Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, some mild character bashing where unavoidable (mostly Dumbledore & Danzou), alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), OCC behaviors and personalities, a number of original characters and obscure canon characters to flesh out family trees, random chosen last names to give a number of characters surnames, and who knows what else.
AN: Partial credit for the Story Prompt/Challenge used to create this story goes to the Guru of Challenges; Challenge King. For details, see the first author's note at the top of the first chapter.
AN2: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Ten: Psychological Warfare
December 18, 1989, 01:42 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Naruto did his best to hide his worry over the fact that Haruo didn't finish his lunch; the younger boy only ever refused food if he was sick or in a complete panic. At the moment, he knew Haruo was feeling sick because of the medicine that he'd been given by Tokage; medicine almost always made Haruo sick. He also suspected that Haruo was still in a lot of pain because the green eyed boy was sitting far too stiffly at the moment; though, that might also have been because he was more than a little nervous.
Haruo had developed a wary attitude around unfamiliar adults due to the way the two of them had been treated by a good number of adults after they'd become friends; though the women in the village often seemed rather taken with Haruo for some reason (a fact that the two of them shamelessly often took advantage of after a prank). And while Hatake Kakashi was a perfect stranger, Naruto knew the man had recently spent a lot of time with two adults that both boys trusted since Naruto could smell traces of Inu and Kuma's scents clinging to the man. He immediately forgot about the familiar scents when their new sensei began speaking.
"Now that everyone is finally here, we can get started," their Jounin sensei lazily declared the moment that Sakura and Sasuke sat down just a few feet away from Naruto and Haruo. "The first thing we need to get out of the way is proper introductions so that we all know who everyone is; in other words, tell us your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, etc."
"Will you go first and show us what you mean, sensei?" Sakura asked as she twirled a strand of her bubble-gum pink hair and tipped her head sideways to stare at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye; as if she expected the moody jerk to be pleased with her for implying that all three boys were idiots that couldn't understand how to introduce themselves.
"Sure, why not. I'm Hatake Kakashi. The four of you are welcome to call me Kakashi-sensei. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. I haven't really given much thought to my dreams for the future. As for my hobbies; I have lots of hobbies. Why don't you go next, pinky."
"My name is Haruno Sakura," Sakura began as prompted while Naruto and Haruo shared a confused look due to the fact that they hadn't really learned anything aside from the Jounin's name and they'd already known that. "I like…" The pink haired kunoichi paused as she glanced at Sasuke and blushed before she turned back towards Kakashi. "My hobbies…" She briefly glanced at Sasuke a second time and her blush darkened. "My dreams…" A third glance in Sasuke's direction was accompanied by a smothered squeal that made both Naruto and Haruo wince as the shrill sound hurt their ears.
"And your dislikes?" Kakashi prompted in a bored tone.
"Naruto," Sakura growled as she abruptly dropped her giggly, fan-girl façade to glare at the blond in question.
Naruto flinched at the sheer venom the pink haired kunoichi injected into her voice as she said his name. He knew there were very few people in Konoha that actually liked him and now that he knew about the Kyuubi inside of him, he knew why they hated him. He'd also learned to shrug off the hateful glares and spiteful snide remarks a long time ago but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to know that he was stuck with a teammate that practically hated him.
A brief glance at the rest of his team showed him that Sasuke was actually smirking behind his hands in response to Sakura's vehemently voiced dislike of the blond. Haruo, on the other hand, had narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw as he tried to glare a hole through the girl's forehead over her intentional cruelty. Naruto almost felt sorry for Sakura; Haruo tended to hold grudges and he was not shy about getting revenge (and Haruo had already disliked the girl for the things she said and done during the past four years). And their sensei seemed rather indifferent about the matter but it was rather difficult to tell through the man's face mask.
Their new sensei then hummed neutrally before he broke the growing tension as he addressed Sasuke, "You're up next, broody."
"Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. I do not have any dreams, only ambitions; I will restore my clan and I will kill a certain someone."
Naruto barely suppressed the shiver that traced down his spine in response to Sasuke's words and tone when he'd spoken of his so called ambitions. He shot a glance at Haruo and snorted under his breath when he noticed that Haruo hadn't even heard Sasuke's dark introduction; his friend was still far too wrapped up in trying to make Sakura burst into flames with his death glare. That was actually a rather scary thought considering that the younger boy had set Mizuki on fire the other night. Too bad they'd promised Haruo's otousan that they wouldn't prank those that annoyed them now that they were Genin; it probably would have been a lot less painful for Sakura if Haruo could just prank her once to get revenge.
Though, there were bound to be ways to get around that promise if they looked hard enough. And Sakura's earlier thoughtlessness was motivation enough for Naruto to sit down and find every single loophole that would let them prank her. That's if Haruo hadn't already found the first one because of Sakura's admission that she didn't like Naruto.
Both Naruto's and Haruo's attention was pulled from their pink-haired teammate at that point as Kakashi addressed Naruto next. The way he had addressed Naruto immediately had both boys frowning; there was only one man that ever called Naruto that particular nickname (and it was not Hatake Kakashi).
"Okay, that mean's it's your turn, Whiskers."
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo," Naruto proclaimed as he temporarily ignored the nickname in favor of giving his introduction as requested. "I like Haruo and ramen. I dislike waiting the three minute wait it takes to make instant ramen and I hate bullies and those who pick on my friend. I will never tell anyone but Haruo and Jijii about my dreams and my hobbies are classified under the KPA's Code of Conduct."*
"What is the KPA? And what code are you talking about?" Sakura demanded as she curled her hands into fists and scowled at Naruto in confusion.
"I can't answer that; if you don't already know, then you don't have the necessary clearance to know," Naruto replied without an ounce of shame or regret while both Sakura and Sasuke scowled in response to the brush off they'd been given; though Sasuke would probably never willingly admit to not already knowing what the KPA was.
"I guess that makes it your turn, green-eyes," Kakashi interjected before Sakura could start yelling at Naruto or attempt to demand answers from the blond.
"My name is Haruo."
Naruto quickly suppressed the smirk that had formed on his face as he immediately realized that Haruo was in the mood to be difficult when he said nothing further because he was still fairly irritated. His little friend could be as stubborn as a cantankerous mule when the mood struck him. And if he did not want to do something, then he simply would not do it unless you gave him a good enough reason or incentive to gain his cooperation. Haruo had never liked being the center of attention and he liked talking about himself even less; so there was no way he was going to actually reveal any more information about himself.
Kakashi cleared his throat after two minutes had passed in complete silence before he prompted, "Perhaps you could finish your introduction now."
"I did."
"You left out a few things… such as your likes and dislikes, your dreams, and your hobbies."
"I did?"
"Yes, you did."
"Oh. Gomen, sensei."
"That's alright. Why don't you share those with us now, ne?"
"Share what?" Haruo inquired in an innocent tone as he tipped his head to one side in apparent confusion.
"Your likes, dislikes, dreams, and hobbies," Kakashi repeated in the overly patient tone adults used when they were trying to hide just how annoyed (or amused) they were with you and Naruto had to slip a hand over his mouth to hide the huge grin that had formed on his face.
"What about them?"
"I'd like for you to share them with your teammates."
"Oh."
"Well?" Sakura demanded with a huff when Haruo didn't say anything further.
"Is too deep of a subject for those with shallow minds," Haruo quipped without an ounce of inflection as his eyes briefly flicked in Sakura's direction; their green depths flashing with barely concealed disdain and irritation.
Sakura's face turned bright red in response to the obvious insult and you could practically see the steam pouring from her ears in her anger. Naruto felt torn between laughing his ass off in response to the put down or protecting the younger boy from the girl's growing anger.
"Haruo-kun, would you please stop winding your teammate up and just finish your introduction?"
"I did."
"You did not share the rest of the information that I requested."
"So? No one else really did either but you aren't pestering them about it."
"And if I insist?" Kakashi asked as he tucked his hands into his pocket and tipped his head to the side.
"Then I would have to check with sensei-nii to find out if you have the clearance necessary to request that information from me, sensei," Haruo replied in an overly serious tone that made it even harder for Naruto to hold in his laughter. "If you do, then I will gladly meet with you later to discuss that information with you since I already know that Uchiha and Haruno do not have the proper clearance to hear my answer."
"How could your likes and dislikes or your dreams and hobbies be considered classified information?" Sakura asked in complete confusion as her anger deflated in the face of her bewilderment while Sasuke looked like he was sucking on a rotten lemon due to the fact that Haruo flat out stated he wasn't good enough to be told 'classified information'.
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you," Haruo replied in a tone that said he was not in the least bit sorry.
"Why, is that classified too?" Sakura snarkily snapped in response to his smart-mouthed retort.
"No, of course not; that would be rather silly. I can't tell you why the information Kakashi-sensei asked for is classified because you're not a boy."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sakura all but yelled as she jumped to her feet; the pink haired girl once again angry.
"It means that you're a girl and you wouldn't understand. And worse, you're a gossipy Fan-Girl. If I tell you anything, you'll just tell everyone you know because everyone knows that a Fan-Girl couldn't keep a secret to save her life. On top of that, you don't really care about my likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams anyway."
"At least I'm not a little baby that can't even go to the bathroom alone," Sakura snapped back as she sneered at Haruo in response to his negative verbal assessment of her character.
"Urusai, Billboard Brow," Naruto snarled venomously; the blond purposefully using the hurtful insult that Ami (one of their classmates that was a well known bully) had given Sakura a few years earlier in retaliation for her belittling Haruo for his fear of being alone and implying that he wasn't old enough to take care of himself.
"Alright, enough playing around," Kakashi ordered in a tone that commanded instant obedience the moment Sakura took a single step forward and raised her fist with the obvious intention of hitting Naruto after he had called her that horrid nickname; his entire demeanor flipping from laid-back to serious in the blink of an eye. The Jounin was also the only one to notice the dark look on Haruo's face and the way he'd started to form subtle hand seals in order to protect Naruto from their teammate's ire with a jutsu. "Sakura, sit down."
The pink haired girl silently seethed as she dropped back onto the ground. Naruto briefly thought that Haruo might have been a touch too harsh on her with his assessment of her character before he recalled the fact that she'd made Haruo's injury worse earlier. There was nothing he hated more than someone hurting his only friend. And the entire incident with Mizuki last Friday had only intensified his determination to protect the younger boy. It had also made it far harder for him to control his temper after he'd unlocked his Uzumaki heritage.
It didn't help that today had not been the first time that Sakura had hurt Naruto through her own carelessness.
Kakashi waited a minute to make certain the small 'fight' was over before he got down to business, "Normally, this is where I would undermine your current confidence in yourself and your abilities by revealing the secret Genin Exam that all Jounin sensei spring on their prospective teams. I would then further scare you by informing you that the percentage of Genin that actually pass their tests is less than thirty-three percent. However, due to the unusual formation of your team, I will not be giving you the standard Genin Exam."
"What's so unusual about our team?" Naruto asked as he frowned at their sensei in confusion.
"Genin teams are typically made up of no more than three Genin; your team has four."
"Why do we have four Genin on our team, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura inquired as she scowled at Naruto and Haruo.
"There are many reasons why but they are unimportant; all that matters is that this team is unique. As such, I will be skipping the Genin Exam and jumping straight into a training exercise that will allow me to accurately gauge your current skill levels. To that end, the four of you are to gather all of your gear and meet me at Training Ground Thirty-Three at five sharp tomorrow morning. I also suggest you don't bother eating breakfast; you'll only throw it up."
Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves two seconds later; leaving the four teammates alone on the roof. Naruto took that as their cue to leave and promptly jumped to his feet before he picked up Haruo. He then dashed over the nearest side of the building in order to escape from their irritated teammate before she could remember that she was annoyed with the two of them. Once he was certain they weren't being followed by Sakura or Sasuke, Naruto set Haruo on his feet and the two of them headed home.
"Are you okay, Haruo?" Naruto asked as he caught sight of Haruo favoring his right side out of the corner of his eye.
"Mostly."
"Do you need me to carry you the rest of the way?"
"No, we're not that far from home."
It only took the two of them another eight minutes to make it home; the apartment that they'd been set up in four years earlier was close to both the Academy and the Hokage's Compound. Haruo held out their apartment key the moment they reached the stairs leading up to their place and Naruto snagged it before he dashed up the stairs to open the door and dismantle the protective traps they always set when they left. By the time he'd dismantled the final trap, Haruo had finally reached their apartment and Naruto silently passed the key back to the younger boy.
"Are you hungry, Haruo? You didn't eat much for lunch."
"No, not really. I think I'm just going to go lay down."
"Okay, I'll wake you up for supper about six, then."
"Okay," Haruo agreed before he shuffled off towards their shared bedroom.
Naruto watched him go with a frown; he hated the fact that Haruo was currently feeling miserable because of the injuries he'd gotten trying to protect him. Instead of feeling sorry for himself or getting angry like he normally would though, Naruto set about getting their shinobi gear and trapping supplies together for tomorrow. Once he had everything he thought they might need, he spent the rest of the afternoon sharpening and oiling all of their kunai and shuriken. His task would be interrupted around five-thirty when Tokage turned up to check on Haruo and give him another dose of medicine.
While the masked medic was checking up on the nine year old, Naruto headed into the kitchen to make supper. He was not as good at cooking as Haruo but he could make rice and steam vegetables for the two of them. He also boiled water for a couple of cups of instant ramen (one each instead of the usual two or three) to go with their meal. The only reason why he wasn't making it an all ramen meal that night was because steamed vegetables were Haruo's second favorite thing to eat; his first being raw vegetables and fresh fruit.
Naruto didn't really like vegetables but ate them because Haruo insisted that they were good for him and it made Haruo happy to see him eating vegetables and fruit. Smothering the cooked veggies in cheese sauce or drizzling raw veggies in ranch dressing (two tricks that Haruo had taught Naruto when they were younger) usually helped cover up the taste of them and made them easier to eat.
If he could have, Naruto would have been far happier eating nothing but ramen all day, everyday. Sadly, ramen didn't really qualify as a balanced diet and he was lucky to get two or three cups a day. If he was really lucky, he'd get to scarf between five and ten bowls of freshly made ramen from Ichiraku's Ramen Stand in a week. If not for Sakura making Haruo's shoulder worse, the two of them probably would have had fresh ramen for lunch earlier to cheer themselves up after learning who their teammates were.
Shaking his head, Naruto put his other two teammates out of his mind as he peeled and sliced carrots before tossing them in with the rest of the vegetables that were already in the steamer. Once he was finished with the carrots, he put the lid on the steamer, checked the water level, and turned it on before he measured out the rice and water and poured them into the rice cooker. The last thing he did was fill up the kettle with water and set it on the stove to heat it up for the ramen.
Haruo would shuffle into the kitchen with Tokage on his heels roughly twenty minutes later; right about the time both the vegetables and rice were finished. Naruto was very pleased to see that Haruo looked far better than he had earlier and he felt his heart unclench. Tokage left just a few minutes later, after providing another three doses of medicine for Haruo (all of them for the next day), and the two boys sat down to their meal.
After they had eaten and cleaned up the kitchen (with Naruto doing most of the work), the two of them put together a large bento for them to share for lunch the next day. Haruo also insisted that they prepare some fruit for a light breakfast despite the fact that their new sensei had warned them not to eat anything. Naruto only agreed because he didn't want to get into an argument with the younger boy over something so silly. After they'd finished making the two meals, the two of them spent a couple hours doing a few odd chores around the place (such as washing clothes and picking up trash).
The two boys had then taken showers (with Naruto carefully taping plastic over Haruo's bandages to keep them from getting wet) before they got ready for bed. The two of them then curled up in bed; though Naruto was far too excited to sleep at first. He'd dreamt of the day he'd be shinobi for years now and even though he was stuck with two teammates he couldn't stand, he couldn't find it in him to be disappointed; he still had Haruo on his team, after all.
Both boys were up two hours before dawn the next morning; Haruo's injuries waking him up as the last traces of pain killer wore off and the green eyed Genin shaking a still sleeping Naruto to wake him up in turn. Naruto groggily sat up and stretched out his back and arms as he yawned loudly in response to the shaking. He slid out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to empty his bladder a minute later. He then washed his hands and face before he returned to the bedroom to get dressed while an already half-dressed Haruo slipped into the bathroom next.
By the time he'd pulled on a clean jumpsuit and tied his hitai-ate around his forehead, Haruo had returned to the bedroom and Naruto quickly helped the younger boy into his shirt, sling, and jacket before he helped Haruo tie on his hitai-ate. The two of them then wandered towards the kitchen where they ate the light breakfast that they'd prepared the previous evening. Haruo also downed his next dose of pain reliever, antibiotic, and nausea suppressant; his face scrunching up in disgust after each one. Naruto would have laughed if not for the reason behind the other boy's need to take the medicine in the first place.
"I'm fine, Naruto," Haruo insisted when he happened to catch the look of concern that Naruto couldn't quite hide. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did yesterday."
"I'm glad," Naruto sincerely replied; the boisterous blond utterly serious for all of two seconds. The seriousness melted away a moment later as it was replaced with pure excitement as he stated, "We should hurry up and head to Training Ground Thirty-Three to meet with Kakashi-sensei. I'll grab our packs while you grab lunch and your next dose of medicine."
"Okay."
Two minutes later, the two of them were trotting through the darkened streets of Konoha in the pre-dawn light as they made their way towards Training Ground Thirty-Three. Once they reached the assigned field, the two boys stopped in their tracks and eyed the elaborate obstacle course that covered a good portion of the training ground and extended into the trees. There were climbing walls, swinging ropes, rope bridges, a construct with a series of wooden rings chained to it, a stretch of tires, training posts with targets, giant mud puddles, man-made pit falls, and what looked like crude teeter-totters. There were also trip wires and seal tags; a clear indication that the course was also trapped.
"Sensei-nii helped set up this obstacle course," Haruo stated as he eyed the closest wooden climbing wall.
"Inu helped; I can smell his scent all over the place. Come to think of it, I thought I smelled Inu yesterday when we were meeting with Kakashi-sensei."
"That's because Inu is our Jounin-sensei," Haruo pointed out with a small frown.
"Nani? What do you mean?"
"Kakashi-sensei has the same flyaway old-man hair that Inu has and Kakashi-sensei called you Whiskers yesterday. The only one that ever called you that was sensei-nii and Inu always snickered when he called you that. And I'm also pretty certain that their chakra signatures are identical but it's hard to tell because Inu used to always suppress his chakra whenever he watched over us and Kakashi-sensei was doing the same thing yesterday."
"That doesn't mean anything. The hair thing and similar chakra signatures could just mean that they are brothers. And Kakashi-sensei might just hang out with Koneko-chan and Inu often enough that they shared stories about us with him."
"If that were the case, then you would have smelled Kakashi's scent underneath Inu's scent. You can check again when he shows up, if you don't believe me."
"No, I believe you," Naruto countered; he knew Haruo wouldn't have said it if he didn't have reason to believe it. "I just don't see why Inu would give up his mask just to teach us."
"Probably because sensei-nii can't give up his mask to teach us instead," Haruo logically replied. "And there probably wasn't any other way for them to keep an eye on us now that we're Genin because you know none of Inu's squad trusts us not to get into trouble even when we aren't doing anything."
"That's probably because we're always doing something. Should we confront Kakashi-sensei about being Inu?"
"No, not yet; he might be unhappy with us if he knew we knew that he was Inu since no one is supposed to know who is behind an ANBU's mask. Besides, it would be more fun to make him wonder whether or not we know each time we smirk at him."
"Like a prank," Naruto agreed as a slow smirk formed on his face. "Ne, ne; how much time do we have left before the others are supposed to be here?"
"Another twenty-six minutes. Why?"
"Think we should add to the obstacle course?"
"Did you pack our supplies?"
"Of course," Naruto retorted as he slipped both packs he'd been carrying off of his back and dug into them for those trap (and prank) supplies that they hadn't used during last Friday's misadventure.
The two of them might have promised not to prank people in retaliation now that they were official shinobi but that promise didn't include anything about not improving training exercises with specialized traps that promised humiliation instead of bodily harm when tripped. Some might call it splitting hairs but Naruto and Haruo specialized in finding and abusing even the smallest loophole when the situation merited it. And the two boys owed Sakura a right proper pranking; Naruto because he was still mad at her for making Haruo's injury worse yesterday and Haruo because he was more than a little upset with the way she'd insulted and threatened Naruto.
That Sasuke could potentially get caught up in the traps was just an added bonus.
Supplies in hand, the two boys slunk through the obstacle course with a small army of Kage Bunshin helpers courtesy of Naruto. Haruo mostly just held one of the torches and kept a sharp eye out for trip wires and pressure traps while Naruto kept watch for pit falls and rope traps. Each time they reached a suitable location for one of their little additions, Naruto and his clones would deftly set up the trap while Haruo kept track of the time, kept an eye out for their teammates and sensei, and made certain the trap was well hidden once it had been armed.
A dozen traps and nineteen minutes later, the two of them finished pranking the obstacle course. They could have easily set twice that many traps if they hadn't needed to be extra careful to avoid setting off the existing traps. In some cases, they'd even taken precious time to figure out the purpose of the training traps in order to anticipate which way their teammates would jump to avoid the trap so that they could set one of their prank traps up to catch them instead. That was a trick that Inu had taught them during the trap training he'd given them over the last six years.
Once they finished setting the last trap, the two of them gathered up their things and made themselves scarce so that they could 'show up' after their teammates arrived and make it look like someone else had set the prank traps.
Sasuke would be the first one to arrive at exactly five o'clock looking exceedingly grumpy and only half awake. Sakura showed up just three minutes after that looking like some sort of walking zombie. Apparently, their teammates were not morning people. Not that Naruto was either but after living with Haruo for years, he'd learned to how to cope with being dragged out of bed before the sun rose on a regular basis since the nine year old was a morning person. Early mornings were also the best time for sneaking about since there were far fewer people out and about the village at that time of day.
Naruto would then carry Haruo back onto the training grounds just two minutes later; giving the impression that they were late because he'd had to carry the younger boy all the way there. No greetings were exchanged between the four of them as they settled down into two obvious groups; Naruto and Haruo in one and Sasuke in the other with Sakura attempting to cozy up to her crush. Sakura didn't even make an attempt to call them out on their tardiness like they had half expected her to but that might have been because she was far too busy ignoring them in her latest efforts to win Sasuke's affections.
Their new instructor would show up roughly ten minutes after Naruto and Haruo revealed themselves; the Jounin running about fifteen minutes late (much as he had when he was supposed to pick them up the previous day). Naruto wondered if that was going to be an every day thing or if it was just because the unmasked Inu needed a few days to adjust to his new schedule. He then put the matter out of his mind since it wasn't like the guy was turning up three hours late all the time.
In another universe, a guy that could have been Kakashi's twin let out a violent sneeze and glanced around him a little warily as he tried to figure out who could have been talking about him before he checked the time. Seeing that he'd only been there for about two hours so far, the man resumed talking to the Memorial Stone in front of him as he regaled the dead with stories of the living.
Back in the universe where our story takes place…
"Ohayou gozaimasu, my cute little Genin," Kakashi greeted in a chipper voice as he strolled up to where the four of them were hovering about the entrance to the training grounds.
"Ohayou, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto and Haruo replied in perfect synchronization as they turned towards the man.
"Ohayou, sensei," Sakura parroted several heartbeats after the two friends while Sasuke merely grunted in response.
"I hope the four of you are ready for an exhausting morning…"
"Haruo's not allowed; Tokage said so," Naruto all but growled as he interrupted their sensei.
"Don't worry your cute little blond head, Whiskers; I have no plans to run green-eyes into the ground," Kakashi replied as he dropped his hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair. "He will, however, be mentally exhausted by the time I am finished grilling him on his skills and knowledge. I will also be working with him on his chakra control."
"Can I do the obstacle course instead? I promise not to run or use my right arm," Haruo retorted as he ducked behind Naruto to half hide from Kakashi; the younger boy hamming it up because it made people underestimate him.
"Maybe you should have studied while we were in the Academy instead of goofing around like an idiot," Sakura meanly taunted as she threw a smug smirk at Haruo.
"Haruo's not an idiot and he did study," Naruto snapped back as he scowled at the kunoichi.
"If that's true, then he shouldn't be afraid of a little test. I wouldn't be afraid of a test and neither would Sasuke-kun; the two of us were ranked as the top two students in Iruka-sensei's class."
"Actually, that's not true," Kakashi interjected before Naruto could make another retort. "Hyuuga Hinata was the top kunoichi of your class and she was followed closely by Yamanaka Ino; you came in third because your physical training fell well below that of the other two girls, pinky."
Sakura looked rather stunned by that knowledge but that didn't stop her from asking, "But Sasuke-kun was still Rookie of the Year, ne?"
"Yes, but he only earned that title by a very small margin due to Haruo being physically weaker as a result of his current age. If Haruo was the same age as the rest of you, he could have potentially earned the title of Rookie of the Year instead of Sasuke," Kakashi replied and Naruto felt Haruo thump his head into his back as their raven haired teammate shot a scowl in Haruo's direction upon learning that he'd nearly lost the top spot to the younger boy. "But enough talking; you three have an obstacle course to run so listen up while I explain what you will be doing."
"The obstacle course you see in front of you is exactly five miles long and contains over one hundred obstacles that you will be required to surmount. Those obstacles include several traps, natural obstructions, and man-made impediments that you will need to conquer in order to complete the course. On top of that, there are twenty-five stationary and twenty-five moving targets that you will be required to attack as you travel through the course; some of which are concealed or partially obscured."
"Additionally, there are three objectives that you will need to accomplish: one, is to complete the course in the shortest time possible; two, is to avoid triggering as many of the hidden traps as you can; and three, is to score as many points as you can by hitting the scattered targets throughout the course with your kunai and shuriken. The closer you are to hitting a bull's-eye on each target, the higher your score will be at the end. Missed or skipped targets will see points deducted from your over all score."
"In order to avoid disputes over whose weapons hit where on what targets, each of you will tie a colored strip of ribbon to your kunai rings and apply a bit of the same color paint to your shuriken; I suggest you avoid putting the paint on the blades of the shuriken since it will only come off when it hits the targets. The three of you can start doing that while I cover the rest of the rules."
Kakashi tossed them each a packet of ribbons, a bottle of craft paint, a paint brush, and a heavy box filled to the brim with extra kunai and shuriken at that point; Naruto getting orange, Sakura getting pink, and Sasuke getting white. Haruo snagged the paint, paintbrush, and the shuriken from him and sat down to color code the throwing stars while Naruto (and the half dozen clones that burst into existence next to him) was left to tie the ribbons to his kunai. As they worked, Kakashi continued going over the rest of the rules.
"Next, in order to accomplish your objectives, you are allowed to use any skills that you have been taught; that includes things you learned outside of the Academy. The only exception to that rule is that you are not allowed to use any fire based ninjutsu that could potentially destroy any of the obstacles since more than half of the course is made out of wood. What that basically means is that you must leave the obstacles in tact so that the rest of your teammates can complete the course when it is their turn."
"Additionally, if you step outside of the courses boundaries, as marked by the red lines, you will have to run back to the start of the course and start all over again without the benefit of your time being restarted. You will each be running through the course alone the first time before all three of you will run it at the same time and then I will send you through in pairs. Each pass through the course will have added objectives designed to test your stamina and stealth in addition to your ability to follow directions."
"And finally, the person with the lowest score average and worst over all time at the end of the morning will not get to eat lunch as punishment," Kakashi finished as he produced a stack of bento meals and set them on a conveniently grown stump near the entrance to the training grounds. "Any questions? No? Then let's get started; Naruto, you're up first since you've already finished marking your weapons."
"Yosh! Here I go!" Naruto bellowed as he quickly stuffed the throwing weapons to their respective pouches before he jumped up onto his feet while his clones dispersed in a cloud of smoke and ran to the starting line of the obstacle course.
"Good luck, Naruto," Haruo called out from his seat on the ground and Naruto beamed at the younger boy as he gave him a thumbs-up in response.
"On your mark," Kakashi stated as he moved to stand between the start and finish lines of the obstacle course before pulling out a stop watch to time each run through the course. "Get set! Go!"
And Naruto was off and running as he headed straight for the first obstacle (a ten foot wooden wall that he had to scale in order to advance through the course) with a huge grin on his face.
Translations: English to Japanese
Gomen – I'm sorry (informal)
Nani – what
Ne, ne – one way of getting someone's attention, can be a sort of childish way of saying hey, hey
Ohayou/ohayou gozaimasu – good morning (just 'ohayou' is similar to saying 'morning')
Yosh(i) – an enthusiastic affirmative; can be translated as yes, okay, alright, etc…
Notes:
KPA – Konoha's Prankster Association: just a bit of silliness I invented that will be explained later in the story.
Naruto's Dream – now, before any one calls foul because I didn't have Naruto say his dream was to become the Hokage and surpass the other Hokages, I just wanted to say that that hasn't changed. Naruto still wants to be Hokage and he still wants to prove himself worthy of the entire village's respect. The only real difference here is that he's not crowing his dream out loud for the entire village to hear because he doesn't want any one to mock his dreams. Right now, it's also enough for him that Haruo knows and supports his dream.
The Obstacle Course – no, Naruto and Haruo/Harry didn't run through the full five mile course in nineteen minutes; they were cheating by cutting across the course in order to set up their traps and using Naruto's Kage Bunshin. They also didn't venture into those sections of the course that ran through the trees surrounding the training grounds since they were limited on how much time they had to set everything up.
Sakura's Class Ranking – yep, I cut Sakura out from the top kunoichi position because I really don't think Genin Sakura deserved it. I also don't think that Ino deserved it. My reasoning? Both of them were far more interested in chasing after Sasuke than they were in training. And while Hinata is shy, a little too 'nice', and lacks confidence, I think she is at least equal to both girls as far as intelligence goes with her physical training being a little higher simply due to which clan she is from. Plus there's the fact that I could easily see her father demanding that she 'not embarrass' the clan. Yeah, I know; it's been done in FanFiction before but I like Hinata's character.
Oh, and for those of you wondering, I have no plans to bash Sakura throughout the entire story like I have in the past two chapters. I like Sakura's Shippuden character far better than I liked her Genin character because of the way she treated Naruto and how useless she seemed to be during practically every single event of note. I lost count of the number of times she screamed or cried during the Naruto anime because she did it repeatedly in every single arc.
So, while she's being painted in a terrible light now, she will improve once she realizes she needs to change; which will happen far sooner than it did in canon, in case you were wondering. I make no promises on Sasuke's character because I like him even less than I like Sakura because he got worse after he left the village. I've also redeemed him in at least two other stories so, I'll probably paint him as evil in this one unless my muse demands a proper intervention to 'cure' him of his need to be an anal retentive, revenge and power obsessed traitor.
* The dialogue for team meeting was based upon or taken directly from Season 1, Episode 4 of the Naruto anime.
04-15-17: More minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.