Greetings once more o' fair readers of mine.
Once again, i'm looking for the toughest criticism I can get here. Be mean if you have to. I can take it.
I do not own Naruto.
Upon entering the room, he found three sets of eyes staring at him blankly for just being there. He sheepishly sat down in a vacant seat that wasn't too close to anybody else's and listened as their new sensei resumed instructions.
The sensei they had been assigned was a beautiful young woman of medium height. She had sleek blond hair covering her left eye, while the other one was deep blue with her hitae-ate lopsidedly covered the half of her forehead that was visible. She wore what appeared to be a black sleeveless spandex shirt and black spandex pants, giving her a very streamlined appearance from under her jounin jacket. Her most defining feature however were the tattoos all over her arms. Instead of being pictures, they seemed to be strange markings and lines that had some hidden significance.
"Okay everyone, I don't think we should stay here for our first meeting." The woman said with a smile "Everybody head up to the roof for your first mission briefing."
She suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the three kids, total strangers to each other, in the room by themselves. Without any words, Hei and his new teammates walked up to the roof as they were instructed. So far it didn't seem to be going too bad.
The students walked up to the roof where latticearchways stood here and there covered in the same ivies that were predominant throughout the village. They found the woman standing over in one corner of the roof that seemed to be clear of the lattice walkways and sat themselves down in front of her.
"Now that we're all here, I want us to start by introducing ourselves. I'm Hoashi Yumi." The woman announced with a smile "I enjoy going out dancing and painting. I'm a jounin for a living but I do a lot of things to make extra money on the side. You go next."
"I'm Mirei Hitomi." Said a girl with shoulder length red hair and wore her hitae-ate around her neck. She was a little short and wore a black tank top with a fishnet shirt over it and black skirt to go with it. "I enjoy training and things that have natural beauty. I don't like spending time around most people but my hobbies include camping and walking."
"That's lovely." Yumi said with a smile as she moved on to Hei "Okay, you with the green hair. Tell us about yourself."
"My name is Hei." Hei announced proudly, puffing his chest out as if to make it clear "I enjoy sitting in my apartment, sleeping and eating. I dislike people who are scared of me even though they don't know anything about me. I want to find out why I'm not like everybody else. For instance, I want to find out why I can't channel chakra like the other kids, and why I don't have any parents. I hope to make some friends one day and become the greatest ninja I could possibly be."
"That's a very nice dream Hei." Yumi said with what had become her trademark warm smile "Now you. What do you like?"
"My name is Shigeru Katsuki!" a bubbly girl with long white hair and purple eyes wearing a tight long sleeve white shirt and gray pants who wore her headband across her forehead normally "I like ice cream, and bunnies, and squirrels, and flowers, and kool-aid, and rice, and tea, and birds, and…well I just like everything. I have a ton of hobbies, and a lot of dreams."
"Well, that's very sweet." Yumi said, putting her hands behind her back and stood on her toes for a second before coming back to the ground "Since you all seem like such a nice group, I'll give you the choice. We can go on our first mission either today or tomorrow."
"I say we go ahead and do the mission today." Hei said, deciding it was best to take action. "If we start today, we have one extra mission under our belts."
"I agree." Hitomi agreed quietly "But it is always good to remember that haste creates waste. It is good to want to get things done, but being brash only leads to ruin."
"I think missions are swell!" Katsuki said, bouncing up and down happily and causing everyone else to look at her for a second.
"Well, if that's what you choose, you all can come with me for your very first mission." Yumi said jumping from the current rooftop they were on to the next one.
Ten minutes later, they all stood in what appeared to be a hanging garden filled with flowers and vines of all kinds. Lattice panels covered with vines and bright exotic flowers made up a beautiful maze that extended further and higher than they could see from their perspective.
"This is the hanging maze." Yumi said with a smile that was quickly becoming her signature facial feature"Your first mission is to each find a sacred flower in the maze and bring it to the top. Along the way, I shall be impeding your process. If any of you does not get the flower within the allotted time limit, I have full authority to destroy you mercilessly."
"What the hell!" Hei exclaimed, taking a quick step back "How are we supposed to get the flowers with a jounin stopping us? It can't possibly be done!"
"Well, it's either take the test or never excel as a ninja." Yumi said, her bright smile never fading a bit"Only the strongest survive, even in this utopia. If you can't handle it you must not be allowed to proceed. Now, you have until eight o'clock tonight. Good luck to all of you."
With a puff of smoke Yumi vanished, leaving the remaining members of the team frightened out of their wits. Slowly, Hei took the first step towards the maze, boldly trying to set the pace for everyone else, despite the fact that he was just as scared as they were.
"Wait." Hitomi said shortly as he began to make his way in "Rushing in to this situation can only bring us down. Before we go in, we need some sort of game plan."
"What kind of a plan could help us against Yumi sense?" Katsuki said, tears welling up in her eyes "I don't think we stand a chance."
"If we all split up, we might have a better chance of getting to the flowers." Hei said, trying his best to be helpful "We could all just meet each other at the top."
"What would happen if one of us would run into Yumi sensei individually?" Hitomi asked in the same monotone "We stand a better chance of surviving if we all stick together."
"But what if we all don't get enough flowers in time and have to choose one of us to fall behind?" Katsuki asked, almost not wanting an answer.
"We decide that when the time comes, but for right now, concentrate on getting flowers and living." Hitomi said, walking casually into the maze with Hei and Katsuki following her.