Minato went out first, attacking Jiraiya with some brutal taijutsu. As Amaya predicted, Jiraiya dodged all of Minato's punches and kicks easily, even closing his eyes at one point. She locked eyes with Hajime, who was still hiding in the bushes with her, and Hajime took that as his cue to release the traps he set.
Kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags shot out at Jiraiya right as Minato jumped back into the bushes. With a simple Substitution, Jiraiya avoided it all. Amaya tensed as she sensed Jiraiya appear right behind her, grateful that Hajime was hidden up a tree instead of on the ground with her.
"Hiding by yourself, huh?" Jiraiya asked, his hand reaching for his weapons pouch.
Snake. Rat.
"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique," Amaya muttered.
She knew it would be a matter of seconds before Jiraiya dispelled the genjutsu– horrible at genjutsu or not. It was too unrealistic to imagine someone so far above her in terms of skill to get caught in a trap she made. So, she signalled to Hajime, who dropped a net over Jiraiya and then ran over to Minato. It was just in time, too, as she felt her genjutsu shatter.
Rat.
And as her Shadow Possession Jutsu took hold, she felt herself fall onto her knees.
"Sh– Shadow Posse– Possession Jutsu, c– complete," she huffed.
'Damn he has a shitton of chakra.'
"Heh. You got me kid, but how long can you manage it?"
"Dammit, Hajime, Minato, get over here and take the damn bells before I collapse!" Amaya exclaimed, completely forgetting about the honourifics with her exhaustion.
Probably seeing that Amaya was at the end of her rope, Minato ran and took the two bells, tossing one to Hajime. Amaya immediately released the jutsu, panting.
"You've got the bells, so which one of you is going to fail?"
Hajime and Minato glanced uneasily at each other before moving to toss their bells at Amaya.
"No, stop. I never planned on making you two giving up your bells," she sighed, getting back onto her feet only to sway. To her surprise, Hajime caught her.
"Thanks," she muttered. "Anyway, like I said. On the off chance this actually worked and he made us choose who to throw to the wolves, I decided I'm going to. You both have huge dreams that will only be achievable if he's your sensei. Hokage? He, Tsunade-sama, or Orochimaru-sama are probably going to get it next. Minato, you'd be able to be Godaime if that happens. Prove to the world that civilian-borns can be great, too? Jiraiya-sama's a civilian-born! He'd know where to start! Me on the other hand? My dream doesn't depend on him. Sure, it would be easier to achieve with him helping me, but I'm good enough at medical ninjutsu that I could just work at the hospital. I wouldn't get to help you in the field, but I can still protect my precious people by healing them. Nara's are pretty good at medicine, too, so I could always rope a nice enough Jonin into apprenticing me."
'Hah, no, you make Yondaime and there won't be a need for Godaime for at least twenty years after, if I have anything to say about it.'
Minato glared at her and tossed his bell at Jiraiya's feet. "You're the one that helped me get Rookie of the Year in the first place! If you wanted to, you'd easily have it instead of me! Amaya-chan, you were with me from the start! There's no way I'm abandoning you, now! If I work hard enough, I'll make Hokage without a Jonin sensei!"
Hajime stared at Minato and Amaya before sighing and copying Minato.
"I just got to know you two, but you're good people. I wouldn't feel right being the only one who got a sensei."
"So, the three of you refuse? None of you want to be taught by the Great Jiraiya, Toad Sage extraordinaire?"
"Not if it means abandoning my friends!" Minato exclaimed.
"Yeah! It's either none of us or all of us!" Hajime added.
Amaya grinned and put her arms around the two boys. "I've bonded with these two. There's no way I'm not sticking with them."
"You... PASS!" Jiraiya grinned.
"WHAT?" Minato and Hajime exclaimed.
Minato's eyebrows furrowed for a moment and his eyes lit up. "I see... Amaya-chan was right. You wanted to test our teamwork!"
Jiraiya nodded and opened his mouth, but Amaya beat him to it.
"Great lesson and all, but sensei? You have a ton of chakra and I'm going to collapse from the strain it put on me. Either give me some chakra or get me to the hospital in two minutes." Amaya groaned.
Jiraiya panicked. "Can you do the Chakra Transfusion Technique? Tsunade'll kill me if I get a student in the hospital hours after I met her for the first time."
"Yes, now get over here." Amaya sighed.
Her hand glowed blue and she placed it on Jiraiya's stomach. Annoyingly, that was the highest bit of him she could reach. When she was about halfway full, she stopped.
"That's all your reserves?" he questioned, incredulous.
"No, it's half..."
"That's only half?"
"I'm only nine..." she pouted. "And, I'm a Nara. Because of our yin heavy chakra, we have low reserves. There isn't enough yang to balance us out."
Jiraiya sighed. "Take some more."
Amaya eyed him suspiciously before complying.
"Are y–"
"Kid, you haven't even taken a thirty-sixth of my reserves."
"Woah, Amaya-san, are your chakra reserves that small?" Hajime asked.
"Shut up... Not all of us are chakra monsters like the three of you..."
"What do you mean 'three of you'?" Jiraiya asked.
"Chakra sensor. I can feel the differences of chakra between the three of you, but it's a bit hard for me to judge the quantity. I can just say it's a lot or a little, which isn't that useful, cuz those measurements are subjective. If half of my reserves is almost a thirty-sixth of yours, Jiraiya-sensei, then I'd imagine an eighth of yours is Minato's and a ninth of your reserves is Hajime-san's."
"Huh," Minato mumbled. "I didn't think I had that much."
Once Amaya's chakra reserves were replenished, Jiraiya told them to meet at Training Ground 3 at ten a.m. and let them leave. Amaya had promised to let her mother meet her Genin teammates, so, high on energy, she grabbed Minato and Hajime's hands and dragged them in the direction of the Nara compound.
Only to bump into someone.
"We told you not to run, Amaya-san," Hajime muttered.
She blushed and looked up, finding Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, and Inoichi Yamanaka, in all their ten-year-old glory.
"Sorry," she squeaked, bowing.
Minato and Hajime looked at her confusedly, no doubt wondering what the respect was for.
'Damn, literally running into your clan's heir. Great first impressions.'
"No need to bow," Inoichi said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
"I'm Akimichi Choza, and this is Yamanaka Inoichi and Nara Shikaku. What're your names?" Choza asked.
"Nara Amaya, Namikaze Minato, Hashimoto Hajime," she said, pointing at each person.
"You're a Nara? Never would've guessed with the way you ran," Inoichi laughed.
"High on chakra," she muttered, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there.
"High on chakra?" Shikaku questioned.
Amaya felt the need to sink into the ground and appear far, far away. Yes, she was a bit nervous. Sue her.
"Yeah, she held our sensei in her shadow jutsu thing right after sticking him in a genjutsu! Then she gave a whole list of reasons on why me and Minato-san should have passed! It was so badass!" Hajime exclaimed excitedly.
Amaya and Minato stared at Hajime blankly.
"How is that badass?" Minato asked at the same time Amaya said, "I collapsed twice in the middle of that."
Choza looked like he was trying not to laugh.
"How does that relate to being high on chakra?" Inoichi asked.
"Oh, right!" Minato said. "She did this thing where her hand glowed blue and sensei let her suck chakra out of him so that Amaya wouldn't have to go to the hospital. He wouldn't let her go until she was completely full."
"Chakra Transfer Technique," Amaya muttered.
"That takes a lot of control," Shikaku remarked.
'Ground, please pull me in.'
"It does?" Hajime asked. "How did you manage to be dead-last? You could've taken Hanako's ego down a peg!"
"Too much work," Amaya muttered.
Finally, someone noticed how she was feeling.
"It was nice meeting you all, but we really have to go," Minato smiled.
"Of course," Choza nodded. "We'll see you around, I suppose!"
Once Amaya felt that she was out of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio's hearing range, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Why did you bow?" Minato asked curiously.
"They're the clan heirs," she responded as she walked inside the compound, smiling at the tired gatekeeper. "As a member of the Nara Clan, it would be rude not to."
"Say, now I'm really wondering. Why did you fake your grades? Usually they put the top kunoichi, so you'd have been on Minato-san's team anyway!" Hajime said.
"It's better to be underestimated than overestimated," Amaya sighed. "People think you're weak, and then you have the element of surprise on your side. Besides, failing is easier than getting everything perfect."
"But... that's just the Academy!"
"Right, but people always celebrate Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year. We're in the middle of a war and we have a huge target on our team." at the boys' confused looks, she explained. "You were right that Sensei and his team almost defeated Hanzo of the Salamander. Do you think people are gonna let that go? Anyway, they'll expect the people on his Genin team to be good! It's better if I'm underestimated. As the only kunoichi and member of a clan, I'll be a bigger target. People'll want to hold me hostage. If I'm underestimated then it'll be easier for me to escape. It's things like that."
They walked in silence for a few minutes, contemplating what Amaya had just said.
She stopped in front of a small, cottage-like, home. Amaya pulled out a key and opened the door, kicking off her shoes and stepping in.
"I'm home!" she said, gesturing Minato and Hajime, into the home.
Her mother came rushing to the front door, smiling when she saw the three children.
"Welcome back! So, this is your team? You passed! Oh, come in, come in!" Keiko urged.
Amaya grinned, happy to be back and eager to tell her mother what had happened.
A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Whatever it is, comments are always appreciated!
Unless they're just mean and unhelpful. Then... not so much. I think that's implied, though.