chapter two. teammates introduced.

"I can't believe I'm on a team with that brat." Shunji Akihiro said the thought out loud for the benefit of his teammate. He didn't hide the fact that he didn't like Itachi and made every attempt at telling the younger boy. Akihiro wasn't a genius. He was an average ninja, with average skills, and he resented the fact that his hard work and training went unappreciated when Itachi was praised for a talent that Itachi himself took for granted.

Rounding out the team was Sakoda Eriko, the academy's first ranked female graduate of the year. She excelled in the art of taijutsu, even when compared to many of the boys that had graduated, and was very pretty in a way that never really stood out. "That brat could kill you in an equal fight, so you might want to keep your mouth shut."

Itachi didn't even bother replying.

"So this is team four."

Akihiro jumped at the unexpected voice, realizing that a jounin level ninja was standing right behind him and wondering when he got there. The ninja was a large man with vertical scars running down his face, dressed in traditional Leaf Village jounin clothing.

"Shunji Akihiro, Sakoda Eriko, and Uchiha Itachi, you will call me Tanyu sensei. I am now in charge of your team. But first you must past a test to become genin."

"Nani?" Akihiro glared at Tanyu. "We already passed the test."

"You can consider that a preliminary round... if you wish to become genin, all three of you must cross this line." Tanyu picked up a stick and drew a line in the dirt.

Akihiro frowned, staring at the line. It was only a few yards away. There must be some trick to this.

"Of course, if one of you does not make it, all three of you will fail and be sent back to the academy."

Akihiro took a step forward... the only way to see what trick Tanyu had in store was to attempt to get past the line. But before he could take another step Tanyu had performed some kind of hand movement, and team four found themselves flying backwards into the air... and falling towards the rocky valley behind them.

Itachi found himself spiraling through the air, activating his sharingan in an instant. Far from being mastered, his sharingan was still a powerful tool, and right now he used it to assess the situation. Eriko was the closest to him, Akihiro farther away, and they would collide with the ground in approximately five seconds. The fall wouldn't be enough to kill them, but it would seriously injure Eriko and Akihiro enough so that they would not be able to climb back up the cliff. All three of them would fail. Itachi grabbed a Kunai out of his backpack and dived towards the cliff, using it as a surface to spring off of and towards Eriko. As he reached her he used his chakra to secure his feet to the cliff and grabbed her hand just as she was about to fall out of reach. He then released his feet and safely carried the both of them to the nearest edge protruding from the cliff face.

"Akihiro?"

Itachi nodded upwards in response to Eriko's question, and Eriko looked up to see an indignant Akihiro secured to the cliff face by his jacket with a kunai.

"I threw it at him as I was reaching you."

"Well hurry up and get me down from here, if you're such a genius!" Akihiro resigned himself to being rescued by Itachi... there was no way around it. He wouldn't have been able to get out of that fall by himself. And that Itachi brat, he really was a genius. To be able to use his sharingan already, to move so quickly, and to use his chakra so well... he was already past genin level. Akihiro clenched his fists together. In that instant he realized that no matter how much he trained, he could never reach Itachi's level. It was just another reason to hate the brat.
When all three of them reached the edge, Itachi didn't waste a second. "Both of you can climb up this cliff."

"Of course," Akihiro scoffed, grabbing onto a ledge.

It took Eriko two hours to climb to the top. It took Akihiro three. Itachi reached the top in twenty minutes. When Akihiro finally pulled himself over the cliff, he realized that his teammates were already gone.

"Congratulations," Tanyu said as Akihiro crawled past the line, "on becoming a genin. Since you were the last one to make it, you have the duty of informing your teammates of the good news. I'll see all three of you at seven am tomorrow morning for your first mission. You'll be walking some dogs for a friend of mine named Kakashi."

"Seven am?! To walk some mutts?" Akihiro was incredulous as he collapsed on the ground, all his energy spent.

"Seven am. And I don't stand for tardiness."

Before he could respond Tanyu was gone.

Akihiro only hoped he didn't get lost while looking for his teammates' houses... he was tired enough without having to wonder the streets of Konoha for hours looking for a boy he couldn't stand and a girl he barely knew.