A/N: Well, here you go. The official start of the story. Technically. Probably start the Wave Arc next chapter or the chapter after that if things go as planned. Had to rewrite this chapter a few times to get it to flow right. Dunno if I did very well with the fight scene. It's my first true combat scene. I don't count the spar in the earlier chapter. I've posted the story on Wattpad as well, for those of you who prefer that site.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only Kishimoto-sensei can claim that right at this moment. But who knows what the future may hold.
Chapter 9: Bells, Traps and a Surprised Jonin.
The newly graduated genin were at the training ground at 8 O'clock sharp, just as their jonin sensei told them to be. What he didn't tell them was that he was going to be three hours late. On purpose. Not that they would know it was on purpose just yet.
Deciding to not let any time go to waste they started to practice their various techniques and warm up for whatever Kakashi had planned for them. Hinata was practicing the katas she had come up with for her Juho (Gentle Step), Naruto was making some basic storage seals he learned during his final year at the academy, and Sasuke was practicing his hand signs to increase his speed when enacting jutsu.
Finaly, at 11 O'clock, Kakashi finally showed up. "Yo," he said. The boys just glared at him while Hinata finished her kata. Kakashi pulled out two bells and a timer. "This timer is set for noon. You have until then to get a bell. Fail to get one and I will tie you up while you watch me eat. After lunch you will have a second chance to get a bell. Fail that, and you get sent back to the academy. Any questions? No? Good. Come at me with the intent to kill or you will fail." Kakashi pulled out his signature orange book as the three genin just stared at him, then at each other, then at him. "Begin," Kakashi said.
On the command to begin all three genin jumped back and sprinted off into the woods. Kakashi was using his heightened senses to track their whereabouts while they hid. Interesting, they didn't complain about the lack of a third bell, nor did they turn against one another. They may actually pass.
In the forest surrounding Kakashi, the three friends started to analyze everything. "Ano, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san, did you notice Kakashi-sensei only had two bells?" Hinata asked.
"Hai," Sasuke said. "But, he's a jonin. I don't think we would be able to get a bell from him even if we all attacked him together. There must be something we aren't seeing."
"Hmm... Maybe he isn't testing weather we can get a bell or not. Maybe it's just him testing our skills?" Naruto said.
"That's possible." Sasuke admitted. "But I can't help but feel there is something more to it. Naruto, do you think you can distract him long enough for me to analyze his tactics? Maybe find a way to distract him long enough for us to get the bells? We can worry about what's up with this test after that."
"Hai, hai. I'll go be a punching bag..." Naruto said. Hinata just giggled at his antics.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata began. "That's not a very nice way to see yourself," she said jokingly.
"Hai, hai." Naruto said as he waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked away from them and towards Kakashi in the clearing.
Naruto walked out of the forest and into the clearing with a look of concentration. He knew he didn't stand a chance if Kakashi-sensei took him seriously. Luckily for him, the jonin in question looked bored and was obviously underestimating him. Naruto walked up to him until he stood fifteen feet away from Kakashi.
"You know," Kakashi said in a monotone voice. "Shinobi tactics usually call for stealth. I've glanced at your file, I know you are capable of implementing at least chuunin level stealth tactics. So, why aren't you?"
Naruto just shrugged and took up the gentle fist stance. Kakashi raised his eyebrows as he looked away from his book at really looked at Naruto for the first time. Kakashi hadn't really paid his team much mind yesterday during introductions since he didn't expect them to pass. What he saw took him by surprise. He knew of Naruto's parentage. So when he saw Naruto's unique eyes that resembled and differed from the Byakugan at the same time, he didn't know what to think.
"Shinobi tactics 101: Taijutsu," Kakashi said as he turned his attention back to his book. Or so it looked like. He was actually using his senses and peripheral vision to track Naruto's every move, somewhat cautious of how much of the gentle fist Naruto might know.
"Byakugan," Naruto said as he rushed in at Kakashi with a Jyuken strike aimed right for Kakashi's abdomen. Strike after strike he aimed at his sensei, always cautious, never over extending. His moves were very precise.
'Hm, it seems he is only trying to gauge me. Is he working with the others? They're just watching from the edge of the woods,' Kakashi thought. Naruto made one mistake with his strikes and that was all the opening Kakashi needed. He used mid-chuunin level speed and ducked the attack, ending up behind the young Genin. A twinkle in his eye gave away the mischief he had planned. Naruto, tracking him the whole time with the Byakugan, got ready to avoid whatever Kakashi had planned.
"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi, (Leaf Village Hidden Taijutsu Art: A Thousand Years of Death)" Kakashi launched his attach with his hand in the tiger sign. Right as he was about to strike Naruto right where the sun doesn't shine Naruto used the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Jutsu) and substituted himself with a log. When Kakashi's hand came in contact with the log it splintered into countless pieces.
All three genin sweat-dropped at this. 'Overly dramatic much?' Was the thought on all their minds. Supplemented by Naruto's immediate reaction of 'I can NOT get hit with that...'
Kakashi immeditely turned to where Naruto had substituted to. "I'm impressed. A non Hyuuga knowing the gentle fist to the degree you do and being as good as you are with the Byakugan. Your eye's aren't transplanted are they?"
"No, Sensei. It was a Hyuuga ritual jutsu. That's all I can say without you talking to Hiashi-tousan." Naruto informed him.
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, an action he got the feeling he would be doing a lot. 'He calls the clan head Hiashi-tousan and doesn't get in trouble? He must be on exceptionally good terms with the stern man.'
Sasuke and Hinata were watching the whole thing take place with their respective doujutsu active. With both a Sharingan and a Byakugan analyzing Kakashi's movements, Sasuke was sure they could come up with something, right?
"Hinata," Sasuke said. "I have an idea. Can you sneak around to position yourself in the woods behind Kakashi-sensei?" She nodded, so he continued. "Good, I'll launch a fireball when there is a big enough of an opening to pull it off without Naruto getting in the middle of it. When Kakashi jumps back to dodge it can you try to disable him with the gentle fist?" Again she nodded and they set off to position themselves to attempt Sasuke's hastily assembled plan.
Naruto saw them positioning themselves for something with his Byakugan, so he picked up his efforts against Kakashi and launched a flurry of Jyuken strikes meant to disable any body part that blocks them. This 'forced' Kakashi to dodge instead of block them. He could've blocked and been alright, he was skilled enough. But he wanted to see what his genin were up to.
'I hope Naruto is paying attention with that Byakugan of his,' Sasuke thought as he went through the hand signs for the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu). Horse – Tiger – Serpent – Ram – Monkey – Boar – Horse – Tiger. Holding the last hand sign, Sasuke let loose a fireball from Kakashi's blind side in hopes of catching him off guard at least a little. Kakashi, however, sensed the build up of chakra and felt the heat of the fireball fly towards him as he and Naruto both jumped backwards to avoid the small inferno before them.
Naruto, seeing what both Sasuke and Hinata were doing, rushed forward right as the flames disipated. Hinata rushed in behind Kakashi and reached him at the same time as Naruto as they both called out "Hakke Sanjūni Shō (Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms). Naruto and Hinata began striking in synchronization.
"Two Palms"
"Four Palms"
"Eight Palms"
"Sixteen Palms"
That was as far as they got before Hinata stumbled her footing, uncomfortable with the rigid stance of the maneuver they were attempting. Hoping to salvage the attack, she backed out so Naruto could strike the next set without being thrown off tempo by her own strikes.
Naruto blurred through the last set of strikes, shouting out "Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
When his sequence was done, 'Kakashi' was thrown backwards and exploded in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a log was in his place.
'A kawarimi, damn' Naruto thought. Naruto began looking around to try and figure out where Kakashi disapeared to when he heard his soon-to-be sensei call out "Shinobi Tactics 102: Genjutsu."
Kakashi went through the hand signs for the classic Hell's Viewing genjutsu. Unfortunately for Kakashi, none of his studemts fell for it as they each had a doujutsu that allowed them to see it for what it was. Sasuke used his sharingan to copy the genjutsu to save for a later date.
'Hmm... I expected that to get at least one of them,' Kakashi thought.
Kakashi quickly transitioned from genius to ninjutsu, as genjutsu obviously wouldn't work unless he pulled out the higher rank ones. The only problem with that was that he wasn't comfortable doing that to frest genin.
"Shinobi Tactics 103: Ninjutsu," Kakashi announced. He turned to where Naruto was glaring at him. "Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Style:Great Breakthrough)." Kakashi launches a small wall of air at Naruto, knocking him into a tree and knocking him out momentarily.
"Naruto!" SasIle and Hinata shouted simultaneously, taking their eyes off of the one-eyed jonin. When they turned back to where he was, he was gone.
"Where is he?" Sasuke asked Hinata.
She looked around with her Byakugan. Left, right, behind, above. Nothing. That just leaves... She turned her eyes to the ground a moment too late as Kakashi's hands burst forth and grabbed her ankles, pulling her down into the ground up to her neck.
"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu)" he announced. Hinata tried to struggle, but try as she might, she couldn't get loose.
Kakashi turned to Sasuke as a fireball headed his way. He countered it with a water jutsu. "Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Style: Violent Water Wave)."
Sasuke was thrown back. As he tried to get up, Kakashi held him down on the ground. "Exorcise complete," Kakashi said. "Go wake Naruto up," Kakashi told Sasuke as he went to free Hinata from the earth.
A few minutes later Naruto was awake, Hinata was free, and all three were sulking, believing they had failed.
"Well, I never thought I would say this, but congratulations! You pass." Kakashi gave them his infamous eye smile as the fresh genie tried to understand.
"Ano, what do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked. "We didn't get a bell..."
"That doesn't matter, that wasn't the true objective. There was a hidden goal and you three were able to figure it out, even if you don't realize it." Kakashi went on, "Those who don't follow the rules are trash. But, those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. You three worked together despite there only being two bells. That shows me you there can and will work together in the field. And what's more, you trust each other completely. That is the most important part of being a Konoha Shinobi, Teamwork."
The three friends' faces lit up in realization as they smiled at each other. Or in Sasuke's case, smirked.
"Knew it," was all Sasuke said.
"Now go home you three. Celebrate. Go out to a restaurant and eat together or something as a team bonding experience. Not that you need it from what I've seen. I need to go report to the Hokage. Meet me at the entrance to training ground three tomorrow morning at 7 in the morning for out first team training so I can better gauge what you can and cannot do. From there I will put together a training schedule."
The three friends stood in unison with a, "Hai, sensei." The turned and walked back towards the market district of Konoha to go to the only restaurant they can all agree on, Yakiniku , leaving a slightly bewildered Kakashi standing by himself wondering what the future holds for his first genin team.
Kakashi made his way to the hero monument for all the KIA Shinobi of the village. 'Sensei, Obito, Rin... Are you watching, from wherever you are. I have a team of my own now. They kinda remind me of all of you. Especially you sensei. I'll train your son into a fine Shinobi, I promise. Then maybe... maybe you can forgive me for failing you all.'
After about an hour, Kakashi headed for the Jonin meeting room in the Hokage tower. He was late, but not as late as usual, so when he entered in the room, everyone there was surprised that they only waited a third of the amount of time they normally do. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at Kakashi's 'early' arrival.
"Glad you could join us, Kakashi." Hiruzen said.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied.
"Okay, lets get started then. First, the standard teams. Mikoto Uchiha," Hiruzen looked at the Uchiha matron. "How did team one?" (Remember, some of them were spared.)
Mikoto stepped forward, "Failed Hokage-sama. I recommend dropping them from the Shinobi program." She stepped back and Hiruzen turned to the next Jonin.
"Hayate Gekko, your team?" he asked.
"Failed Hokage-sama. I recommend another year in the academy. They show potential," Hayate said.
"Genma Shiranui?" Hiruzen asked.
"Team three managed to pass, Hokage-sama. Though just barely. I'd like to work with them for a few months before taking our first mission." Genma stated.
Hiruzen nodded, "Permission granted. Aoba Yamashiro, how did team four do?"
"Failed as well Hokage-sama. Horribly. They spent more time fighting each other than they did taking my test. I recommend dropping them from the program." Aoba sighed, "Otherwise, they'll end up either dead, or causing their teammates' deaths."
Hiruzen nodded with a grim expression. "Muta Aburame, team five?"
"Passed," he said simply.
"Ensui Nara, team six?"
"Failed, Hokage-sama. Another year in the academy and they will be fine though," he said, yawning after.
"Very well, now the specialist teams. Kakashi Hatake, how did team seven, the doujutsu specialist team, do in their test?" Hiruzen asked. He, of course, already knew. The old Hokage had watched the whole thing in his crystal ball. The other jonin were feeling bad for the team, knowing that Kakashi had most likely failed a good team because his tests were the second most harsh in the leaf village. The only one worse than him was the sadist Anko Mitarashi. Her test involves training ground 44. The room shuddered at the thought.
"Passed, Hokage-sama." This caused the whole room to do a double take, except the esteemed Hokage of course.
"Oh," Hiruzen asked, "How did they do?"
Kakashi took on a serious tone of voice that screamed authority to most of the jonin in the room. You only saw the serious side of Kakashi when it was truly important. "Hokage-sama, they knew something was amiss immediately after the test began. Throughout the whole test, they never once turned on one another, working together to try and take me down in various ingenious ways. Did you know that the Hyuuga gave sensei's son the Byakugan?"
The jonin in the room whispered their disbelief to one another as Kakashi got a nod from Hiruzen. Kakashi continued, "He and the Hyuuga heiress both utilized their Byakugan from the start, tracking my movements and working nearly flawlessly with both one another, and their teammate, Sasuke Uchiha. With the use of Sasuke's sharingan, which I didn't know he activated by the way, they were able to attempt a distraction and entrapment maneuver in which I was hit on both sides by the Hakke Sanjūni Shō. This was after Sasuke 'distracted' me with a fireball."
The jonin in the room were pleasantly surprised that a team of fresh genin did so well against him. Hiruzen interupted him. "Hold, Kakashi. I brought my crystal ball with me. I watched your test and recorded it in the ball. I'll replay it for everyone here so that they can get a grasp on your team, you're leaving a lot out."
And so the jonin gathered around their Hokage as they watched team seven's bell test. Needless to say, they were speechless. The team worked so well together you would think they were fresh chuunin at the least.
"Now then, let's get back to the task at hand. Kurenai Yuhi, how did team eight, the tracking and capture team, do in their test." Hiruzen had a thoughtful look on his face.
"They passed Hokage-sama. Kiba Inuzuka was able to track me across the training ground after Sakura Haruno broke him out of the genjutsu I placed on the team. Sakura had precise chakra control and was not only able to spot the genjutsu, but able to break out of it in under a minute of being placed within it. I used one of my B-Rank Genjutsu too. She's a natural at the art of illusion. Shino Aburame was the second to break out of the Genjutsu, only about twenty seconds after Sakura. His Kikaichu were not only able to break him out of it once he identified it, but he also managed to tag me with a female insect a short while later in the test."
Hiruzen nodded. "Team nine is still in rotation as Team Guy, so Asuma Sarutobi, how did team ten do?"
Asuma took his cigarette out of his mouth reluctantly as he stated simply, "Ino-Shika-Cho passed." He didn't need to say more. The teamwork in those three clans is legendary, even in the other villages.
"Very well," Hiruzen began. "Meeting adjourned. I'll take all recommendations into consideration as I review your mission reports. I expect them all to be turned in no later than noon tomorrow." He gave Kakashi a pointed look.
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" all the jonin shouted in unison. All of the jonin left to write their mission reports for each team's test, leaving the Sandaime Hokage alone with his thoughts. 'I wonder if I should talk to Naruto about his parents' scrolls... No, I think I'll wait till he's a chuunin after all.'