Naruto, remembering sensei's words, woke up 1 hour before the needed time. He hated it, but he wanted nothing more than to show every member of his team that he is not useless. And sorry not sorry, but hard work is the only way to really achieve something.
He started doing his usual training routine – pushups, and hitting the wall with his fists.
"Ugh. It hurts dattebayo". – Naruto thought, while looking at his bloody hands. The training for sure had an effect on him, but he was still hitting the wall, and was imagining Neji and Ino's smug grins on it.
"I show you. I show you that I'm not a loser! Today, I'm wiping those grins from your stupid faces".
After the warm-up, Naruto quickly made himself a sandwich of what was left. He checked in the cupboard – yeah, he for sure needs to buy more food. He just had to hope the money would be enough…
– "Okay, off I go!" – He screamed in excitement and ran towards the Ninja Academy.
He looked over, and saw only Kakashi-sensei. Looks like he was the first to arrive. Kakashi also noticed him and waved. Naruto smiled and jumped in front of him with an even bigger smile.
– "Hey there, sensei! I'm ready to show you what I got today". – Naruto said with excitement. Kakashi raised his eyebrow, and led Naruto away by his shoulder.
– "Well, I see you are prepared. Let's see what you are made of".
– "Are we going to train, sensei?"
– "Ugh, stop being so impatient. Wait for Neji and Ino, because from now on – you are tied together".
Naruto rolled his eyes and leaned onto a tree. Now, he just had to wait for his teammates and whoop their asses, like they did to him yesterday.
While Kakashi and Naruto waited, Ino was slowly walking towards the academy in a company of two boys – her childhood best friends - Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji.
– "Ugh. Guys, you don't know how I wish I was in the Academy with you, instead of dragging myself to that stupid training with those team of imbeciles". – Ino said and crossed her hands behind her back. Shikamaru yawned.
– "Yeah-yeah… Well, at least you don't have to sit at those lessons for a whole year. It's such a drag".
– "Such a drag sleeping? Beware Shika, you can score 0 fifth time in a row today if you sleep through the whole lesson again!" – Choji laughed. – "But yeah Ino – I feel bad for you having such weird team".
– "Can't believe I got landed with a stupidest person ever and a sociopath! The universe clearly got me blacklisted with these placements". – Said annoyed Ino.
Choji and Shikamaru shrugged. This was like the third time they heard this speech from Ino, but still heard her vent out.
– "Yeah, who knew that only one year difference can destroy a tradition that was followed by generations?" – Said Choji, meanwhile crisping his chips.
– "I can only blame your parents for that. They had a deal that we are going to be a team when we will grow up. Now look – you got stuck with some randos". – Said Shikamaru and on this, Ino pouted.
– "Hey! Don's bring dad and mom into this!"
– "Shikamaru is right though. Still salty that there will be no Ino-Shika-Cho this generation". – Choji said under his nose.
Ino lowered her head. She already felt annoyed when she was forced to go to the training early morning, but the thought that she will be forever tied to a Nine-Tails Idiot and that Neji ruined her mood completely.
"Me, Shika and Choji grew up together, like our dads, and were prompted to become a team, like all our ancestors. Uggh, why did I was born one year earlier? Dad, you just couldn't wait, huh".
"I even met the Sarutobi clan, one of who were supposed to be our sensei. They seemed so nice, exactly like the Third, much nicer than my current sensei Kakashi".
"Looks like it's only my fault that Ino-Shika-Cho didn't happen. Hello Naruto and Neji… Yay?"
Shikamaru peeked, and saw Ino's sad face. Weird, it's usually him who is the whiny one, not her. And Choji is clearly worried…
– "Oh, Ino, look! We are here!" – Suddenly Choji exclaimed. Ino snapped out and noticed that they were standing near the building.
Kakashi noticed and went towards her.
– "Welcome. You are late. And you young men - scoot over". – Said Kakashi. Naruto also took a couple of steps forward. As soon as Choji and Shikamaru saw Naruto, they took a couple of steps back.
– "Hey Ino, look – your Nine-Tails Idiot "teammate" is here. As I see without food that he owns to you". – Choji muttered.
– "Huh?! Shut the hell up you fa-" – Naruto prepared to say "fatass", but Ino pressed her finger against the lips, showing that he has to shut up. It was so sudden that he obeyed.
– "Okay, off we go to the *yawn* lessons. Meeting you after your training, right?"
– "Yeah. Thanks guys, splitting the dinner again?" – Ino said with a cute smile and both nodded.
The guys left, Ino sighed and turned to Kakashi. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice from behind.
– "Looks like you are surrounded with some hardcore fanboys. Pretty pathetic from them if you ask me".
Ino turned, and saw grinning Neji, who was standing near Kakashi with his arms crossed. Kakashi looked over, and then did a sign, showing Team 12 that they have to follow him.
While they were walking towards the needed field, Ino kept puffing.
– "They aren't my fanboys you little insecure moron. People can have friends, you know? Or the concept of friends is too new to you, Neji?" – Ino said smugly.
Neji ignored this insult, but to everyone's surprise, it was Kakashi who replied.
– "Well, from now on think more about the training than hanging out with friends. You are not a kid anymore, Ino. Because of you we lost a chunk of time for training. Also, stop insulting your teammates".
This shut Ino up very quickly, and all way towards the field the team was walking in silence.
When they arrived to the place, Team 12 was surprised that instead of an expected bare field saw a small lake.
On this, Kakashi stopped, and stood in front of the team.
– "This is the place. Today, we are doing to begin with a base – training on the water and fighting on it, using weapons".
All three raised their eyebrows, but Naruto was a bit relieved – he thought that Kakashi-sensei will torture them with that bell thing again.
– "Take a ninjutsu stance!" – Kakashi commanded.
– "Yes sensei!" – The trio screamed and immediately stood in the needed pose. Kakashi looked at them, and then, slowly began casting the needed ninjutsu.
– "For now, I'm teaching you three how to focus your chakra in your feet, allowing yourselves to walk on the water. To achieve this, you first need to learn proper chakra control". – Said Kakashi.
He finished, and actually walked on water.
Naruto didn't understand the half sensei was saying, but still repeated the ninjutsu he was showing. He looked over at Ino and Neji – both also tried to copy sensei.
Neji was the first to try to out – after finishing the jutsu, her took a couple of steps towards the water. For the first time, it looked like he will succeed in this – it didn't look like he was close to falling underwater, as Neji was actually holding still.
Kakashi looked, and shook his head in approval.
Naruto already began getting jealous, but suddenly, Neji begun losing balance. Kakashi wanted to rush over, but Neji stopped him.
– "Aaaah! Ugh, that's fine sensei, I got it!" – Neji screamed. He tried to hold his balance on the water.
*SPLASH*
And Neji fell into the lake. Naruto blinked a couple of times, and after realizing what just happened, began rolling on the ground from laughter.
"Haha! Well, ate this, Neji?!" – Naruto was thinking, while Kakashi began searching for his student. He noticed something, and took Neji out of the water by only one hand.
After a couple of seconds, Neji's angry face showed out of the water. The water was dripping from his head to toe – Neji looked more like a wet chicken.
He glared at Naruto, angrily sat on the ground and begun to train the jutsu again.
Naruto kept laughing, but Ino was focused on completing the task. She did the jutsu, and prepared to walk on the water.
*SPLASH*
- Ino fell into the water even earlier then Neji. She succeeded in standing on it, but couldn't hold at all.
Kakashi looked at her, and shook his head. What was happening? Why is this extremely gifted and competent team now showing the results of the worst genin ever?
Just like Neji, Ino was wet and angry. She sat next to him, puffing her cheeks.
– "Uuuugh! Look what happened! My outfit and my precious hair are now ruined!" – She said it so whiny that it actually looked more like a cry.
Neji looked at her, and rolled his eyes.
"That girl is so pathetic. Why bother becoming a ninja when you are ready to turn on the wateworks every time you get slightly wet?" – He thought.
The only one left was Naruto. He concentrated all he had, and began making the jutsu. By this point, Kakashi already got tired of waiting.
"Okay, here I go!" – Naruto thought. He closed his eyes and was fully concentrated. He began to walk towards the water and Kakashi-sensei.
Ino and Neji also decided to look at him with interest.
"Try it, Naruto. You wouldn't hold even one second, if someone like hold so little". – Neji thought with a smug smile.
But, to everyone's surprise, Naruto, who prepared to show off, couldn't even stand on the water. He literally kept walking with closed eyes, not noticing how instead of walking, he was he was sinking more and more into the water.
"Oh no. This is bad". – Thought Kakashi.
– "Hey Naruto!"
Naruto immediately snapped out and found himself half in the water. For a couple of seconds, he couldn't understand what was going on. When he realized, his eyes wided.
– "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, DATTEBAYO?!"
He raced out from the water, also wet. Ino and Neji looked at him and the long-haired boy began laughing.
– "Looks like even the water rejects you. What a little failure". – Neji said with closed eyes and smug smirk.
Naruto stood in front of them, red faced. Then, he screamed.
– "You are the one who laugh! At least I do not look like I was just washed!" – Angry Naruto grabbed Neji's collar, but he was only blocking with his hands. The smile stayed, Neji didn't even open his eyes.
Suddenly, Ino grabbed both Neji and Naruto by their ear, and smacked their heads together.
– "Stop embarrassing yourselves right now!" – Ino screamed. – "Ugh, why do I even get you two! Shikamaru and Choji would never act like two clowns". – She puffed, while Neji and Naruto were rubbing their ears.
Kakashi was looking at this, not understanding what was happening. Both Ino and Neji showed fantastic results on his test… Now what's wrong that they can't even walk on water?
Team 12 didn't give up – they again tried the jutsu. Failed again. For some reason, instead of being focused on the task, all the trio did was screaming at each other:
– "If you even try to touch me next time, I'm going to cut your stupid ponytail down, and wouldn't care that you are a girl". – Said Neji in his usual carefree-calm tone.
– "Don't you dare! Hair is the woman's pride and beauty!"
On this, Naruto was only laughing. He doesn't take the training seriously at all.
"All those screaming on each other, 100% wouldn't do anything good". – Kakashi thought. He began walking towards his students, who just got out of the water, after another failed attempt.
– "And? How you explain this to me?" – Kakashi leaned over the laying trio. While saying this, he looked extremely scary and intimidating, at least to Ino.
Kakashi waited a couple of seconds, then, without any heads up, grabbed Neji, Ino and Naruto, and threw them in the lake.
– "AAAAAAAAAH!"
All three were in the water. Naruto jumped out of it first, and glared at Kakashi sensei. Ino's head also showed, and it looked like she was steaming.
She got out, looked at herself and let out a cry. Naruto checked her out, and yes – she looked scared, wet and her hair, usually tied in a ponytail were loose and wet.
– "Ugh. Quite idiotic from you, Kakashi-sensei - is this a training or a kindergarten playground, with kindergarten methods of punishment?" – Said Neji, who was spitting with water.
Kakashi rolled his eyes. The Hyuga boy definitely needs some serious attitude fix.
Ino tried to comb her hair back to normal, but now, its length played against her – all she did was tangle her hair even more.
This process continued until Ino simply threw her hair on the back, and angrily left, without throwing a tantrum.
– "Ino Yamanaka. Get back here!" – Kakashi called for her, but Ino covered her ears, and didn't hear him.
"It's not fair! Why am I stuck with those losers now?! I want to chill and have fun with my friends, not being humiliated by my own teacher!"
Kakashi signed, but Naruto was chuckling from what sensei did to them. Then, he turned, and gave Kakashi his most sunshine smile:
– "Our training is failed right? You know sensei – I think I'm beginning to dislike you".
– "Mutual. I hate you three". – Said Kakashi, and then raised his voice so Ino would hear: – "The achievement for today: FAIL!"
Neji angrily looked at Kakashi. Now, he is becoming an embarrassment because of a distraction caused by his dumb teammates, and his first training was "great". His despisal of Ino and Naruto only worsened after this.
– "Well, Kakashi-sensei? Will we be repeating tomorrow?" – Naruto asked curiously. But Kakashi didn't notice his question.
What happened? What was wrong? Those genins, at least two of them showed fantastic results… Then what is holding them back now?
Kakashi was truly confused by the results. Maybe he himself hyped his new team way too much? After all, they are only a bunch of stupid kids. No matter how genius.
Naruto, who haven't got an answer to his question, just left. He already felt dumb enough, and didn't want to become a future embarrassment.
Kakashi also walked away, leaving Neji near the lake, diving in the thoughts...
Neji sat on the ground and looked at his reflection. He wasn't crying, hating the world or feeling sorry for himself – those were emotions forbitten for a shinobi. But no one said that it was forbitten to hate your team. And yes. They were together for like a day, but he already hated both his sensei and his teammates.
Neji picked up a stone, and threw it at the water. Then, he began practicing the walking on the water jutsu.
He had to be the first in the team. And those two idiots will be left only to swallow the dust.
Meanwhile Ino was sitting at the swings in front of the Academy, waiting for Shikamaru and Choji. She was slightly swinging, and her only thought was:
"What is now the reason to stay a shinobi, when she isn't around her best friends? The ones she was supposed to be tied with by a bond formed by traditions and generations"…