A/N: This is another chapter I wrote before Chapter 5 of Snakes and Foxes. I'm writting Chp 6 of SaF now so it'll be updated again soon.
Here is an explanation on how I choose these characters who they are. I've searched the forum boards for ideas, but chose one that was obvious and one unthought-of from what I'd seen. Both are members of clans established in canon, even if the characters themselves are original, I'm going to keep them very much members from their clans, but with a few variations to keep them unique and not carbon copies.
Chouichi: To me the one to the left of the picture is an Akimichi. He has the squinty eyes that Chouji and his father get and he also has a wide face. Now, don't mistake this character for Chouji's father. Chouji's father is Chouza (offiicial name from Databook 2 although some know him as Choumaru) and Chouza was on the original InoShikaChou team. He maybe Chouza's brother or cousin, but I don't think it particularly matters which in this story. Someone suggested Ibiki (I've seen that in the forum too), but according to the Databook Ibiki is 27 at the beginning of the series (he does look older, but Anko is the only character I'll ever challenge their age). That make him 15 when Naruto was born, which was too young. I still liked that he was an Akimichi,I have an idea that would separate him from the others and still be a logical extension of what an Akimichi could do.
Shinobu: She was the difficult one. No one really knows if the middle character in the picture is a boy or a girl. I assumed girl since nearly every major team has had the 2 boys and 1 girl dynamic. Someone suggested she was a Hyuuga, but even the manga version of the picture has her eyes darkened. The forums often suggest her being another Uchiha, but I feel the Uchiha are overused and wanted something unique. I kept thinking about the funny looking collar and decided it might have been an Aburame collar rolled down. I liked the idea of a female Aburame character and went with it.
However, once I decided that, I realized one thing: my version of Jiraiya's team had one member who was similar to one member on each of the 3 rookie teams. Yondaime is like Naruto from Team 7. Chouichi is like Chouji from Team 10 and Shinobu is like Shino from Team 8. That made it look really well balanced.
Chapter 02 – Ready, Start!
A basic for a ninja is to conceal his presence and hide.
Jiraiya looked around, happy that his new students had vanished so well into the trees and foliage. Even a Ninja Academy graduate shouldn't let things like unusual colors of clothing to prevent them from blending into their environment perfectly.
Of course, that didn't stop him from looking for bright blond hair or a red headband.
He stood around while he waited for the first kid to make their move. Traps could come later. Whoever was brave enough to try first should have an honest try at it.
Jiraiya actually smiled when he heard the familiar sound of shuriken slicing through the air. He didn't have much to fear, he was standing in open ground with plenty of room to avoid them, and their speed was limited to as much force a ten-year-old could muster.
He quickly judged the origin of the two shuriken while they were still in flight. He smiled as he ducked below them and locked his eyes on that location.
"Idiot," he muttered. Kayaku's blond hair and blue clothes stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of a tree's greens and browns. The boy stood on one of the larger branches; his determined eyes locked right on him.
Jiraiya quickly drew out a kunai from his holster, aimed, and threw it in one smooth motion. It flew much faster and more accurately than the boy's attempt, but it was still easily avoidable from this distance by the average ninja.
Move it…Move it…Move it, Jiraiya chanted as he realized the boy wasn't moving. Idiot, why aren't you moving? You're looking right at it!
"Idiot!" Jiraiya started running the moment he saw the kunai hit and the boy's form disappear. He expected it come crashing down the tree.
This can't be happening! I'm supposed to be teaching them, not getting them killed!
When he reached the base of the tree, he quickly looked around for the signs of a body. If he was lucky, he could have just winged him and could call it a tough lesson for not dodging.
However, he found nothing, not even drops of blood. He looked up examining the branches. It was a majestic tree, old yet still sturdy. The trunk was much wider than a man at the base was and it was several stories higher than most towers he had seen. Its branches spread out and filled with lots of green leaves to provide plenty of places to hide within the shadows that were only broken by the occasional beam of sunlight that broke through.
Couldn't have been a Replacement, I would have noticed it, but what did I hit? I'm certain those shuriken came from that branch, they're no others close to it.
Determined to get to the bottom of it…or rather the top, Jiraiya jumped up to branch to branch until he reached the one he was sure was the origin of the attack.
He didn't find a body or even blood. What he did find was his kunai sticking in the trunk of the tree, apparently it never strayed from its path when he threw it. Then, what did he hit?
"Okay, boy," Jiraiya chuckled as he crouched down and pulled the kunai from the wood. "I admit you're smarter than you look." He suddenly reached down and grabbed a small hand barely touching a bell. "But not smart enough."
"Damn it," the boy cursed as he twisted in Jiraiya's grasp. Jiraiya looked down and saw the boy reaching from underneath the branch, only he wasn't standing on another branch, but actually attached to the underside of the same branch through chakra.
"Impressive, using tree climbing to hide your position." Jiraiya was truly impressed. It wasn't usual for someone so young and a recent graduate to know how to climb a tree through attaching their feet to the tree with chakra. "What was it I saw?"
"A clone," the boy spoke through gritted teeth as he struggled vainly against the grasp of the much stranger older ninja.
"Ah."
I see, he knew his attack would reveal his position, but I was expecting someone at the top of the branch, not attacked to the bottom. Just to confirm my expectations he left a clone in his place. A smart move, too bad he was still too far away to do any real damage.
The boy's feet suddenly detached from the underneath the branch. Jiraiya instinctively started to pull the boy up; fearing the boy's chakra ran out and was about to fall, but suddenly the boy's leg nimbly swung up and kicked his hand hard, smashing a finger.
Although, a smashed finger wasn't going to keep him from hold the boy's wrist, Jiraiya saw the boy was determined to be free and decided to let go to see what he could do.
Kayaku fell, but not very far. He reached out and grabbed a tree branch he stood on. No, not grab, Jiraiya decided…attached! Impressive, he used his chakra to attach his hands to the branch instead of using his feet.
Using that branch, he skillfully swung him onto another and landed on his feet, the next to last branch to the bottom. It was a small branch and Jiraiya knew he couldn't follow without it snapping under his weight, but Kayaku was fine as he ran to the trunk of the tree and disappearing from Jiraiya's sight.
Jiraiya looked around the tree and realized it was an impressive makeshift maze. By using chakra manipulation to climb a tree, the boy could use his size and speed to move around the huge tree without the problems that Jiraiya's heavier form had. However, he knew if he leapt back down to the ground, he would only be a sitting target for more shuriken.
Rather than standing still for the impending attack, Jiraiya leapt up to the next highest branch. It was just in time as he heard a shuriken embed itself into the tree limb where he was standing.
Damn, that shuriken had to come from above, but did he get above me already?
The branch he stood on started to bow under his weight and he had to jump again, but this time he narrowly missed a pair of kunai that fell to the ground, with gravity alone making them deadly missiles. He couldn't even run up the trunk or else be an easy target.
"Hey!" he yelled up. He couldn't see the boy, past the beams of light that managed to filter in through the cracks between collections of leaves. "Don't use up all your kunai yet!"
Jiraiya kept jumping higher and higher at greater speeds now, almost like he was jumping from one huge step to another in a gigantic spiral staircase. The occasional shuriken or kunai flew by, but the higher he got the less the weapons were falling directly down until they eventually stopped.
"Are you out?"
"Almost," the boy confirmed, almost cheerfully. It was the first Jiraiya had seen of him in minutes. Kayaku was breathing hard and his hair glistened with sweat. It was obvious his stamina was nearly gone, he had used too much chakra to get this far up in the tree, but the fire in his eyes told Jiraiya he wasn't giving up yet. "But I did save one kunai like you said."
The boy moved into action, attaching his feet to the tree trunk, he ran down toward Jiraiya. The older ninja blocked the kunai easily, but the boy quickly turned and ran around the tree trunk.
Jiraiya struggled to maneuver on the slender branch he stood on to turn around in time. I barely made it time to block another jab from Kayaku's kunai.
The creaking and snapping sounds were alarm enough for Jiraiya to jump down to the next branch. Kayaku followed, literally, by jumping down feet first aimed for Jiraiya's face!
The older ninja easily blocked the kick with his arm since only gravity added the kick instead of muscle, but Kayaku kicked out against his forearm, propelling him out to another branch.
After somersaulting and attaching himself to another branch, Kayaku reached into his pouch and threw his last three shuriken with a wide spread. This time he was closer and Jiraiya didn't have benefit of being able to freely move anywhere to dodge in time.
Yet, it still wasn't enough as Jiraiya easily took the kunai in his hand and skillfully blocked each one. He slipped his finger through the ring on the end and twirled it around quickly to show off a little before slipping it back into its holster.
"Tell me," Jiraiya asked in a friendly tone as he casually folded his arms around his chest. "How did you learn the tree climbing trick? I didn't think they taught that at the Academy."
"They don't," the boy said. "They just taught it to me."
"What?"
"When every one else is being trained by their family or clan members and learning secret techniques or whatever, the Academy teachers taught me chakra exercises to keep me out of trouble. They never would teach me something different!"
Kayaku looked a little upset by that, but Jiraiya smiled. Mastering chakra exercises while he's still young will go a long way to help him master any technique he tries in the future. Just hanging below that branch for as long as he did was impressive, but there is no reason to let him get cocky.
Jiraiya looked down and noticed they were nearly to the ground again and there really wasn't any more branches left to jump from. It was just as well as Kayaku physically pulled himself onto the top of the branch, signally perhaps he had little stamina left to turn to chakra in order to attach his feet again.
With that, Jiraiya made his move.
He skillfully jumped down to the last branch, placing himself between the trunk and Kayaku. His own weight made it shudder and swing wildly; the boy clutched it fearfully now that he didn't have chakra to attach himself to it.
"A ninja must always be aware of his surroundings," Jiraiya told him before slamming his foot down on the branch. He watched with amusement as the branch broke and the boy swung his arms in the air as no amount of chakra was going to keep him in midair.
Jiraiya wasn't actually afraid that the boy would be hurt. A common way for a ninja to travel through a forest was by jumping from branch to branch. Thus, it was a requirement that Academy students be taught to take a fall without breaking some bones.
In fact, Kayaku didn't fall far before jumping off to a more controlled drop. Jiraiya watched him as he rolled to a stop before jumping down himself.
"You're an interesting fellow, aren't you?" he asked with amusement.
"I'm not finished!"
The boy got back to his feet and ran toward Jiraiya. The older ninja was surprised again as the boy was actually quite fast. When the boy swung his fist, Jiraiya blocked it. When he swung out his leg, Jiraiya blocked that too. Despite his size, Jiraiya didn't have any trouble blocking the small boy, who was already exhausted from his attacks in the tree.
"Your fast, perhaps I'll teach you a ninja technique. I'll demonstrate." Jiraiya backed away from Kayaku suddenly and performed the proper seals. "Body Flicker Technique can be used when trying to escape." A miniature cyclone of leaves wrapped around Jiraiya as he disappeared from in front of the boy. "Or when to attack suddenly from behind!"
Kayaku stood completely still as he felt the edge of a kunai at his throat. If his new teacher were serious, he would be dead.
"You can't win with such normal attacks. If you want to win, you'll have to try harder."
"I told you, the teachers only teach me chakra exercises. I don't know anything else!"
"In society those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more. Just ignore the guy with the lowest score," Jiraiya said grimly.
Perhaps it was a good thing Jiraiya was behind him or he would have seen the death glare the normally smiling boy was unleashing.
"Sensei," the boy said in an eerily calm and unwavering voice. "For the record, I had the top score!"
Before Jiraiya could respond, Kayaku threw down a handful of smoke bombs and disappeared under the thick cloud.
The boy spoke under the cover of the smoke. "I do have one special attack I made myself."
Jiraiya turned toward the sound of the voice and held his kunai in a defensive position. Is eyes searched the cloud for any movement.
Again, the boy spoke, but he was clearly using the smoke to mask his position. "Konoha's Secret Supreme Taijutsu Attack."
What? Jiraiya thought to himself before he felt a sharp pain from behind.
"One Thousand Years of Pain!"
The forest of Practice Area 3 suddenly filled with screams of one of the Legendary Sannin. From the comforts of their hiding places, Shinobu and Chouichi had to wonder just what did their teammate do to their new teacher? That is, did they want to know?
Next Chapter: Next! (will Kayaku survive what horrible punishment he will no doubt get? the rest of the team makes their attacks!)
A/N: The Kakashi version of the bell test has some differences with Sarutobi's version, but I thought the similarities meant they were passed on from Sarutobi to Jiraiya then from Jiraiya to Yondaime and finally from Yondaime to Kakashi. Anything new was introduced either by Yondaime or by Kakashi. In Kakashi's version, his line about anyone abandoning a friend was worse than trash is Obito's line in Kakashi Gaiden, so that is definitely his. However, in Kakashi Gaiden, Yondaime was big on teamwork being the most important thing. Sarutobi's test didn't seem to have anything about teamwork in it, so my assumption this is something Yondaime introduced into the chain.
On that note, there is no origin for the Thousand Years of Pain taijutsu move that I know of, but with such an over dramatic name for a perverted move, I figured a kid created it. Young Kakashi didn't seem the type to create such a move, but with so many other elements of the bell test repeating I figured someone used it. I figured with the similarities between Yondaime and Naruto it is appropriate that Yondaime created his own perverted technique as a kid. (I know it actually translates as One Thousand Years of Death, but Pain sounds better)
I did keep the actual use vague just so wouldn't have to write the more perverted or disturbing aspect of it, but I had to include it because I thought it was one more thing to connect the other tests together.
Version 1.1
1.0: Original
1.1: Added the name Choumaru to the first A/N.