Rejoice, english speakers! You finally caught up with the French version!
Thanks to all of you who read and reviewed, it always makes me so happy^^
Well, to answer a few reviews and questions:
I do use the Google translator but just word a few words, the result of full sentence is often weird and dosen't make any sense.
as for the Minato/Mikoto problem...
I don't know anymore.. some of you want the pairing, others don't, there's also my french readers who have different points of view... and I want to please everybody.. hmm, what should I do... a vote? a categorical decision? play heads or tails? -_-
oh, whatever.. I'll think about it when the time comes^^
for now, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.
Robertz: still libertybell.047
Forgotten Prisoner
Chapter 9: New Genin, Former Anbu and Teamwork
The day after the Genin exam was always a difficult morning for the newely promoted young students. Many parents had to urge and then lecture their children to wake them up. But as they were quite impatient to know their team, they often got out of bed with good grace.
The teens were not the only ones to find the waking difficult. In the room of a certain appartement in the West district, the alarm clock was ringing for the fifth time when somedoby finally managed to stop it.
"Tch... It's the last time I'm doing this kind of fight with Tsunade..." Minato muttered, coming out of his bed.
He let out a tired yawn and walked toward the bathroom, putting a hand on his forehead. Since the party of last night, he had an awful headache. A battle of sake, really... Who had got that stupid idea?
His miroir showed him a tired man who had missed several hours of sleep. "Oh yeah... it's me..."
He sighed, closing his eyes. Tsunade had laughed of his lack of resistance against alcohol, exactly like when he was younger. After hearing ten minutes of 'You should go to sleep, baby Mina-chan. It's late, kids should already be in their bed at this time..', he had snapped and challenged her. Such a stupid challenge... him and Tsunade had ended up dead-drunk on the table.
Well, under the table in his case. And because of that, he had not seen the Sannin give his son some sake. Minato couldn't help but laugh at this memory, apparently Naruto held alcohol as well as him... meaning he had almost been knocked out by one sip.
Good thing Shizune and Iruka were there. They had been obliged to bring two drunk Hokages and former Anbu half asleep back in their homes.
Yondaime had closed his eyes for quite a while because when he came out of the bathroom, he realized he wasn't that early. It was quarter to eight and he and Naruto had to be in their office/classroom at... eight. Knowing the habits of his son, he thought he would already be wide awake but as he entenred in the kitchen, he was surprised to see it was completely empty.
"Naruto!" He shouted in the stairs. "Wake up, it's already quarter to eight!"
A few seconds later, loud sounds of steps confirmed him that the young ninja was out of his bed and he also went to prepare his own things. Going back into the kitchen, Minato almost stumbled on their weapon pouches and he swore when he walked on their kunaïs, scattered on the floor. He stepped over them and looked in all the cupboards for something he could cook in less than five minutes.
As if he really had the choice...
He heated up some water and poured it in two ramen cups. While waiting, he went back in his room to take a few scrolls he had to bring to the Tower. Above him, from what he could hear, Naruto seemed to be in the same hurry, if not more.
"Me and my stupid challenges..." He mentally cursed himself. "Only Gaï would have thought of something like that..." He ran back in the kitchen three minutes later and almost burned his fingers when he took the cups. He had no time to prepare bowls and immediately went in the dining room.
From there, everything went very quickly.
Or very slowly, depends on the point of view.
Minato was going to turn back, prepared to do a large step over the kunaïs when he suddenly heard the sound of a flash. Besides that, nothing warned him from his son's imminent arrival on the very same kunaïs... So he acted accordingly.
"Aaaahhh!"
Two pairs of eyes, cerulean blue and dark red, opened wide when the two blond heads collided with each other, promising the Ramen a single ticket for terra firma.
Luckily... father and son were excellent shinobi, even half-awaken. Naruto jumped over the Hokage while Minato was doing a large slide step and the two ninjas managed to catch the cups -as well as their content- half a second before their unexpected meeting with the floor.
"Naruto!" Yondaime was still a bit startled. "Don't use the Hiraishin at home!" He almost got a heartattack at the moment.
"Ah... sorry." Naruto said. "I knew they were somewhere here." He added, talking about the kunaïs. "So I thought... it would be faster."
Minato shook his head. "I should have pick them up." But he frowned slightly, realizing something. "Or maybe not... I'm not sure the cupboards would have been a nice landing place." He said, smiling.
"Hm..." True.
A horrified look passed on Minato's face when he glanced at the clock. "Five to eight?"
The rest of the story was just a blurr of yellow flashes, running through the whole appartement during two or three minutes before dashing outside. Minato hastily put away the kunaïs and remebered just in time to change back to Arashi. The two whirlwinds were now running at top speed on the roofs and if anyone had looked up, he would have only see two dark shadows.
"Don't forget that Sasuke and the kunoichi musn't know about your mission." Minato reminded him.
Naruto nodded. "And our sensei already knows that?" he asked.
"Err... yeah, I think." Yondaime answered, trying to remember if he had warned Kakashi or not.
"Okay."
Speaking of which, he had not tell Naruto that the masked Jounin would be their Sensei. Oh well, it wasn't a problem, he would know soon enough.
Late enough should be more appropriate in Kakashi's case. Amused by this idea, Minato wondered how much time, meaning how many hours, the three Genins would have to wait until his arrival.
"Otou-san?" He was pulled out of his relfexions by Naruto's voice.
"Yeah, what?"
The young ninja pointed to a place almost behing them. "The Tower is over there."
For the second time of the day, the former Hokage cursed vividly before turning round to go back on the right way.
On the other hand, Naruto didn't waste time to watch him leave, he was already late enough like that. Shortly after, he arrived at the Academy and frowned at the sight of an empty playground. He had already passed his exam with special conditions, he couldn't also be the last one today. And through the window, he could already see their Sensei open the door of the classroom...
"Good morning everyone." Iruka said, closing the door behind him.
The students greeted him back and he began his explanations, stopping a few time to answer questions. "... ... ... and your Sensei will be the one to decide if you can start your missions." He opened his notebook to announce the different teams, making the suspense almost unbearable for the students.
"Shikamaru!" The Chûnin called. "Wake up now, that's important."
The young genius slowly opened his eyes, muttering and yawning but he suddenly froze when he sensed somebody next to him. "Na... Naruto?" He said, not believing it; He hadn't not seen him come at all and was fairly sure that he wasn't here when Iruka came in.
The other students were also looking at him, not less surprised. When had he arrived? And why was he here by the way? Didn't he miss the exam?
At the back of the classroom, Naruto kept an impassive face and innocently looked away.
While their Sensei was calling for attention, Shikamaru's eyes fell on the window, just behind their mysterious classmate. He had the strange feeling that it had not been so wide open a few minutes ago. "Troublesome..." He muttered, rolling his eyes.
Meanwhile, Iruka had begun to announce the teams and sometimes, he could hear shouts of joy or deception.
"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke..."
All the girls who had not been called yet crossed their fingers.
"... Haruno Saku-"
"Yatta! I'm with Sasuke-kun!" The young kunoichi shouted out before turning to her blonde friend. "Eat that! Ino-buta!"
"So what? I pity Sasuke-kun, he'll have to put up with a short-tempered forehead girl everyday!" She replied to hide her disappointment.
"You're just jealous!"
"... And Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka finished.
A deep silence instantaneously fell between the two bickering girls. The Chûnin thought that he should have use this name more often, it seemed that it was one of the few things that could stop them.
"... Who?" Sakura said on a disbelieving tone.
The blond ninja wondered if she was doing that on purpose or not. As far as he knew, there wasn't any other Uzumaki in the class, let alone in the Academy. Iruka had to hold back a sigh. "Naruto. You know, the blond haired Genin who's always sitting at the back."
Still surprised, the young kunoichi glanced behind her and briefly cross his blood red gaze before looking away.
"And your Sensei is Hatake Kakashi."
This time, Naruto was the only one startled. He almost did like Sakura and asked 'who...?'. But as usual, he stayed silent and began to count how many hours he would spend in this classroom.
"Team 8: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyûga Hinata, Aburame Shino." Iruka continued. "Your Sensei is Yuuhi Kurenaï."
This annoucement didn't cause as much noise as the previous one, which wasn't very surprising, taking in account Shino and Hinata's usual silent nature.
He was almost at the end of his list. "... Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chôji." He said, ignoring the kunoichi's protests, 'What? I'm with those two lazybones?' "Your Sensei is Sarutobi Asuma."
The Chûnin then closed his notebook and walked to the door. "Your Senseis should be coming soon, so don't make too much noise and behave. Good luck."
After his departure, the students began to relax once more, animatedly talking of their new teams. A few minutes later, their first Sensei, a brown haired Jounin with red eyes, came in.
"Team 8, follow me."
The three Genins glanced aat each other before walking after the young woman. During the next twenty minutes, most of the Sensei came to take their students. There were only three teams left when another brown haired Jounin entered.
"Team.. err... 10, I think. Come with me."
Chôji followed him while eating his last chips, Ino while complaining about their lazy Sensei and Shikamaru dragging his feet.
After a while, only three Genins of team 7 remained. Sakura and Sasuke seemed quite tensed and impatient to meet their Sensei. The young girl was pacing between the door and the black board while the Uchiha, sitting on his table was changing position every five seconds, although he wanted to appear calm. As for Naruto, since he knew pretty well Kakashi's habits -which ninja in the village didn't know them?-, he didn't bother to get ready. He sat on the windowsill and closed his eyes.
His new team mates were throwing him sidelong glances, still silent. Sakura because she had never really talked with him, Sasuke because he was still sour about his last defeat and their problem about that famous invitation. They weren't as uneasy in front of those blood red eyes as before but it didn't mean they had already become friends.
At some moment, their eyes caught sight of a colored sparkle flying around the room. The two Genins watched without much interest a blue butterfly which had entered through the back window. But the small bug caught their attention when he flew near the third ninja and settled on his face, just between his eyes.
Naruto had felt something brush his forehead and easily guessed it was harmless. He slowly opened one eye and saw two cerulean blue wings quietly fluttering.
Sakura and Sasuke were watching him curiously, a bit surprised by his passive attitude. When the young boy closed his eyes, the butterfly felt the movement and flew outside. The Genin didn't have enough time to turn round when an other animal came through the window. This time, it was a bird and it stopped on the windowsill, near the blond ninja. Then a second came, and another one which settled on the windows and Naruto's shoulder.
But he didn't move, he had sensed the fluteering wings and it didn't bother him. He was a bit used to animals, they often came to him without showing the slightest sign of fear, like Akamaru. He didn't really knew why they were so affective but he had never harm them and their compagny was sometimes far less annoying that being with humans.
But for Sakura and Sasuke, the scene was more than strange. Since when their dark and slient team mate, great combatant and fearful opponent, had become a protégé of Mother Nature?
But if they were surprised, they didn't say anything and only watched the curious sparrows who seemed totally at ease. Half and hour later and after several other migrations of birds, they began to get, they stopped to pay attention. They had other preoccupying matters in mind, the arrival of their Sensei for example.
Iruka had told them to wait here, so they waited...
and waited...
and waited...
and...
"WHERE is he ? He's already three hours late!"
The seven poor sparrows still in the classroom got the greatest fear of their lives and immediately flew away, not really eager to hear the rest of her speech.
"THREE HOURS!" The young girl shouted out. "I bet he just forgot us!"
She caught the brush, which had been peacefully lying on a chair, had began to take out her anger on it while pacing between the door and the window. Sometimes she was looking outside, hoping to see a Jounin come in their direction. In vain.
Glancing at her twwo other team mates, she saw that at least one of them seemed to understand her impatience. Sasuke kept an unblinking face but his foot was constantly tapping on the floor. And at th back, Naruto looked as if he was taking a nap.
Unable to bear it any longer, Sakura settled besides the young boy. "Ne Sasuke-kun, don't you think we should tell Iruka-sensei?"
"Hn."
"But he's really late."
"Hn."
"Yeah, you're right."
Naruto was very curious now. Did she often talk alone or were they using a coded language? Opening his eyes, he watched them with interest and his gaze fell on the kunoichi's green eyes.
"Hm... what.. what do you think, Uzumaki-kun..?" She asked hesitantly.
"You don't need to call Iruka-sensei, he should be here soon."
Sakura seemed happily surprised, she had almost expect him to remain silent. Maybe he wasn't that intimidating after all... Even though his voice was still indifferent.
"Oh, okay..."
"How do you know that?" Their third team mate asked.
Naruto just shrugged. "Kakashi-sensei is a friend of my father. Even when he comes to visit, he's still three hours late."
Sakura nodded but Sasuke seemed much more suspicious and glared at the blond ninja. "The brown haired shinobi last time. It was your father." He said, and it wasn't a question.
Naruto wondered for a moment how he knew that but he quickly remembered the events of the previous day. "We started talking about you and your father." Of course... Shikamaru. He was thee only who knew about them and they had not thought that he could tell the others, especially after their visit at the Uchiha mansion. There was the result...
"Yeah." He finally admitted. There was no need to hide it longer, it would only create other misunderstanding.
"You didn't tell us when you came last time." Sasuke pointed out.
"You didn't asked." Naruto replied.
The young boy frowned, not really satisfied by this answer. "So why do you have differents names?" Sakura was watching them, a bit worried and wondering if she should say something although she was also quite curious. "Sasuke-kun..." She tried to divert his attention but he didn't even listen to her.
"Annoying..." This questionning was slowly getting in Naruto's nerves. "None of your business." He retorted.
Unfortunately it only worsen the situation. Sasuke leap on his feet, glaring daggers at the blond ninja. "None of my business?" He repeated, irritated. "You turn up one day, telling us it's a mission, your father takes his time to flirt with my mom and that's none of my business?"
Naruto sratched the back of his head; such a drama queen... But there was one thing he didn't really get. "Flirt?" He asked curiously. "I don't understand what you're talking about." Weird.. he had never heard this word, Minato could maybe explain him.
But speaking of misunderstanding...
"I'm sure you understand perfectly well!" The Uchiha replied. "
"I didn't say anything... yet." Naruto added to be honest after a short thought. "And there's nothing wrong if they 'flirt' as you say." Maybe it only meant 'discussing'. After all, Minato and Mikoto had not really done much more.
"W.. What?" Sasuke was so angry that he almost choked on his words. He clenched his fists on the table and his figers bumped against something hard: the brush that Sakura had left there.
On the other hand, Naruto wasn't even listening to him anymore and he yawned tiredly. Tsunade had definitely convinced him to try sake for the first and the last time, the difficult awakening this morning was a reason good enough. But Sakura and Sasuke couldn't knew that, and seeing the blond ninja ignoring him, the young boy snapped. "Dobe."
He took the first thing under his hand and threw it, aiming for his team mate. Naruto easily dodged it with a swift movement of the head and the brush fell outside, one floor lower.
"Kuso..." Sasuke muttered. Since his team mate wasn't reacting, he put his hands in his pockets and sat down angrily. Sakura didn't know if she should try to calm him a bit, but before she could decide, she saw Naruto stand up and straight away, the door of the classroom opened.
The first impression the Genin had from their senei was a bit... disconcerting. His face was not only half covered, except one eye, but a large and rectangular white stain was also decorating his hairs and the higher part of his mask. Their gazes fell on the object he was holding.
A blackboard brush.
When his spoke, his voice sounded already bored, almost asleep in fact. "Who... is the total moron... who throws brushes by the window...?"
He looked at them one after the other. The young kunoichi didn't dare to reply and seemed nervous but the inner Sakura was dying lauging at the sight of their Sensei. Sasuke looked away, mumbling something like "Why didn't he dodge it... Is that guy really a Jounin?" Naruto just watched him curiously and stayed silent but the masked ninja knew that another blond shinobi would certainly get wind of this.
Kakashi sight deeply and with a swift movement of the wrist, he snd the brsuh back at the corner of the blackboard. "Climb up and meet me on the roof." He said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Sasuke dragged his feet to the door, followed by Sakura. They were almost in the corridor when the young girl stopped and caught his arm. "Wait Sasuke-kun, there's..."
Her voici faded when she saw the empty classroom. "Eh... where is he?"
"Tch." Sasuke pulled his arm and continued to walk to the stairs, the kunoichi running after him. When they arrived on the roof, they were -almost- not surprised to see that the two ninjas were waiting for them.
"When I said 'climb up and meet me on the roof', I was thinking about the stairs Naruto, not the walls." Kakashi said, his eyes stuck on a little orange book.
"Then you should have been more specific, Sensei." The blond ninja replied.
The two Genin sat down near their team mate and waited for the masked shinobi to say something. "Hm..." He looked up for a short moment. "... Why don't you introduce yourself."
"What should we say?" Sakura asked.
"Well.. your name, age, birthdate, likes, dislikes, hobbies, ambitions, dreams and so on."
"Why don't you start Sensei?"
"Me? Okay. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I'm 27, born the 15th september, I like a few things, dislike some others, I have no particular hobbies or ambitions and there's no need for you to know my dreams."
Two of his students sweatdropped. That was a presentation. All they had learned was his naeme and his age. They would have given him a couple of years more with his silver hairs.
"Your turn." Kakashi said, looking at the kunoichi.
"Okay, so I'm Haruno Sakura, I just got 12 and my birthday is on the 28th of March. I like... (laughs + looks at you know who), I hate Ino-buta and Sasuke-kun's fangirls!"
Her Sensei rolled his eyes. "And what are you excatly?"
"My hobbies are... (laughs). My ambition is to become a good kunoichi." The young girl continued."
"Ah, at last."
"... Because my dream is to saty with Sasuke-kun for ever!" She finished, turning to her great love, stars in the eyes.
"Yeah... whatever.."
Sasuke crossed his arms and tried to look anywhere but at his female team mmate. What had he done to deserve that? Besides them, Naruto was watching the scene with a slight interest. He didn't really understand why Sasuke looked annoyed, what the kunochi said was pretty flattering for him.
"Your turn.. Sasuke-kun." Kakashi said, imitating the high pitch voice of the fangirls.
This earned him a death glare from the Genin. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I'll be 12 soon and I was born the 23th July. I like a few thing, dislike many others and I don't have any hobbies or dreams."
"Don't copy me."
"My ambition is to kill a certain man and rvive my clan."
"This is getting better and better..."
"You're so cool, Sasuke-kun!" -guess who-
'Cool' wasn't exactly the word that Naruto would have used and for a short moment, he wondered who was the man he wanted to kill. If he talked about his clan, maybe he meant-
"Your turn." Kakashi said, catching him unprepared.
" … My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm 11, born the 10 October."
The Jounin saw the two others giving him surprised looks, apparently, they didn't know h was the youngest of the three. On the other side, Naruto was starting the most difficult part of his introduction and hsitated a bit.
"I like... .. to train with my father, I guess it's also a hobby... and ramen." He added on second thought.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Note for myself: remember to never invit him at the ramen restaurant. If he has Kushina's stomach, all my savings won't be enough."
"I hate a certain missing ninja." If the others were so evasive, he didn't see why he should tell more. "And... the Council." He added, receiving confused looks from his team mates.
"My ambition is to become a better ninja."
"Where are you going to stop?"
"And for dream.. I don't really know."
Kakashi wasn't surprised by this answer but he realized that in the end, the introductions of Sakura and Naruto were the most normal ones. He and Sasuke, with their 'I don't like anything, I don't like anybody, I have no hobbies, no ambitions, no dreams', they looked a bunch of dead loss who were on the verge of suicide.
"Okay, that's enough for today." He said, chasing those weird thoughts out of his mind. "Let's start with the test now."
"What test?" Two of his students thought.
"What test?" The third one asked. "We already pass the exam so we're officially Genin no?"
"You pass the Academy Exam and you are Academy Genin. I'm the Sensei of this team and if you want to be allowed to do missions, you will have to pass my test."
Having caught their full attention, Kakashi took this opportunity to motivate them a little bit more. "And I must warn you, the failure rate of this test is above 66%..." He would never get tired of those reactions. His poor students looked so horrified by those simple words, it was just too funny.
A voice pulled him out of his petty thoughts. "But isn't that normal?"
"How so?" He asked, turning to Naruto.
"I heard that the failure rating of the Chûnin exam is around 85%, so it's normal if the Genin's rate is lower."
"85%?" Sakura repeated, thoughtful. "Yeah, compared to the others, 66% isn't that much..."
"Hn. Whatever, after all it means that on 100 students, 34 will still become Genins." Sasuke added.
Kakashi's hand clenched his beloved book, the atmosphere had completely changed now. "Way to go Naruto, you had to ruin my prfect mood." He sight. "Sometimes, I forget he's also a Namikaze."
"Meet me in one our and a half at training ground 9." He told them. "And if I were you, I wouldn't eat lunch otherwise you might throw up." He finished, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"Pff, if he thinks I'll forget to eat before another test, …...^$^$^$^" Sakura muttered, remembering what had happen the previous day. "I'll just continue my special diet tomorrow!"
Sasuke couldn't help but sigh. Just when he thought that she was finally becoming slightly sensible, she had to add something stupid right after.
"Do you know where's the ground 9?" The young girl asked.
Naruto nodded, he knew almost all the training grouns which existed in Konoha. He offered to guide them and the three Genins went out of the Academy together, under the approving gaze of a certain Jounin, hidden in a nearby tree.
Four hours after this little conversation, the three Genins of team 7 were still waiting for their Sensei, desesperately late. It was the second time of the day and they had clearly enough of it.
It was already late in the afternoon when he decided to appear. "Yo. You're on time, good."
"We can't say that for you." Sasuke replied.
"Ah sorry sorry, but something cropped up. An old lady asked me to help her carry her bags so I had to accept but on the way, we crossed a black cat so we had to turn round. And since she had fish in her bags, all the cats began to fllow us downtown and we had to cross a river to shake them off. Since she's living 50 miles away from the town, it took a little bit of time."
An incredulous silence followed his little speech, the three ninjas were wondering how he could have created such a pathetic excuse. Kakashi seemed pretty proud of it. It was always like that the first time, they were to surprised to reply.
"There's no river downtown." One of them pointed out.
Kakashi gave Naruto an exasperated look and was going to tell him something but in the end, he just sight deeply. In front of him, he saw Sakura laugh up her sleeve and Sasuke raise an eyebrow, smirking.
"Forget it."
The three ninjas focused again when they saw their Sensei put his book away and take three bells out of his pocket.
"This is your test."
Then he made several hands signs and did a summoning.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." In a cloud of smole, three dogs appeared in front of Kakashi. "And here are your examiners."
Seeing their surprised faces, he gave them a few explanations. "Each of you will have to cacth a bell." He said, tying them at the dogs' collar. "I must warn you, they received an advanced ninja training and it won't be so easy. If you lose their trail, you might not see them again for a while." He gave each student one of his dogs because strangely, they all seemed to go in Naruto's direction. "Of course, I will not be a simple spectator so keep alert because I can attack at any moment and I will not hold back."
Then he took out a watch from his jacket. "You have two hours starting from now, leave thirty second of advance to the dogs. Go!"
At this signal, the summons dashed away in three different directions and the ninjas had to force themselves to stay on the spot, watching them running away.
"Twenty seconds left... ten.. five.. oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. If you fail, you will go back in the Academy."
"What?"
"Go!"
Confused for a short moment, Sakura and Sasuke quickly pulled themselves together and began to chase their targets. Naruto had disappear from the training ground in less than half a second and Kakashi was glad he had chosen his fastest dog. Luckily, he would be able to keep the young ninja running for a while.
The fact that Naruto was an Anbu level shinobi had obliged him to change a bit his usual test because the boy would not have needed the help of his team mates to steal him a bell. Fortunately, this method would also allow him to test their abilities. Starting to walk away, he looked up, thumbs up, knowing that his 'assistant' was watching the test behind his cristall ball.
If Sakura had known that someone was watching them like that, comfortable in his armchair while they were desesperatelyrunning after a damned dog who didn't even seem to be tired, she would have eagerly strangle him. Hokage or not.
Fourty five minutes after the beginning of the test, the kunoichi had still not managed to catch her target. Even worse, the dog nin was slowed down a few times and looked back at her as if he was laughing of her lack of stamina. She should really try to train a bit more...
The dog had now brought her on the training grounds located on the other side of the village and she was still running when she suddenly felt the earth shake under her feet and something catching her ankles.
"Kyaa!"
While Sakura was sinking into the ground, she saw a silver haired ninja coming out. "Doton: Shinjûzanshu no jutsu. (1)" Kakashi said, kneeling in front of the the young girl whose head only was sticking out. "First lesson: Ninjutsu."
Sakura had a frozen expression os surprise on her face and after a few seconds of silence, she blew up in a cloud of smoke.
"Kawarimi no jutsu..." Her Sensei said for himself, looking at the log which had replaced his student. He could still sense her chakra further on the grounds but for a first time, it wasn't that time.
On the other hand, Sakura had to speed up. Because of the sudden attack, she had almost lost track of the dog and he was quickly running away. She looked back nervousle, hoping that she had outrun her sensei, then focused back on what was happening in front of her...
… and almost fell flat on her face when she saw who was there.
"Sa... Sasuke-kun?" Her emerald eyes were filled with horror at the dreadful sight of her crush. Lying on the ground, his body pierced by severals senbons and kunaïs, he was covered with wounds and bloody cuts. "Oh no, Sasuke-kun!"
Forgetting the dog and the bell in an instant, the kunoichi rushed at his side. She almost cried of relief when she saw that he was still breathing and he opened slowly his eyes when she put a hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke-kun, you're alive! What happened?"
"It... it's Kakashi.. sensei.." He said in a dying voice, blood at the corner of his lips. "He trapped... me and he... he also caught Uzumaki... not far.."
"What?"
"We.. we're all counting on.. you... Sakur-argh..." In a last breath, his head fell.
"Nooo! Sasuke-kun don't die!"
After one or two minutes of tearful cries and heart-rending farwells, the young kunoichi realized that he was still breathing and that his heart had not stop beating. Drying her tears, she stood up and began to lift her dearest love on her shoulders. "Leave it to me Sasuke-kun. I won't let you down!" She said in a passinonate voice before leaving in quest of their third knight, suffring or even dying somewhere in those vast desertic lands!
Not far from there, a critical eye had observed the whole scene. "A little bit too tragic... but good teamwork spirit." Kakashi thought. To be honest, he didn't really doubt the kunoichi. Tsunade could have bet that she wasn't going to abandon Sasuke, she would have won despite her legendary bad luck. And he was more than glad to see that she didn't forget the last member of the team. However, she really needed to train.
But there was a right time for everything. For now, he had another student to test.
While Sakura was running around the village, Sasuke had been lead toward the Hokage mountain and was almost behind it now. Already more than an hour had passed since the beginning of the test and if he had ever thought of catching the dog easily at first, this feeling had quickly faded away.
How could a dog be so fast? And furthermore, he showed absolutely no sign of slowing down.
Sasuke's attention was totally focused on his target and they had just entered in another field when he suddenly heard triggering sounds and right after, several kunaïs came flying in his direction. Hm, so Kakashi had also set a few traps... Trying to keep trail of th dog, he managed to dodge all the weapons without getting touched.
But as he was trying to speed up, Sasuke was surprised by a sudden attack of his sensei. He barely delfected a fist which was aiming for his head but couldn't avoid the foot which hit his stomach.
"Second lession." Kakahsi said as he landed. "Taijutsu."
Sasuke stood up immediately and dashed forward, using a few shurikens to delude him before doing a round kick, hoping to make him lose his balance. But the Jounin easily caught the shurikens and made a back flip to dodge the blow. His young student didn't lose time to run after him and followed the bell right away.
Kakashi put the shurikens away and let him one or two seconds before going after him. But just as he was going to catch up, he heard a metallic noise and a serie of explosion forced him to move back a little. When the cloud of smoke disappear, he saw that Sasuke had already run away and he smiled appreciatively.
On the other side, Sasuke had been obliged to accelerate and his lungs seemed on the verge of bursting out. He didn't like to run away in a fight, but at least, he had not lost track of his main target. He was now running through the field behing the mountain, between the trees which's green foliage left only a few rays of sun pass, enlightening the pink bushes.
Hold on... pink?
Slightly slowing down, he looked back and realized that the bush was n fact the lying silhouette of his team mat. Apparently she was unconscious and her multiples wounds showed that she had been hit by a powerful blow. That made him hesitate, maybe she needed help... But if he went back now he would surely miss his chance to become a Genin... But still, he flt uneasy at the idea of leaving her in this state...
Lost in his thoughts, Sasuke almost stumbled on a golden rock with red stains. He quickly jumped over it and continued.. his.. run... … … a rock?
Uzumaki?
Indeed, it was his third team mate, lying on the ground and just as in bad shape as the kunoichi, if not worse. Even if he didn't like him, he had not acknoledge that he was quite strong and if he was in this state himself.. what about Sakura?
Watching the dog and th bell disappear, he had to force his pride to turn around. "Kuso!"
Hidden in the trees, Kakashi had observed everything. Surprised at first, then slightly displeased, he was now quite relieved. For a short moment, he had feared that the genin would abandon his team mates but in the end, he was glad to see that Sasuke was still worried about them.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke going back after the bell, carrying his two team mates. He was really stubborn... Now that the dog had run away, he doubted that he could catch up before next week.
It was now time to see how his last student was doing.
An hour and fifteen minutes after the beginning of the test, Naruto was starting to understand Sakura's thought. It wasn't one Hokage but two he could have strangled at this moment.
Why on earth had he let Minato put away the kunaïs this morning?
He could have caught his target quite easily, despite the dog nin's speed, if he had not been using summoning seals. Five minutes after the beginning, he had been at a hair's breadth away of catching the bell when the four leg ninjas had suddenly disappear in front of his eyes to appear again, miles away.
And of course, it was only at this time that he realized a certain three branched kunaï was missing.
Since then, the dog had constantly used seals that he could hardly detect and when he managed to do so, it was often too late. Then he had to go again and search for the dog who had already appear at the other side of the village twice.
As he was once more racing through Konoha at light speed, he realized that Kakahsi had not attacked him yet. Not that he complained but he thought that it was a bit strange, maybe his sensei was going to trap him at the last moment. He would have to keep alert... after he caught that damn dog!
He had just spotted him in the forest near the village and was now running in the trees when he caught sight of a someone in front of him. Someone who seemed to be deeply wounded. He recognized those pink hairs in one instant.
Haruno.
What was she doing here? And moreover, why was she in this state?
Their sensei wouldn't go that far for a simple test... Maybe it was a genjutsu then? No, he didn't detect anything, no the slightest signature of chakra which would have betrayed a Henge. He was quickly approching the immobile form when another entered in his field of vision.
The Uchiha now.
It was crazy, they couldn't have been caught like that in the same place... couldn't they? If it wasn't a genjutsu, not even a trail of chakra then he had to help them. Too bad for the bell. Naruto had already some difficulties to find the dog when he kept his eyes on him so he douted that he could catch him if he made a detour. It would need two of him to finish this test...
… …
Oh no, how could he forget this jutsu..?
He had learnt it the day before so maybe wasn't used to it. But still, it didn't prevent him from feeling a bit ridiculous at this moment. He made the cross seal with his hands and performed his technique. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
"What?"
Two clones appeared at his sides and while one Naruto ran after the dog, the two others moved at right and left, pushing away the branches to came by their team mates.
Several meters away, a very surprised masked ninja had almost got one branch in the face and he cursed silently. Following Naruto without gtting caught was already hard enough... "What? … When did he learn that technique?" the Jounin wondered. If he had created this test, it was especially because he was aware that Naruto didn't know this jutsu. He had checked it the previous day... The young ninja couldn't have learn that during the night..?
Well, at least the boy didn't abandon his 'dying' team mates. "Third lesson Naruto, Genjutsu." He said, smirking. In the morning, he had asked Sarutobi to create those two clones of Sakura and Sasuke to be sure that the blond ninja could detect the jutsu. This precaution had been useful and he could already imagine their faces when they would all meet with each other.
He retunred to the meetin point, unable to get free from the feeling that he had forgotten something important...
A few minutes later, Kakashi arrived on training ground 9 and while waiting for his students, he took out his book. That was his favourite part -when Nana-chan finds her previous lover and when Kai-kun comes back from his long journey with his new fiancee! But just as their best friend Kyoko-chan discover them unexpectedly! And when her ex-boyfriend Shun-sama, who is also the gang leader, dies! And-
"Err... Sensei..?"
The Jounin looked up, he had sensed them coming but this part of the book was so captivating, so heart-moving and funny... Almost as funny as their faces at this moment. Now he remembered, too bad he had forgotten his camera.
There was a few seconds of hesitant silence between the three ninjas. And for good reason! Sasuke was carrying Sakura on his shoulder and Naruto under his arm. He was facing Sakura who was holding Naruto and Sasuke. (Are you still following?) She was besides Naruto, Naruto and Naruto who were carrying Sakura and Sasuke as well as a bell.
"I thought I had only three students." Kakashi said mockingly.
Naruto sighed slightly, understanding that they had been deceived. The Naruto who was holding the bell threw it to the one who was carrying Sakura and disappear with the one who was supporting Sasuke. The two real and confused Genins saaw their copies fall on the ground and blow up in a cloud of smoke.
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a knowing look and also dropped the fake ninjas before turning to their Sensei. The Jounin had been pleasantly surprised to see that the true Naruto wasn't the one who had caught the bell and asked him why.
"I thought I should stay with them since they were 'wounded'." The young ninja replied.
Kakashi nodded and then faced the rest of Team 7. "So, no bell?"
Sakura looked down, fearing the jugdment while Sasuke clenched his fists, angry against himself. They were expecting the worse when the Jounin sighed. "Naruto, you pass. Bring those two back in the Academy." He said with a cold voice, his face had also taken a strict expression.
On the other side, Naruto had not answered yet. He was a bit uneasy in front of their defeated faces.
Free me... It's not fair... Free me...
Again this voice in his mind, he had not heard it for a while. It seemed as strange as before but he had to recognized that it wasn't wrong.
"Sensei..." He began, catching the Jounin's attention. "It.. it's unfair." It wasn't everyday that he opposed his superiors but this time, he couldn't stay silent.
"They had their chance, like you." Kakashi retorted. "And apprently, they didn't deserve it."
Those words brought the kunoichi close to tears and made her team mate seeth with anger. But before he could reply, he was cut by the blond ninja.
"But the test was really difficult." Naruto pleaded, speaking from experience. "And I was lucky."
That wasn't only a lie to hide his real abilities, it was partly the truth. After saving Sakura and Sasuke, he created an army -in the literal sense- of Kage Bunshin to find the dog. And one of his clone managed to catch it just as he appeared on a summoning seal.
"This is not a valid argument. If you are so willing to defend them, maybe you should go back with them in the Academy."
"No!" Naruto was going to reply but his female team mate had been faster. The three shinobi turned to her, startled. "No... well, I mean... you don't have to do that. It's our fault is we missed... not yours." The young girls continued, still looking down. "I couldn't see the trap, I guess I'm not good enough..."
"I don't mind going back to the Academy." Naruto told her. The kunoichi raised her head and crossed his gaze, surprised to see something else than indifference in those eyes. He was on her side, that faint glow, could it be... friendship? "I 'don't mind waiting another year." The blond ninja added. "At least I know I can rely on my team mates."
Before, he had almost never work in a team, his missions were mainly solos. But having team mates who were ready to help him because thay wanted to was a change he appreciated. Sakura's emerald eyes seemed to lighten and were filled with gratefulness. She had not expected him to defend them so much. "Thanks..."
In front of them, Kakashi seemed even less satisfied. "I see. If this is what you want, you will be three to go back to the Academy." He said before speaking to his third student. "Do you have something to add, Sasuke?"
"Hn." was his brilliant asnwer. "I don't care. It would even more troublesome to change teams."
"Sasuke-kun..." The young girl whispered, truly overjoyed.
The Jounin shook his head, he seemed sorry for them. "All right, if you all say so..." He paused. "Meet me here tomorrow at 8 o'clock." He finished on a light tone.
"Eh?" Three pairs of surprised eyes looked at him.
"You all pass. Congratulations!"
"But... but..." Still confused, Sakura couldn't find her words. Besides her, Sasuke seemed frozen in a astounded silence.
Naruto wondered why he had suddenly changed his mind, they were ready to back in school, so what could have pleased Kakashi? They had joined forces against him and himself had refused to pass the test, was this what their Sensei had tried to do from the beginning?
"You wanted to test our teamwork?" He asked, a bit unsure.
"Eaxctly. I had to know if you were ready to chose between the mission and your team." The masked ninja replied. "And I'm glad to see you chose well."
Naruto nodded, Sakura was beaming and even if Sasuke wanted to appear cool, it was clear that he was also relieved.
"Never forget that. Those who abandon the mission are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash." He told them in a serious voice, and he was pleased to see that they were carefully listening.
"Well, see you tomorrow then. And don't be late!" He said, disappearing.
Walking away, he heard a voice calling after him. "Practice what you preach!" He chuckled, the next book of the Icha Icha seires would be in the bookstores the next day. There was no way he would ever miss that.
The sun was slowly going down and the three Genins parted and went back home. When naruto arrived at his appartement, his father was already waiting for him.
"So, how was your test?" He asked with a mischevious smile. "Not too difficult?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of his special kunaï, right in the middle of the table... Minato chuckled when he saw his septical look. "Sarutobi told me that you mastered the Kage Bunshin, when did you learn it?"
"Yesterday, after defeating Mizuki."
Yondaime shook the head. Really... this boy deserved the title of the most unpredictable ninja... And that reminded him something.
"That's what you wanted to tell me yesterday?"
"No... But I also forgot to tell you that." Naruto realized.
Minato sight, rolling his eyes. Oh yeah, unpredictable... He ruffled the blond hair of his son.
"So how was your day?"
Naruto thought about it for a bit, remembering the events of the day.
"Fun." He finally said before telling him the whole story.
°-°-°-°-° Two months and a half later °-°-°-°-°
In this hot afternoon of mid July, the great forest of Konoha was filled with sounds of singing birds, rustles of leaves in the trees... and cracklings of walkie-talkies.
"Sakura?"
"At point A, I'm ready. The target is running away, toward North east."
"Sasuke?"
"Point B, ready. The target changed direction, toward North west."
"Naruto?"
"At point C... With the target."
"Already? Okay, gather."
Two seconds later, four blurred silhouettes jumped from the branches and landed in a small clearing. Four and a half to be more precise. Their target was purring on Naruto's shoulder in blissfulness.
"A red bow on the ear, it's him." Kakashi said before glancing at a stopwatch he had taken out from nowhere. "Less than 5 minutes, you beat your own record Naruto." They began to walk toward the Hokage Tower.
The blond ninja shrugged, with one shoulder since the other was taken by a snoring cat, he didn't need to do much. Next to him, Sakura looked at her team mate, smiling. "Oooh, that's so cute... Tora-chan really loves you!" Behind, Sasuke was... well Sasuke as usual, silent, arms crossed.
The two Genins had been a little surprised at first to see that this cat, so annoying with them, seemed to melt in happiness when he came near their team mate. But they didn't really complain, thanks to that, their mission was quickly done. And since they had to do it more than ten times a week, the cat's hobby being evasion, it wasn't a bad thing.
"You should adopt Tora-chan." Kakashi suggested when they entered in the Tower. "He would never escape again."
Naruto glanced at the brown furr ball who didn't let him go. "I don't think his owner would be okay with that..." He said slowly as they arrived in front of the Hokage's office.
On the other side of the door, they could already hear louds cries of despairs, followed by sobs and prayers. "Speaking of th devil..." Their sensei whispered, he was a bit hesitant to open the door.
Unfortunately, he had no other choice and as soon as he turned the handle the screams became even louder, mistreating their poor ears. "Tooooraaaaa-chaaaaaaaaan!" At this moment, their vision was clouded by an enormous dark mountain, aka Shijimi-sama, who was dangerously getting near.
Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke cautiously got out of the way, leaving their team mate alone to deal with a hysterical cat who didn't want to leave him. After a long fight, the blond ninja finally managed to peel the cat off his shoulder and to give him back to his owner, receiving several scratches during the process.
Hokage, Jounin and Genin watched the traditional reunion scene with a bored look, wondering how much pressure a cat could take before being flatten, for good.
Then the daimyo's wife turned to her saviour, still holding the poor animal.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you soooooooo much!"
"It.. it's nothing, really." Naruto managed to say. He was desesperately trying to listen his sense of duty and to ignore his instinct which was shouting him to run away. And run away fast.
"No, no, no! You're alwaaaays bringing him baaaaack!" She continued on a high pitched tone. "I must ab-so-lu-tely thaaaank yoooouuuu! Come here big boy!"
Naruto didn't get enough time to look surprised, he was caught in a death hug. From the corner of his eye, he could see his team mates and the Hokage watching him snickering while he was seriously strating to lack oxygene.
After a few endless seconds, Shijimi-sama finally released the blond ninja and she went out while petting/crushing her cat aka, Tora the crepe.
Once she was gone, the Hokage could help but tease him a bit more. "I should assign you this mission for life Naruto, Shijimi-sama would be delighted."
Naruto gave her a doubtful look, catching his breath. He had never done D-ranked missions but he would have never thought that they could be so dangerous...
"Okay no time to laugh." The Sannin cut, back to serious-Hokage mode.
The blond ninja coughed a last time, who was laughing here..?
"So, for your next mission." The Hokage began, looking at her files. "Hm... There was a last minute change." Those few words were enough to catch their attention. Maybe it meant the end of D-ranked missions. "I had planned to give you your first C-ranked mission but...
Ah, so there was a 'but'. They feared the complications which could prevent them from going out of the village. "Kakashi is required for an- Oï, Kakashi! You could at least pretend to be listening!" She told him, exasperated to see that he was still burried in his book.
"I'm listening, I'm listening.." He said without even looking up.
The Sannin sighed but still continued her xplanations. "So as I was saying, Kakashi is required for another mission right now but luckily for you, I found a replacement." This announce greatly relieved the Genins. Kakashi was a good Sensei but the perspective of a C-rank mission was much more attractive. "Be glad that I still have an unemployed Jounin for you."
Footsteps could be heard behind the door and it opened a few seconds later, revealing a face who wasn't unknown to everyone. "Who is unemployed?" The shinobi asked.
"Who do you think?" The Hokage replied.
"Otou-san..." Naruto said, startled.
Sasuke frowned while Sakura was curiously staring at the Jounin, finally discovering the famous father of her team mate.
"Here's your new Sensei, Uzumaki Arashi." Tsunade told them. "Get ready, you're leaving tomorrow for Hoshi no Kuni."
TBC...
(1) Doton: Shinjûzanshu no jutsu: Art of the fatal decapitation (or something like that)
For the ones who don't remember, Hoshi no Kuni is a special arc in the anime. If it's needed, I'll write a quick summary of this story next time.
and yes, for those who remember really well, I did realize that Hoshi no Kuni dosen't exist. it's the hidden village of the star (Hoshi gakkure) in the land of bears (Kuma no Kuni). But I noticed that too late and I'm really too lazy to write again the french chapter. bear with it^^
I'll try to update the next chap, with the french one. -I'll try...-
See ya!