Naruto Primer Lost Chapter: All
200 Flags
Sasuke regained consciousness about five minutes later. He was mightily angry that he lost to SHIKAMARU AND LEE… but he was quite content to find that there was another competition in which he could beat people.
"So…when you guys made your New Year's resolutions to not make us do anymore competitions, you actually meant that you were going to give us LOTS of competitions, right?" Kiba said.
"This competition will function differently than all the rest." Said Kakashi without even giving Kiba the time of day. "It's an individual challenge."
"We have set up flags all over the village." Kurenai explained. "Each person has many flags set up around the entire village."
"You must go around the village and collect your flags!" said Gai.
"The catch is, however, is that someone else can collect your flag as well." Asuma said.
"And if someone else collects you flag then they get one of your flags that you collected!" said Gai.
"That seems unfair." Said Shikamaru. "Then if you collect someone else's flag then you automatically get two points and we have no way to stop someone from collecting our flag."
"We never said it was fair!" said Asuma. "Besides, Shikamaru, you'll be fine because you're a chuunin and everyone else here in a genin. I KNOW you'll find all the flags first!"
"A final word." Said Kurenai. "No Byakugan. And Kiba, you and Akamaru have to wear clothespins on your noses."
She put a clothespin on Kiba's nose and one on Akamaru's nose.
"Hey!" said Kiba. "I look stupid now! I'm so embarrassed!"
"If either of you use the Byakugan then you'll automatically lose ALL your flags to Shikamaru!" said Asuma.
"Not JUST Shikamaru!" said Gai.
"Fine, fine…" said Asuma. "Just to OTHER PEOPLE."
"Wait, if we see someone carrying flags can we take them?" asked Neji.
"GOOD QUESTION!!!" said Gai. "You actually will be getting these sacks according to colors we have assigned you and if a flag is in a sack then it is not allowed to be taken! However, if there is a flag OUTSIDE the sack then you are free to take it."
The teachers handed out the sacks.
"Brown?" said Shikamaru.
"We didn't know what color to give you!" cried Asuma. "And it was the only color left after we assigned everyone else colors!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!"
"It's okay." Said Shikamaru. "As long as you don't associate me with the color brown."
Sasuke got the blue bag, Neji got the white one, Lee got the green one, Ino got the purple one, Chouji got the silver one, Kiba to red, Naruto to orange, Shino to black, Hinata to yellow, Sakura to pink and Tenten to…TAN.
"Why do I have tan?" asked Tenten.
"Because it's funny!" said Gai. "Tenten has TAN! TANTAN!!" Gai then collapsed in a fit of hysterical laughter.
"Are we allowed to team up with other people?" Ino asked.
"Um…yes!" said Asuma. "Actually, should we pair them up?"
"Yeah!" said Kurenai. "Let's pair them up since they are, after all, trying to gain teamwork skills!"
"That way, you guys will have to cooperate by deciding who gets to put their flag in the sack." said Kakashi.
"How about we pair them up as controversially as we can?" said Gai as a light bulb went on over his head.
"YEAH!" cheered the other teachers.
"NO!!" yelled all the students.
"Sasuke and Naruto are a pair." Said Kakashi.
"Neji and Hinata!" said Asuma.
"Um…is that a good idea?" Kurenai whispered to Gai.
"SURE!" said Gai, giving the thumbs up as his teeth went PING!
"And…er…Ino and Sakura." Kakashi continued.
"No one else really has any controversies amongst each other…" said Gai.
"Then let's put Lee and Shikamaru together because they're personalities will clash." Said Kurenai.
"Let's put Chouji with Kiba for no reason!" said Asuma. "Leaving Shino and Tenten as a team."
"It's not fair that some teams while cooperate while other teams will end up killing each other!!" said Naruto, glaring at Sasuke.
"You can TRY to kill me." Said Sasuke, crossing his arms and scoffing. "You won't be able to."
"Keep going until all 200 flags are found!" said Gai.
"Isn't it great the way it all worked out to equal 200?" said Kurenai. "I mean, it couldn't have been…198 or something."
"I know!" said Asuma. "And that's entirely coincidental!"
"So we each have 16 and two thirds of a flag?" said Shikamaru, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, you twelve can feel free to start now." Said Kakashi to the students and choosing not to address Shikamaru's question. But it's not like that's anything NEW.
The teams of two darted off in different directions.
"It'll be easier to find my flags!" said Naruto. "Because they're bright orange! So let's look for MINE first!"
"Ha!" said Sasuke. "You're just saying that because you want other people to find my flags! Yeah right, Naruto."
"But my flags are BRIGHT ORANGE!" said Naruto.
"Don't think that just because we're on the same team that I'm going to cooperate with you." Said Sasuke. "If I see a flag, I'm going to take it. Even if it's orange."
"Hey!" said Naruto. "Isn't there are rule against that?!"
"No." said Sasuke.
MEANWHILE!!!
"Wow, a flag already!" said Hinata as she picked up a green flag with the name 'Lee' lovingly written upon it. Neji came up from behind her and snatched it out of her hand before she could put it in her yellow sack. Then, without a word, he put the green flag in his own sack. "…Okay." Said Hinata, lowering her head.
Neji chose not to speak to Hinata. If he was going to be stuck with her, she might as well make herself useful by finding flags and giving them to him.
"Oh wow, another flag!" said Hinata suddenly as she hurried forward a bit and picked up a yellow flag. "This one's mine."
"It's mine now." Said Neji as he took that flag away from her too.
"Oh…can't I at least keep my own?" Hinata asked as she reached for the flag.
Neji held it out of her reach. "Apparently, you're choosing to ignore the atrocities that happened in the Hyuuga household concerning the Main House and the Branch House." He said.
"Um…sorry…" said Hinata as she didn't bother to take the flag back from him. She figured that from now on, if she found a flag, she would not announce it and frolic over to it.
MEANWHILE!!!
"These flags are surprisingly easy to find!" said Ino as she picked up a tan flag off the ground and went to put it in her sack but Sakura grabbed her arm.
"Hey!" Sakura said. "You got the last one!"
"What one?" Ino said innocently.
"The silver one!" Sakura said. "So that one's mine!"
"But I saw this one first!" said Ino. "If you find one then you can have it. This one belongs to ME." She put the flag in her sack so that Sakura couldn't take it back out.
"That's not fair!" said Sakura.
"Who said we had to be fair?" Ino asked. "Whoever finds it, gets it!"
"Then I'm not cooperating with you!" said Sakura, crossing her arms.
"I don't care." Said Ino. "I'm not cooperating with YOU either."
MEANWHILE!!!
"HEY!!" Lee yelled. "These two purple flags are stuck together!! Here, I'll take one and you can have this other one!!"
"That's all right, Lee." Said Shikamaru. "You found them so you deserve them."
"WOW!" said Lee. "You're such a great guy, Shikamaru!"
"Look." Said Shikamaru, pointing up in a tree to an orange flag that most certainly did not blend in at all. "If you get that one then you'll have three flags."
"But YOU saw that one!" said Lee. "YOU should get it!"
"It's whoever touches it first." Shikamaru made up on the spot.
"Then I'm allowing YOU to touch it first!" said Lee.
"No, Lee, you can have it." said Shikamaru.
"You're the best friend a guy could have!" said Lee as he cried into his hands. Shikamaru just didn't care about winning. He figured once he got Lee into the zone of finding flags on his own, then he could just wander off and watch some clouds or something.
MEANWHILE!!!
"So…we're supposed to find our own flags, right?" said Kiba as he adjusted the clothespin on his nose. "This thing HURTS!"
"They're not going to know if you just take it off." Said Chouji.
"Oh yes they will!" said Kiba as if he KNEW. Kind of in that tone as if he WANTED to wear the clothespin. "Hey, it's a flag!!"
Kiba ran over to a white flag that was lying on the ground without any coverings. "Hm…it doesn't look hidden at all! It could be a trap!"
"Our teachers are probably just lazy." Said Chouji.
"That too!" said Kiba as he picked it up and put it in his sack. "I get this one since I found it."
"Okay." Said Chouji with a shrug.
MEANWHILE!!!
"Look at this." Said Shino, beckoning to Tenten to come over and look in a trashcan. She came over to see about ten flags sitting right on top ready to be taken.
"What a find!" Tenten exclaimed.
"Someone must have thought they were litter." Shino said. He pulled out the ten flags; three brown, two red, one silver, one tan, one purple, one black and a white one.
"How should we divvy them up?" Tenten asked. "Five each?"
Shino handed her the tan one and then put the remaining nine in his bag.
"Hey!" said Tenten. "We should each get five!"
"I found them." Said Shino. "I figured giving you your own flag was being benevolent enough. Or should I take that one too?"
"No, it's fine." Grumbled Tenten as she put the flag in her bag.
MEANWHILE!!!
"It's mine!!" yelled Naruto as he spotted a red flag off in the distance and started sprinting to it. Sasuke noted that Naruto was closer and decided to pick up the green one and the brown one that were camouflaged on the ground between where they were standing and the red flag. "HA!" laughed Naruto as he put the flag in his bag. "Take THAT Sasuke!"
"Whatever, Naruto." Said Sasuke as he put the two flags in his bag.
"Where'd you get those?!" demanded Naruto with a gasp.
"I found them." Sasuke said, and then caught sight of a purple flag out of the corner of his eye. It was very close to Naruto. "Say, is that an orange flag over there?" Sasuke said, pointing in the opposite direction as the purple flag.
"MY FLAG!!" yelled Naruto as he blindly ran off in the direction that Sasuke was pointing.
"Stupid Naruto." Said Sasuke as he walked over to where Naruto WAS previously standing and picked up the purple flag.
MEANWHILE!!!
After Hinata had tried to sneak a blue flag into her bag, Neji had decided to keep a close eye on her. Of course, he had managed to take it from her at the last second, but he couldn't have that happening again. So, as she wandered around, looking over her shoulder every two seconds to make sure Neji wasn't sneaking up on her to kill her, Neji bent down and picked up a green flag.
"Maybe if I pretend to tie my shoe…" Hinata thought but then she realized that she was wearing sandals so there was no way THAT was going to work. As she looked down at her shoe, she saw an orange flag.
Hinata would NEVER put an orange flag in her bag because she knew it belonged to Naruto. The least she could do was prevent Neji from getting it so that Naruto wouldn't lose a point. So, just as Neji got preoccupied with getting a pink flag out of a tree, she quickly picked it up and stuffed it in her pocket. She figured that she'd eventually come across Naruto and she could give it to him.
MEANWHILE!!!
"I got another one!" sang Sakura. "That's the SECOND pink flag that I've found!"
"Yeah but have you found any others?" Ino laughed.
"No but…you haven't found any of your own yet!" Sakura said.
"So?" said Ino. "At least I found this green flag and this tan flag right next to each other when you were too slow to get them for yourself! How many flags do you have, Sakura? Two? How many do I have? Four? That's what I thought!"
"Shut up, Ino!" said Sakura. "I'll beat you! You'll see!"
"I doubt that." Said Ino.
"HEY, A FLAG!!!" yelled Sakura, pointing at the sky.
"WHERE?!" Ino yelled, turning around.
"HAHA!!" laughed Sakura, pointing at Ino and laughing.
"Hey, there IS a flag there!" said Ino, pointing at a red flag up at the top of a tree.
"I'll get it!" Sakura declared.
"Not if I get it first!" Ino said as the two of them raced to the tree and shimmied up the trunk and started having a catfight at the top. Eventually, the flag fluttered down to the ground and landed on Shikamaru's head. Sakura and Ino gasped but they both fell off the tree on the other side.
Shikamaru took it off and looked at it.
"Hey, you found a flag!" said Lee. "And you touched it first so it's yours!"
"No, you can have it." said Shikamaru, handing the flag to Lee.
"I couldn't possibly!" Lee said, drawing back from the flag.
"Fine…" said Shikamaru as he put the flag in his bag. He figured he should get at least ONE so that Asuma didn't have a heart attack.
"Let's keep looking for flags!" said Lee as he continued to march. Sakura and Ino had done a reasonably good job cleaning out the area so the two passed through it, continuing their search. "Is that what I think it is?!" Lee exclaimed, pointing at a yellow flag in the distance.
"It's all yours, that's what it is." Said Shikamaru.
"GLEE!!" Lee HOLL-ered as he ran over to the flag as fast as he could, not caring who or what he ran over to get it.
MEANWHILE!!!
"This area has so many flags in it!!" said Kiba as he and Chouji walked into a little clearing in the woods where there were twelve trees, each with a flag of a different color pinned up. "I think there's one of each color, what do you think?!"
"Um…seems that way." Said Chouji.
"I'll take these six and you take those six!" said Kiba as he eagerly went over to the trees and ripped the flags off one by one. Chouji did the same to his appointed six flags. "Wow! This is so fun! It feels like Christmas!"
"Do you want to try looking around to see if there are any flags in this area besides these twelve?" Chouji asked.
"THAT would be silly!" said Kiba. "Having twelve in one area is crazy enough but do you really think our teachers would put THIRTEEN here?!"
"Um…yes?" said Chouji as he picked up a black flag off the ground.
"What?!" yelled Kiba. "That one wasn't pinned to the tree?!"
"No…" said Chouji, looking in his sack.
"I stand corrected!" said Kiba. "Well, that one's yours."
MEANWHILE!!!
"We haven't found a single one yet…excluding those ten in the trash can…" Tenten said.
"That's because we're looking in the wrong places." Said Shino. "Obviously this area has been cleaned out. That's why we found them all in the trashcan."
"So…why are we still here?" Tenten asked.
"Because I've already found three flags." Said Shino, holding up orange, white and red flags.
"Why don't you tell me these things?!" demanded Tenten. "And how about you give me those so we can be a little more even?"
"No." said Shino, putting the three in his bag. "They're mine."
MEANWHILE!!!
Sasuke ripped a blue flag off a tree. "One more for me." He said smugly as he put it in his bag.
"I found a blue flag too!!" said Naruto as he ran out of a bush with a blue flag in his hand. "Ha! Blue is YOUR color, isn't it?!" He shoved the blue flag into his bag. "Well, how do you like them apples?!"
"Wow, Naruto, you're real cool." Said Sasuke as he rolled his eyes.
"I wasn't trying to be cool!" said Naruto, throwing a temper tantrum.
"Only someone who trying to be cool would use a phrase like 'how do you like them apples.'" Said Sasuke, doing little quoteys. "And I think that's the second time you've used it in only a day."
"Oh yeah?!" said Naruto. "Well…yeah! That's what they WANT you to think! But it's not true!"
"WHAT are you talking about?" Said Sasuke, looking mildly confused and dumbfounded.
"I'm talking about THIS!" said Naruto as he whipped a tan flag out from behind his back and laughed. "HA! I found a tan flag in that bush too!"
"So?" said Sasuke. "I still have more flags than you."
"ONLY ONE MORE!!" yelled Naruto.
"It's still more." Sasuke said.
MEANWHILE!!!
"And that makes seven." Neji said happily to himself as he picked up two flags that were reasonably close to each other. They were both blue. He didn't even NEED the Byakugan to be able to dominate!
Of course, if he was paying attention instead of putting flags in his bag, he would have noticed that Hinata had found a green flag, picked it up and stuffed it in her bag before he could even tell she moved. She gave a sigh of relief when Neji didn't react. Obviously, he hadn't seen her.
"Hinata, have you found anymore flags?" Neji asked forcefully.
"Um…no?" Hinata tried.
Neji glared at her. "You're lying."
"No I'm not!" said Hinata nervously.
"You're STILL lying." Neji said evilly.
He decided that he'd have to watch her even more closely from now on.
MEANWHILE!!!
Sakura and Ino were walking next to each other with their noses pointed up in the air. Every once and a while, they would see a flag and then scramble for it desperately. They were pretty evenly matched. Ino had gotten the red one, then Sakura got the tan one, then Ino got the white one and Sakura had most recently gotten the orange one.
"I STILL have two more than you." Ino hummed.
"Be quiet Ino!" said Sakura. "It was only because I thought we were going to be going to switch off taking the flags! I would have gotten to them first but I thought we were working together!"
"You thought WRONG!" said Ino.
"I know that NOW." Said Sakura, crossing her arms.
"And what would you do if I said that you were standing on a flag RIGHT NOW?" Ino asked.
Sakura looked down and Ino plucked a flag out of a tree that had been right next to Sakura's head. She looked back up only to see Ino putting the brown flag in her bag.
"You're not playing fair!" Sakura yelled.
MEANWHILE!!!
"Hey!!" shouted Lee as he picked up a green flag. "Wow, I found a green flag! I actually think this is the first green flag I've found which is kind of funny considering we were SUPPOSED to only find our flag and find other flags as an added bonus!"
Lee dropped the flag in his bag with a sigh of happiness and an expression that might suggest he would spout out the phrase, "Good times…" at any minute.
"Shikamaru?" he said suddenly, looking around. "Shikamaru? Where'd Shikamaru go?"
Lee then decided it was MUCH more important to find Shikamaru than to waste time looking for silly flags. After all, if something terrible had happened to Shikamaru then it would be awful if Lee had just been looking for flags when he could have potentially saved Shikamaru.
"SHIKAMARU!!!" he called through cupped hands. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Then he saw a flag. "KEEN!" he exclaimed happily as he picked the white flag and put it in his sack.
MEANWHILE!!!
"We are doing such a good job finding flags!" said Kiba to Chouji. "Sure, we haven't found any in a little while but look at us! We both have seven!"
"What about that tan flag you just found?" Chouji asked.
"Oh right!" said Kiba, slapping his forehead. "The TAN flag! Well, still! Eight and seven are still a lot! I bet all the other groups don't have as many as we do!"
"I don't know…" said Chouji. "Considering we haven't found any for a little while, that might mean that all the other groups have already found the rest."
"Or it could mean that…uh…we have to look somewhere else!" said Kiba optimistically.
"That too." Said Chouji with a shrug.
MEANWHILE!!!
"All right!" cheered Tenten. "I finally found one on my own!"
She picked up the black flag that she had found and was just about to put it in her bag when she noticed Shino's eerie glare out of the corner of her eye.
"What?" she asked.
"That's MY flag." He said.
"Shino, come on." Said Tenten. "You have a whole bunch of flags and I only have one."
"But my flags are the black ones." Said Shino. "I gave all the tan flags I found to YOU."
"You only found one." Tenten pointed out.
"That's still all of them." Shino said.
Tenten groaned. "If I give you this one then you have to give me the next one that you find!" she compromised.
"Fine." Said Shino as he put the black flag in his bag, along with the orange flag he had just found.
A few hours later, Sasuke picked up the last flag; a green one. With that, the competition was officially over and all the students had to meet up back with their teachers with their sacks filled with flags.
"Let's see…it appears as though NEJI has collected the most flags!" said Gai as he held up Neji's enormous bulging sack.
"SHIKAMARU!!" yelled the extremely disappointed Asuma as he held up Shikamaru's FOUR flags, all of which Lee helpfully collected FOR him.
"Well, it's not like he came in last." Said Kurenai, looking at Hinata's TWO flags.
"It wasn't my fault…" said Hinata nervously.
"Oh sure." Said Neji. "Blame the Branch House. That is so typical."
"ANYWAY…" said Gai, trying to get away from the subject of the Branch House before Neji could go absolutely crazy. "We'll now count all the flags!"
"Why bother?" said Neji. "I got the most flags. I won."
Sasuke was over in the corner looking like he was going to cry.
"Oh…" said Kakashi. "Did we forget to tell them that we completely changed all the rules while they were looking for the flags?"
"I KNEW we forgot something!" said Kurenai.
"What are you talking about?" said Shikamaru.
"It actually wasn't an individual challenge." Said Asuma. "You were supposed to work together with your partner. So we just added up the amount of flags that you and your partner got and whichever team got the most flags gets wins!"
"Before you ask; it was just because we thought that the twist in this challenge was just a little too unfair." Said Kakashi.
"So…the only team that even remotely worked together won…Kiba and Chouji with 43 flags!!" said Kurenai.
"YAHOO!!" cheered Kiba. "I KNEW we'd win!"
"It was because we found that area with one of each color flag!" said Chouji.
"You guys found that?" said Gai. "That was MY idea!"
"Second is Shino and Tenten with 38 flags!" said Asuma.
"Then Sasuke and Naruto with 37 flags!" said Kurenai.
"Then Neji and Hinata with a total of 31 flags!" said Kakashi.
"Ino and Sakura coming after them with 28 flags!" continued Gai.
"And, last but certainly not least, Shikamaru and Lee with 23 flags!" Asuma said finally. "Even though I was counting on you to win, Shikamaru…"
"Isn't it funny that Shikamaru and Lee came in first in the previous competition but last in this one?" laughed Kurenai.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!" screamed Asuma and Gai.
"Are we done?" Ino said. "Are there anymore competitions?"
The teachers paused, pondered and then formed a huddle. After a little bit of discussion, they finally broke from their huddle.
"One more." They said finally. "We promise."