Dan Hyuuga was grimacing, the cold steel of a razor sharp kunai bared against his neck. A large body covered him, with a single muscular arm wrapped around his chest, completely holding him in place. Whoever this guy was, he was strong.
It hadn't been five minutes ago, when they were attacked. Out of nowhere, and without warning. Their attackers seemed to have no motive, and they were apparently prepared for a death match.
He was the first one to spot them, he owed that to his refined hearing. The suble crunch of brittle leaves and twigs from far away pounded in his ears like a bass drum from a few feet in front of him.
The whistling of kunai filled the air, and Dan acted (as he always did) without hesitation. He reflected the oncoming kunai with one of his own shuriken, and proceeded to launch a lightning fast counter attack.
As expected, his teamates couldn't keep up with his skill, but the girl was fairly impressive. She acted without any question to the situation. It was a good attribute, being able to respond like that.
It was his third partner however, that ruined them. His blasted unattentiveness to the world around him got them into this mess in the first place. If he had observed what he and the girl were doing, he may have been able to be of some use. Now, he was laying on the ground, face down, out cold. Great. "You..." Dan mumbled. "What do you want?"
The stinking, hot breath of his attacker slid through his ears like slime. "Did you know, hyugga..." it began "That we purposely made ourselves heard?"
Dan's eyes widened. What? Why would they do that. As if reading his mind, the captor responded. "We wanted to test you...test your ability to counter an opponent, even an unforseen one, and take action" it croaked.
A harsh snicker ran through his ears. "You are miserable opponents. Not only did you fail to hear us coming, your action was laughable!" he wheezed. Dan's eyes narrowed. "Seriously! A few kunai? What more did you do than stand around and get captured. What do you think the acedemy was for?"
There was a pause, and all Dan could hear was the creaking of the man's hoarse breath. After a few moments, a small smile came to his lips. "I think..." he mumbled. "That I found out all I needed to know!"
Suddenly, Dan's figure dissapeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the startled ninja holding nothing but air. "Ghu? What?" he gasped.
A pericing voice echoed from the trees. "Peircing needles, Leaf Tornado!" As soon as the words were uttered, an enormous volley of needles shot from within the foliage, aimed directly at the stunned ninja.
A loud BOOM! filled the air, and a dust cloud billowed up from the former shinobi's position.
The attacker holding Kieto suddenly turned around, eyes wide. "What? What just happened?"
The solemn voice of Dan emitted from within the brush. "Your teamate has just been destroyed. If I were you I'd let the girl go, you've got a thousand needles trained on your head as we speak"
The larger ninja clenched his teeth, his free hand going to his belt. "Why you..." he mumbled.
All of a sudden, Kieto's small, yet strangely powerful voice reverberated across the open field. "There'll be no need fot that Dan..." she said calmly.
Within the trees, Dan Hyuuga's eyebrows raised. Who was she kidding? She was captured with a kunai to her neck. One wrong move, and that guy would slit her throat. He had created a shadow clone before they even arrived at the plain. He knew something was wrong, and the arrival of these crazy ninja assured it. He had been waiting for them the whole time. "Kieto, you're trapped, just let me handle this!" he shouted.
From below, a white toothed grin was easily visible on the young girl's face. "Please." she smirked. "Don't think you're the only capable ninja here...you big blowhard"
Dan grimaced. That idiot. She was going to get herself killed. How could she possibly...wait. "Why is...!" Dan did a double take. Laying on the ground, completely knocked out, was the attacking ninja, and Kieto was nowhere to be seen.
"Wha...what on earth?" he stammered. He had only blinked. Just a fraction of a second, and it looked like the large shinobi had been completely pulverized. Just what exactly had happened?
"See?...I told you so" an obstinate voice came from behind him. There, sitting on the same limb as he...was Kieto. She had made no sound, and he had felt no apparent raise in chakra. What could this girl do?
The last remaining ninja, squatting over by Z's unmoving body was sweating. Those other two kid's had done some crazy stuff...taken out their two strongest members. There's no way he could beat them both!He cast a nervous glance downward at Z. Was this kid just fooling too? Was it a clone? A replacment jutsu? He swallowed hard, his large adam's apple bobbing rapidly. Well he wasn't waiting around to find out! In a burst of smoke, he was gone.
After the last enemy had left, Dan and Kieto exchanged looks, nodded briefly, then hopped out of the tree, and over to Z. Dan shook his head. "What an idiot"
Kieto sighed, and put her hands behind her head. "So...you have any ideas who those guys were?" she yawned.
Dan pursed his lips. He decided to be a bit more cautious around this girl. She didn't know the full extent of her abilities yet...and it made him nervous. "Yeah...I know who they were"
Kieto raised her eyebrows. 'Really? Who?"
Dan sat on the ground and folded his legs, then pointed upwards. Kieto followed his gaze. Not twenty feet above them, effortlessly standing on the tip of a tall tree, was shadowy, red eyed man.
"Welcome Team 9. I am your new sensei. You've just passed your first test"