walked up to the chuunin with a scared nose and took the paper from him. Iruka nodded at them and gave them the go sign and the three were off. Neji activated his Byakugan, getting a 360 degrees view of his surroundings and started yelling at Lee where to run to in order to take the hundred slips of paper as fast as it was possible. And Lee sure did run fast. He was almost just a green blur as he ran from one side of the clearing to the other, through trees and bushes, behind the monument and back into the trees and bushes. He, alone ,managed to gather all hundred papers and bring them back to Neji and Tenten.
''Tenten,'' was all the Hyuuga said and the girl nodded.
''Hai. Step back, boys.'' Without protest, the two got out of range and Tenten took out two red scrolls. Without further ado, she jumped gracefully into the air, opening the scrolls and letting them trail her like ribbons. She made a few fancy moves before performing a couple of seals and weapons of all shapes and sizes started appearing out of the writing in the scrolls. With practiced ease, Tenten started throwing them left and right, trying to hit as many of the papers as she could.
Sasuke felt a twitch in his right eye again, remembering a certain someone who could look ten times more graceful when throwing kunai and shuriken yet still hit every target without a second's thought put into it. In comparison to Itachi, Tenten was way below even an amateur at this. Even after years of practice, Sasuke himself could feel that he wasn't near his brother's skill yet and Itachi had been at the same level he was now when he was six.
After much popping and some dust clouds, all hundred papers were hit and now only the real ones remained. Lee ran to them and held them up for inspection, calling time. Iruka smiled as he saw that it was exactly one minute and wrote down three points. 'No matter the difference of three points, it can easily be countered, but these kids are competing with the same fervor Gai and Kakashi do.'
''That's it for the first part of the Genin Games. We have Team Kakashi in first place with 23 points, Team Gai has 17 points, Team Kurenai with 14 points and Team Asuma with 11 points Good job, everyone. You have really improved since the last time I saw you.''
''And don't forget to add three points to all of them for the fourth part's first test. They have good speed and tracking abilities. That leaves us with Team Kakashi at 26, Team Gai at 20, Team Kurenai with 17 and Team Asuma with 14 points. Just don't think that you will be getting points easily in the other two tests of my segment of the Games. I won't be going easy on you.'' Sabako interrupted, making some of the genins frown at him underestimating them.
''However, we will now start with the second part of the Genin Games. Are you ready?'' Joko interrupted before any celebrations or arguments could start. They still had a long way to go before the Games ended and they didn't have the time for celebrating or fighting now. Especially since Sabako's tests shouldn't be done past the sunset.
''Heh? Already?'' Naruto asked, dismayed that they don't get a moment's rest.
''We are on a tight scheduled and besides, shinobi should be able to last for more than a bunch of kiddie games. Are you complaining?''
''Of course not!'' The blond shouted. ''Bring it on! I won't lose!''
Joko smirked and looked over the other genin, satisfied that, although they were a bit out of breath, they were ready to continue. ''Are you ready?'' He asked them loudly, all but yelling and the genins nodded their heads with determination. ''Then let the second part of the Genin Games begin!''
