A/N: I would like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter and added this story to their favorite and follows. There are some changes to the previous chapter in regards to the talk that Naruto had with Jiraiya so if you have not read it, please do read it.
'The person who doesn't have one of these bells will be sent back to the Academy.'
Naruto pressed her lips into a smile and folded her arms against her chest as Kakashi looked at her like she was an idiot for not even trying to hide from him. Her blue eyes fixated on the dangling bell piece that was her ticket to becoming a genin. She flickered her eyes to the training field, noticing the slight shades of pinks in the bush and the blue in the trees.
"You know that most fundamental thing to being a shinobi is to be able to hide yourself, right?" Naruto smiled brightly as her eyes flickered to the dangling bells tied to his waist. Does he think I am an idiot? His tone made her want to throw a kunai at him because Naruto wasn't stupid. She just never really tried hard in school but it did not make her an idiot. Naruto shifted herself in position, feeling the blood pounding through her ears as dark eyes flashed with both curiosity and irritation at her actions.
You are going to find me anyway, so why don't I make things easier for you? It would be stupid of her to think she could hide from a skilled jounin. Naruto did not know anything about Kakashi but if Iruka-sensei could find her, when all the other less talented chunin and genin couldn't find her, then Kakashi could definitely catch her. She took a deep breath as plans began to formulate in her head.
Naruto was a lot of things but she knew the chances of her beating Kakashi was as the same chance of Hinata confessing to Kiba about her feelings. But she had to try and beat him with everything she got and show him that she was not someone he could see as an idiot.
"Fight me."
Till this date, Naruto knew it had been her worst idea because she always knew at that time she would never beat Kakashi in a one-on-one fight. The smarter plan was to ask for Sakura and Sasuke for help but Sakura hated her. Sasuke used to be her best-friend but the bastard hated teamwork. Between the three of them, he always scored the lowest in teamwork.
Teamwork also needed trust and she could never trust those two to have her back. The only person she could trust was herself and luckily for her, Naruto could make clones of herself.
It was only when she made her own team that Naruto realized just how stupid it was for her not to try and give those two a chance.
"A human cavalry battle!"
Naruto could only blink while her fellow competitors stared at the bright colorful words that declared what was their second event. They glanced at each other with their lips curled into frowns and eyebrows knitted together while Midnight beamed at them, her eyes glinting with excitement.
"So we will be teaming up, but how will it work? Do we get to choose? Or will they assign our teams?" Tsuyu commented from right beside her.
Naruto grimaced and glanced at her fellow competitors. Most of these people looked so unfamiliar to her with only her classmates and Kendou looking somewhat familiar to her. Quirks, personalities and basically everything else was just a complete mystery. She licked her lips and nibbled it slightly as the sweat from her palms dripped down to the ground.
A frown played on Naruto's lips as a pair of eyes bored straight through her head. Taking a deep breath, Naruto swirled her head around and blue eyes met a pair of mismatch eyes. Blank eyes bored into her as his lips pressed into a thin line, before landing on her chest. Naruto narrowed her eyes, followed his train of sight and blinked at the clear teal crystal twinkling in the broad sunlight.
Inhaling, Naruto tucked the necklace back inside her shirt and turned her whole body back to the front, where Midnight stood in the podium.
"Everyone will receive a point value based on their position from the last trial!" Midnight continued.
Sero tilted his head and knitted his eyebrows. "So that means our point value will depend on our members, won't it? And can change depending on who we have as teammates!"
"Don't talk while I'm talking!" Midnight snapped, cracking her whip before she smoothed a hand over her hair. "But yes, that is right. Each contestant will be awarded points that goes up by with, with forty-three at five, forty-two at ten, forty-one at fifteen and etc."
Naruto gulped and pinched her shaking arms while Tsuyu gave her a concerned look. "With the exception of first place of course, whose point value is none other than—"
"Asui, please tell me that I'm going to get 215—"
"Ten million points!"
She tugged her ponytail and forced herself to smirk as heads swiveled at her direction. The air around her seemed to become heavier and heavier as hungry eyes stared at her with their lips curled into smiles that would even make a monster whimper in fear. Naruto gulped down her lump as more sweat began to smashed into the ground.
"I thought winning first place would give me the advantage."
"Well it's a chance for anyone at the bottom to get to the top! For those at the front of the pack to jump over the new hurdles, plus ultra." Midnight giggled as her fingers danced along her whip. "Students may form teams of two to five and the time limit is fifteen minutes—"
"Clones are not to be used as replacement for teammates," Aizawa declared, his voice echoed throughout the stadium.
Naruto snapped her fingers and grinded her teeth together before swirling her head to the pressbox. She raised her hand, hers middle finger rising up but only for Asui to pull her hand down. Todoroki frowned, his eyebrows knitted together and the blond-haired girl just snorted and focused her attention on Midoriya. It didn't matter to her one bit that her friend looked put-off with her behavior.
He started it.
"As I was saying before Eraserhead interrupted me," Midnight threw a glare at the pressbox. "The point value of each group's headband will be the total accumulation of all the points of everyone on that team. The one to wear the headband will be the horse's rider, so wear it with pride."
Naruto sat down on the ground, her hands rubbing her chin as Midnight continued to explain the rules. Whispers slowly broke out as people glanced at each other with fire in their eyes. The simplest and easiest way to beat her was to overwhelm her to get points, which meant a lot of people were after her. Her lips tugged downwards at the realization of how difficult it would be for her to get teammates.
"Quirks are allowed, of course, so I want to see some brutality out there," Midnight locked her eyes on her. "That being said, no clones are to be used as teammates and this is still a human cavalry battle, so I see anyone attacking others with malicious intent, that's a red card and you'll be forced to sit out for the rest of the game."
Naruto looked at her scoreboard and felt her lips twitch. They never said that I couldn't use my clones as a tool, but I still need to find people willing to team up with me.
"You now have fifteen minutes to decide on your teams!" Midnight ordered and Naruto swirled her head at the woman. "Begin!"
The blond-haired girl ran a hand through her ponytail and flickered her eyes to the cameras. She grimaced and scanned at the crowds of students in front of her, most of them avoiding her eyes while others formed groups in seconds. I might have been able to score high in the Obstacle Course but these people won't take the chance that I can't protect my points.
Naruto looked down at her hands. Pure strength and deception had always been her strongest source, but there was no way she was going to send them to the hospital. Deception was key in this battle but she needed people to work with. That required her to have some faith in them, which was hard to do when she did not have enough time to get to know each other.
But who can I team up with? Todoroki was out of the question, not when he made it clear of his expectations. She darted her eyes to Bakugou and shook her head. Bastard would be more willing to fight her then work together with her, not when he wanted to get the number one spot for himself. Midoriya was more likely smart enough to know it was a better idea to take points then to save them. Asui tilted her head, scanning the group of people before looking back at her.
"Why don't we team up, Uzumaki-chan?"
Naruto blinked and swirled her head at Asui, blue eyes growing wide as her classmate offered her a tiny smile. Only the continued chatting of their various classmates and competitors could be heard as blue eyes observed her frog-like classmate. A smile broke out of Naruto's face as she nodded at her classmate.
Blue eyes continued to scan for any hopeful teammates, stopping at the sight of a familiar orange-haired teen with a cheerful smile playing on her lips.
Small hands wrapped around Asui's wrist as Naruto dragged her classmate to the center of the field. Students parted way, their eyebrows knitting together as their eyes focused on the two teens. She inhaled and exhaled as her hand reached out to grab the broad shoulders of Kendou.
Orange hair smacked Naruto on the face and the blue-eyed girl winced. Green eyes grew wide at the sight of her standing right in front of her, looking at her like she was some kind of ghost for just standing there. Kendou nibbled her bottom lip, green eyes flickering back and forth between her and Asui while another green-haired girl tilted her head and leaned her body forward.
"Can we team up, Kendou?" All three girls blinked and gawked at her.
Kendou just spluttered. "Uzumaki, I want to be your friend but you do realize that there will be a lot of people after you. It is going to be harder for you to protect your points then to get those points."
"I know," Naruto took a deep breath and closed her eyes before swallowing down a lump in her throat. "But I really think we can work together and I know how to protect our points…but I need your help."
"Well Uzumaki did finish first in the obstacle race without having any problems, didn't she Kendou?" The green-haired girl from Class 1B tilted her head, leaned forward and stared down at her. "She made that move which allowed us for a time to be ahead of the boys. If she can make such underhanded tactics then I wouldn't want to be her enemy."
Kendou rubbed her chin and took a deep breath as her eyes flickered around to the various classmates. Most of them kept glancing at them while a few of them had already hurdled up together, arms wrapped around each other and their whispers carried out through the wind, tickling in her ears. She pressed her lips into a thin line as her heart thundered against her chest.
Was it loud enough for everyone to hear?
"Okay, I will join in." Kendou slumped her shoulders and laughed. "Fighting you was a long shot anyway."
"And I will join in!" The green-haired girl declared, flashing a smile at her. "Kendou told me all about ya! My name is Tokage Setsuna but you can call me Tokage!"
Naruto blinked and broke into a smile but her smile faded as a thought suddenly came to her. "Can you guys tell me what your Quirks are again? I know Asui and I remember seeing Kendou's Quirk during the exam but—"
"—You are in first place so you will definitely stand out from everyone else!" The four girls swirled their bodies around and blinked at the sight of a giggling pink-haired girl who bounced her way to them. Naruto knitted her eyebrows, glancing at the other girls and frowned when she saw their confused looks. "Team up with me, Ms. First Place!"
The girl leaned so close to the point that Naruto had to take a couple of steps back, blue eyes growing wide at the eagerness and excitement rolling off of this girl. Several gadgets decorated her body, almost reminding Naruto of those insane scientist that she had seen in television except what stood out to Naruto was her goggles. The strange cross in the goggles made Naruto wonder just how the girl was able to see me.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Hatsume Mei from the Support Course!" The girl moved her goggles up and flashed a bright smile at her. "I don't know you, but I'm going to be someone that you will use when you become a Hero."
Was she going somewhere with this?
"If I join you then that means I will be right there in the spotlight," Naruto felt her lips twitched as her fellow teammates knitted their eyebrows together and took a couple of steps back. "If I am in the spotlight then my babies will be seen by the industry big shots."
So she wants to use me for her tools. Naruto rubbed her chin as the girl continued to prattle on about her plans for her tools. Was it a good idea for her to take the girl in? Could she actually trust this girl? She said it herself that she was only using her to show off her tools but it was better than lying to her. She snorted and let out a laugh; her teammates blinked and blinked before throwing a glance at each other.
The honesty from Mei was just enough to make her laugh and understand the importance of this match to her.
"I think we are going to have a good relationship Mei," Naruto rubbed her chin. "Now let's start planning on how to keep our points together!"
They were going to get through to the next round even if it killed her.
"You know I'm glad that we teamed up with you!"
"Uzumaki-chan isn't someone that you want as your opponent!" Asui declared as she tugged on the various headbands wrapped around her neck. It was universally agreed by the five girls that it would be a better idea to put Asui as the rider, for no other reason then the fact that the girl would not be able to hold onto Naruto. Kendou and Tokage glanced at each other, heads bobbed together as Hatsume grinned.
"Can I use your clones in my classes?" Hatsume beamed as her eyes flickered to the various headbands wrapped around Asui's neck. Yellow eyes glinted and a smile broke out of her faces. "Sensei keeps saying I can't use them on myself or try to get him to test it out, but your clones can work in my favour."
"If we get to the next round then you can even use them to clean your house!" Naruto declared, locking eyes on the various opponents eyeing them with eager eyes and tongues almost wiggling out of their tongue. "They will even help you catch a stupid cat if we get to the next round."
Kendou frowned. "I have never heard you so desperate to win."
Losing had never been an option for her and this was her chance to prove to everyone in Konoha that she was capable of leading a team. She grinded her teeth together. They judged her for one emotional battle and decided that she was not worthy of becoming a chunin. This was her chance to prove them wrong and her chance to show Aizawa-sensei that he was wrong about her issues with trust.
She chose these people because she might grow to trust them.
"Tokage, get ready with that eye of yours!" Tokage grinned as a part of her face separated from her, floating close to their side and whirling around to have a better look of their opponents. It might not be a Byakugan but the Quirk was better for spying and grabbing the headbands then anyone else here.
Blue eyes locked on the mismatch eyes of her friend. He kept his eyes locked on her, lips pressed into a thin line as his teammates glanced at her to him. She took a deep breath, looked up at the sky and then looked ahead at the boy that seemed to be looking straight through her. Fire seemed to be lit in his eyes along with another emotion that she could make out of.
Was it possible that he heard everything between her and Jiraiya?
"Uzumaki-chan, concentrate!" Asui looked down and frowned at her. "You and Todoroki-chan can talk things out after this is over."
Tokage whistled. "You and Endeavour's kid? How does that work? Everyone knows that his Dad is a hard ass."
"Setsuna! This isn't the time for you to be gossiping about their friendship!" Kendou shook her head and flickered her green eyes from her to Todoroki. Her lips pressed into a thin line and eyebrows knitted together before she released a small sigh. "But it must have been one hell of a fight for you to be so angry with him, Uzumaki."
"We can talk about the asshole later." Naruto grinded her teeth together. "We have got a headband to protect and competitors to deceive."
"Let the games begin!"
"Traitors! Kendou! Tokage! How could you have decided to team up with her!" The boy with the furry eyes demanded as his team charged straight towards them. He growled and snarled while his teammates looked at her two teammates with frowns decorating their faces. Kendou sighed, shaking her head while Tokage just rolled her eyes, not looking one bit bothered by the accusation thrown at them.
All four of them clicked the button of the white jetpacks and buzzed through the skies, laughter echoing throughout the sky. The laughter died down as a pair of ear jacks shot towards them, whizzing and turning till it tried to grab the headband on Asui's forehead. With a frown playing on her lips, Naruto smacked the incoming earjacks till it came crashing back down to its owner.
Jirou yelped and scowled as Naruto flashed a half-turned smile and winced at the mark made by her slap. I know anything goes but I might need to lower my strength when it comes to Jirou's ears. She pressed her lips into a frown at the sight of a familiar fiery teen blasting straight towards them.
"That Hot Headed classmate of yours is coming straight our way!" Tokage declared as her eye zoomed straight back to them. Explosives went off from the sky and black smoke trailed off as Bakugou spread his arms apart to propel himself forward, earning shaking heads from all four of his teammates.
"That headband is mine, Whiskers!" Bakugou blasted forward with one arm and his other arm reaching straight for Asui. The fact that Bakugou's hands were longer and the damn fact she needed to balance Asui meant that she could not stop him on time. Not that it was a big deal because she already took everything in consideration.
A smile broke out of Naruto's face as Bakugou grabbed the headband on Asui's forehead. He smirked at her but the smirk faded away as the headband disappeared with white smoke clouding a small area. Asui's lips twitched while Kendou and Tokage laughed out loud as the white smoke disappeared to reveal a smiling clone.
"Don't underestimate boss!" Her clone swung her arm back like a spring before releasing itself and smashing it against Bakugou's face, sending him crashing back down to the ground. A pair of white tape shot out, whizzing and zooming straight to the falling boy. It wrapped itself tightly around Bakugou before sending him back on the top of the horse as everyone looked at the team in horror.
"Aren't you glad that we team up with Uzumaki?" Tokage laughed. "We would be the ones in Hot Head's shoes if we decided to stick with the original plan."
Now if they could continue this for another twelve more minutes then they would have everything in the bag.
A/N: What do you think of the team up? And of the story so far?