Yeah, so here I am over 2 years later proving that drunk me is my biggest motivator. I started writing because Covid-19 left me with a lot of free time at first, but that disappeared quickly when I was deemed "essential" and work started back up in overtime because there were less people to do it, so I haven't had the motivation to keep writing in my free time. Well now I'm out and working a much more relaxed job and after looking through my old files realized I had this chapter mostly written up before all that already and hadn't posted it. So after some quick editing here it is and hopefully, there's someone out there still interested in this story.
Ching Ching sounded two shining silver bells through the clearing as Jiraiya dangled them almost teasingly. The smile on his face was wide and bright, but with foreknowledge, that I had no right in having, I expected what was to come. The glint of amusement in his eye told me that he thought he knew something we didn't, and I could only really tell because of my experience in dealing with his antics when he was trying to be mysterious and wise for dramatic reasons.
"Don't get too excited because you passed the most basic of tests! This is your goal now! These bells determine if you stay a genin or if you get sent back to the academy!" Jiraiya said just shy of a yell, still apparently still in his introduction mood.
"No way Pops would let that happen! We got our headbands already! We are registered and everything!" Asuma said immediately being enraged and fully trusting of superiors like any good child soldier.
See this kind of thing is normally trained into us from the academy. All of the emphasis on following protocol, proper respect for rank, and all the functional parts of a military kinda stuff; and like any good shinobi/Marine you kinda gotta take a sip of that propaganda juice to get by as open rebellion in any military is understandably frowned upon. The key to a great shinobi/Marine is knowing how to sip just enough.
"Hahaha well he isn't your sensei, is he? I'm the one who gets the final say." And as he said this the temperature in the sunny field dropped like a rock. The only sound being the ticking of a clock on a training post nearby, and the pounding rush of blood in our ears. The full weight of killing intent from a Jonin- no a Sannin and Toad Sage bore down on us.
"Get a bell in two hours or it's back to the academy. Yes, even you Fuji. You'll get no special favors from me here."
Have you ever gotten the feeling that someone was being too serious for a joke? That their posture and body language said more than their words and that they truly meant what they said? At this one moment, even knowing what I do, I believed that I had to get one of those bells or be forced to relive the monotony that was the academy. I don't doubt that Asuma and Kurenai felt the same as I did, even if I knew better than to believe it.
"But sensei, there are only two bells." Kurenai hesitatingly noted. Ever observant that one, though you kinda have to be with genjutsu.
"I repeat, you have two hours to get a bell. Go!"
For a second no one moved. My teammates were still in an odd state of shock, so, despite my own apprehension, I decided to take the initiative and start this shindig. As quick as I could manage, I drew a brace of shuriken flicking them out with no set aim other than to make distance. My old man though, being as skilled as he is, was hardly impressed with the open and straight-forward attack, and batted the ones that would have hit him away without moving from his spot using only the plates on the back of his hands.
My intention though was just to occupy him for half a second and it was accomplished as I grabbed both Asuma's and Kurenai's sleeves and dashed off to the nearby trees. Jiraiya though, remained unmoving in the center of the field as he had no reason to go on the offensive and pulled out his notebook and started giggling as he wrote down some passage. I wasn't sure how seriously he was taking this test at first, though I knew we would never be truly hidden from him even with the distraction. We could, however at least gain enough ground to lay out a plan of attack and make a show of teamwork which was the true goal of this test.
Coming to a stop about 100 meters into the forest we hid among some low brush with Asuma and Kurenai only looking somewhat still in shock to their credit. Before they could start throwing out accusations I spoke in an urgent whisper.
"Alright guys, we need a plan because we can't get a bell by ourselves."
"But there are only two bells!" Kurenai harshly whispered back, "At least one of us will fail even if we manage to get both!" She glanced almost imperceptibly at Asuma before looking at me again. "I don't want anyone to fail but someone will have to."
"Don't you worry about that. If we manage to get the bells you two can have them." I supplied. Kurenai seemed relieved though it wasn't overtly noticeable. Asuma though was about to loudly argue his own point that he would stay back before I quickly silenced him with a serious stare. Given that the last time I ever had to use this stare on him was back when we were ironing out his feelings about his old man, he had reason to hesitate.
"It's a great opportunity for you two to get training from my old man. If I'm the one that doesn't get a bell I'll still get to train with him, but you guys won't if you don't get one. Now, no more wasting time! We still need a plan to get those bells by noon and arguing about who takes the fall is wasting time." Asuma didn't look entirely convinced, but at least conceded to the last point.
We spent some time coming up with plans, and backup plans as well. A part of these contingencies involved me making a few earth clones and setting some traps as quietly as I could further into the forest. Why no shadow clones? I may have large reserves for my age due to the early control and chakra-building exercises, but Uzumaki jinchuriki I am not. That, and when I asked Jiraiya if he could teach me he laughed and then proceeded to return to peeping at the girls playing in a river near where we were training that day.
The main strategy we came up with was that Asuma and I would engage up close with a couple of earth clones from me as well for backup, and with Kurenai hidden at the tree line attempting to cast whatever genjutsu would stick as a subtle distraction. Not exactly a top-of-the-line military strategy but in this kind of situation a 70% effort plan made and implemented quickly is better than wasting all our time planning only for the plan to fall apart when we implement it because we are rushing.
At our hidden signal, when Jiraiya giggled loud enough to hear from the tree line, four figures rushed out from the brush aiming to close the short distance into melee range. Two figures were of me and two of Asuma with me being under a transformation as him. We rushed forward at Asuma's top speed engaging in a flurry of fairly well-timed blows. Drawing experience from all our spars, I was careful to mimic Asuma in my strikes and movement to give the illusion that he had cast a clone as well. Our strikes, however, were all neatly dodged, blocked, and parried with little effort on Jiraiya's part. Suddenly I saw an opportunity as Jiraiya's attention was more focused on both my earth clones, blocking an aerial kick and a low kick simultaneously. I rushed in from the side that held the bells at a greater speed than Asuma was currently capable of in an attempt at obtaining them.
Reaching out for the bells, now only six inches away, a raised eyebrow was the only indicator that he had even been slightly surprised, or he could have just been pretending to have not seen through my act. Before I could see it, the clone that had been airborne was suddenly used as an improvised club, and all my instincts registered was an attack coming my way. The only thing that saved me from being bludgeoned with myself was a quick practiced flex of chakra that shot out and connected with my remaining clone near instantly swapping our positions in a sealless substitution.
We were met with a shower of earth as clone met clone and both burst coating poor Asuma in a layer of dust and dirt. In this moment we were offered a brief respite from combat as the incredulity on Asuma's face at his predicament sent my old man into a howling fit of laughter.
"Ahahahaha would you get a load of your face kid! Haha talk about a dirt bath!" He was almost wheezing between sentences. This of course only brought a red tinge of rage to Asuma's face. Well, from what could be seen of his face.
I was about to laugh a little myself because it was an honestly hilarious sight, but a small notebook lying on the soft grass caught my eye. It was easily within reach and, with a small internal debate on if this was a trap, silently picked it up. I immediately noticed it was the old man's writing journal and a wicked plan formed in my head. And in the absence of any obvious trap, I placed a tag between some of the pages, catching a glimpse of rough sketches of naked women in various poses. I sprinted toward the forest amidst the continuing laughter.
"Plan B guys!" I yelled as I jumped up into the upper branches before turning around and watching Asuma snap out of his anger; eyes widening a bit in surprise.
After quickly shaking off most of the dirt he ran into the forest as well much deeper than I had, disappearing in the underbrush. Jiraiya snapped out of his laughter but there was still a smile on his face that was almost wistful.
"And what is your plan B kid? You know that I know you've got some kind of traps set up in that forest, but even if the traps did work on me, and they won't, I don't have to go in there, do I? I have the bells so you have to come to me."
"I believe that you told me once before old man, that there is no point to a trap without bait." This time he was fully shocked to find his notebook in my possession and patted down all the pockets that he cared to let me know exist frantically.
"Ah, well, I can always get it back from you later after the test." He tried to keep calm but that was a bluff we both knew wasn't true.
I let out a toothy grin and with a small surge of chakra, the end of the tag had ignited and started to sizzle on a delayed charge before dashing further into the forest, calling out "Will you old man?" over my shoulder catching the surprise and rage flash on his face.
I ran like my life depended on it because it likely did. I knew the tag inside was just a dummy tag made as a test for how long I could delay a paper bomb fuse, Jiraiya did not, or at least couldn't be certain of it. Thankfully the traps weren't so far into the forest that he didn't immediately catch up to me. Once in range of the earth clones, that had been sent out to set up the traps, I made a quick substitution with the nearest one and commanded it to keep running to the trapped area of the forest hoping the exchange wasn't noticed. A second later Jiraiya's form flew overhead his face a mix of worry and rage. As silently as possible I made my way to the trapped area.
I was surprised to find the clone still intact once I arrived, but what was a tad confusing was that Jiraiya was looking to multiple places in the forest where there were no clones or traps with a cock-tailed mix of emotions between wary apprehension of facing multiple foes and dealing with a hostage situation on his face. The odd action surprised me in that I recognized that Kurenai must have actually succeeded in placing him in a genjutsu, but it surely wouldn't hold long. She was uncloaked in genjutsu to me and even then I barely saw it but Kurenai had snuck up to try to take the bells as he was distracted, and she was alarmingly close already reaching out to grab for the bells. My heart was sitting in my throat as I foolishly hoped that it would work.
The lightest tinkle of the bell was all Jiraiya needed to snap out of it donkey kicked Kurenai roughly into a nearby tree where with a crack that I hoped came from her ribs rather than her head, and she fell immediately limp against the tree.
"Kurenai!" Asuma yelled breaking his own cover to rush down to put himself in between the two and engaged in a swift bout of taijutsu that Jiraiya had no mood for. Whatever he had seen in the genjutsu had clearly brought his patience to an end and it showed as Asuma was shown little mercy and completely overwhelmed being struck in multiple debilitating but nonfatal areas before being thrown next to Kurenai and robbed of his consciousness as well.
Danger and urgency pinged in my head, consuming my thoughts. There was an overwhelming need to get them out of there, that something was wrong, and that this test had stopped being a test. Before even thinking of the cost of chakra, seals flashed at my fastest speed to cast an earth wall as thick and wide as needed to separate Jiraiya from them. In my haste and surge of chakra the wall covered the entire distance of the small clearing about 200 feet wide and about 5 feet thick if I were to guess; springing many of the traps that were thankfully on the other side of the wall. Not wasting any time I grabbed them both and raced back out of the forest to the field placing them both down next to a couple of training posts outside of the immediate danger area.
What was going on? The way he dealt with Asuma and Kurenai seemed too harsh for a normal training session even if it was a test.
A soft sigh was released behind me and instinct flared again. My back shot up straight and I turned around into a low stance coming face to face with Jiraiya out in the open field, but his posture was notably different. It was filled with regret compared to the high tension that he displayed in the forest.
"Sorry about that kid. I didn't mean to snap back there, but that genjutsu was a nasty one. That was the biggest wall I think I've seen you make though, so good job kid." His eyes were full of regret but remained alert, and his face was tight as if still distressed.
It suddenly clicked and I don't know why I hadn't considered it before, but whatever he had seen in that genjutsu was enough to trigger a wartime response rather than just training. Given the nature of this world, I'm surprised it isn't seen more often or maybe it is and that's just how this world was for those that survived. My stance softened completely at that point.
The test was done. I could tell in his eyes. Even if he hadn't seen us work together he was done with it. It wasn't often that sentimental affection was shared between the old man and me, but right now he needed it. I slowly and non-threateningly closed in and wrapped him in a loose hug. He tensed at first not quite used to the comfort but soon relaxed and placed a hand on my head to ruffle my hair.
"You are a good kid Fuji. I needed that. Thank you." His voice was softer than I had ever recalled it being, even more so than when he picked me up from the hospital after my mother had passed. The deep baritone of his voice made louder because of my head against his chest.
"Ugh. My head." Asuma muttered as he started to come to. Breaking from our hug Jiraiya spoke up.
"Nice to see you are done with your beauty sleep there little monkey." Asuma shot up at his voice looking frantic.
"Kurenai! What did you do?! Where is she?!" he got angrier the more questions he asked.
"Relax little monkey your girlfriend is fine. In fact, I have some news for when she wakes up from her own nap."
Asuma's cheeks went red, but maybe not all from anger given the girlfriend comment, but he didn't say anything else and just sat down crossing his arms, wincing from the earlier hits.
Not much later Kurenai started groaning lifting her hand to cover her eyes from the sun still shining brightly down on us. Asuma was on her in an instant asking if she was alright, and damn if chakra isn't a hack superpower that she wasn't injured more than just a bump on the head because I could have sworn it wasn't far from spilling her grey matter onto the dirt.
"Mm just a few more minutes" she mumbled rolling over in the grass to get more comfortable before the alarm clock that had gone forgotten rang irritatingly across the field signaling our time was up. All of us apart from Jiraiya jumped at the sound.
"Whelp it looks like time's out and none of you managed to get a bell. You know what that means, right?"
Asuma jumped up looking more indignant than ever at those words. Pointing an accusatory finger at Jiraiya.
"Yeah and how the heck are we supposed to have gotten a bell? Even working together we weren't able to get one! What's stopping me from going to Pops and saying we were given a test we were designed to fail?" The old man just smirked at the accusation and summarily increased Asuma's rage.
"Well, he'd probably laugh and say you were right and you guys really didn't stand a chance. How lucky for you then that you all passed!" My two new teammates physically jerked in shock, and I was immediately relieved.
"But sensei none of us got a bell. I thought that was the goal of the test. Wasn't it?" Kurenai voiced her concerns.
"Hey keep quiet before he changes his mind," Asuma whispered back at her.
"Haha yes that was what I told you the goal was, but truly it was a test of teamwork and whether you were willing to work together even knowing that one of you would fail. Given that you were constantly attempting to catch me in a genjutsu while the boys were engaging up close I'd say that was enough to pass you."
Ah so she had been attempting to catch him as we had planned, but then why did he get caught in the end? It didn't look like Jiraiya was done talking though, so hopefully, he'll answer that.
"It wasn't until your 'Plan B' had distracted me enough to let one slip through – oh by the way Fuji, give me that notebook back. It has important ahem research in it for a book I'm wanting to write."
"Sure thing old man, or do I have to call you Jiraiya-sensei?" I replied tossing the unharmed notebook at him.