The Dragon Dilemma
I don't own Naruto and Zoids
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"Talking"
'Thoughts'
/-- Scene change
)-()-( Different point of view
?-? Flash back
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Chapter 2
He yawns slightly as he waits for their teacher to appear. He looks towards his other two team mates and can't help but groan. He replays what happened yesterday afternoon within his mind.
?-?
They came back from lunch and they had just finished sitting down when Iruka comes into the classroom. "Alright, I'll begin to read out the teams. Team 1 is…" Iruka says, he just tones it out until he hears his own name. After about two minutes, Iruka finally says, "… Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. The jonin for Team 7 is Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 is…"
He blinks in surprise and glances to where his other team mate is sitting. He can't believe he's stuck with Mr. Rookie of the Year and someone else. He wonders who his other team mate is, but soon figures it out as Sakura is chatting with Sasuke excitedly. He didn't know which is worst, that Sakura will be ignoring him for Sasuke or that Sasuke will be the two word wonder. He wonders just who's out to get him to pair him up with those two.
Soon Iruka finishes listing teams and within five minutes Jonin begin to appear in the classroom to pick up their teams. He watches as his two friends walk out of the classroom. About thirty minutes later, only Sasuke, Sakura, and himself are left within the classroom. He wonders why Iruka left without waiting to see them get picked up.
He grows bored and creates a pillow with his arms and then rests his head on it. He begins to take swallow breaths and within fifteen minutes, he's napping. Something suddenly wakes him up, he open his eyes and finds that both of his team mates were still within the room. He stretches and yawns as he glances at the only clock in the room. He blinks as he notices that he's been asleep for about three hours. This kind of shocks him and he decides to get up and take a look out of the classroom door.
"What are you doing?" He hears Sakura ask him, he just ignores the question as he opens the door and comes face to face with a man in a mask with his one eye covered. He blinks as the man opens the door wider and takes a look at the others. "My first impression of you three is… you suck." Was the man's first sentence, which was soon followed by, "Meet me on the roof in five minutes." He blinks as the man teleports away. He wonders just what he's getting himself into as he walks out of the classroom.
?-?
He wonders if maybe yesterday's wait should have prepared them for what appears to be their teacher's attendance record. He resolves that if they do meet Kakashi's standards that he'll wait two hours after the time given before making his way to the meeting point. He had also scouted out the area after he arrived here and had noticed the odd rock with people's names on it. He had studied it for about ten minutes before heading over and sitting down by his pack.
"What time is it?" He asks. Sakura checks the time on the watch hanging from her bag. "About fifteen minutes to eleven." The girl replies before yawning. Soon Sasuke's stomach growls, which is soon followed by Sakura's though for better or for worst, Shadow had pretty much ordered him to eat breakfast before leaving his apartment. There were times when he's often left wondering just how Shadow can get into his apartment without anyone noticing the metal dragon from entering or exiting the building.
He smiles slightly as he takes in the expressions that the other two are wearing as they eye him. "I can't believe you didn't follow orders. You weren't suppose to eat this morning!" Sakura growls out. He blinks and says, "On reflection, I bet you two wish you did." He feels smug at the wistful looks on their faces. True, he's beginning to get hungry, but not as hungry as Sasuke and Sakura though.
He picks up a kunai and begins to twirl it on a finger on his right hand. He scans the area in hope of spotting Kakashi. As fifteen minutes pass, a lone figure approaches. Without thinking about what could happen, he throws the Kunai at the man in the mask. The man catches it and asks, "I guess it slipped?" He snorts, but before he could reply, Sakura shouts out, "Your late, Kakashi!" "Sorry but I got lost on the road of life." The jonin answers. "Lair!" Sakura shouts.
He sighs at that, wondering if Sakura knew that Kakashi just distracted her from finding out where the jonin really was. He glances over at Sasuke only to find that Mr. Ice Cube was busy studying their new teacher. He watches as Sasuke's eyes show that he didn't think too much about Kakashi. He wasn't going to judge Kakashi on just appearance alone, for Kakashi is an expert ninja and of jonin rank which means that the man before them has greater experience then the three of them combined when it comes to being ninjas.
He turns back at the sound of bells. He notices the two silver bells that Kakashi's holding and frowns as he doesn't understand just what the bells are for. 'Genin are suppose to be in three person teams, so why is there only two bells? What's he up to?' He thinks. He knows that team work is arsenical for ninjas to carry out important missions. It was a fundamental part of what ninjas are. It was something that Shadow was also adamant about after the black Organoid observed a number of genin examinations with their supposed jonin instructor. So he not only had an idea about what Kakashi will be trying to test, but also forewarning about what will cause them to fail.
"Now, you see these two bells?" Kakashi asks, then puts them on his belt. "Once I set the clock, you three will have about an hour to get one of these bells from me. Who ever doesn't get a bell will go without any lunch." The jonin pauses as both Sasuke's and Sakura's stomachs growl. He sighs as Kakashi looks over at him. "I was hungry." He says and he can see amusement in Kakashi's visible eyes. "Well other then Mr. Blond, you both seems to have healthy appetites. I also want to add is the one that doesn't get a bell with also be send back to the Academy." Kakashi says. "I got a question, we just need a bell to pass, right?" He asks slowly. Kakashi just nods and he relaxes.
Soon Kakashi sets up a clock on one of the tree stumps and says, "Now." They jumped out of view and he keeps racing along until he's sure he's far enough away from the starting point before he stops and begins to think more deeply on the rough out line of a plan that he's beginning to warm up to. 'We just need a bell, huh? This will be tricky, but I believe I can pull this off, though the problem will be getting Sasuke and Sakura to listen to my idea.' He thinks as he picks up a stick and twirls it between two fingers as he grins.
)-(Sasuke)-(
He can't believe he's neck deep in the ground. He couldn't do a thing as Kakashi walked away with both bells. He pauses as someone enters the clearing. He turns his head to get a look and find both of his so called team mates standing there, looking down at him. "Well, I guess that shortens our search considerably." Naruto says dryly. "What happened Sasuke?" Sakura asks as she races to him. "Just get me out of here." He growls out. His fan girl nods and begins to help get him out of the ground as Naruto watches with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"What are you two doing together?" He finally asks, considering Naruto didn't look like he was going to explain and Sakura was busy trying to make him feel better. "Did you touch a bell?" Naruto asks without answering his question. He snorts and says, "That's none of your business." Naruto smiles softly and says, "If you did, I do believe the plan might just work." He blinks and Sakura says, "What he means is, he thought up a way to trick Kakashi." "What's the plan?" He asks, kind of suspicious of what the details are. "Sakura's good at illusions, right? And I did ask before this test started if we need a bell to pass see. So the plan is to have Sakura use an illusion to create two bells and then she casts another illusion on the real ones to make it seem that they're not there or better yet, something else. And if you had touched the bells, we can claim that you switch them out." Naruto says. He nods and then says, "The problem is that Kakashi wouldn't believe it." Naruto smirks and says, "So we fight him again, only this time, I join in to help keep Kakashi distracted from what Sakura's doing. If it works, we'll pass the exam."
He frown and says, "What's the back up plan?" He notices how Naruto grins and says, "Sakura will have two 'bells' right? We could always have either you or Sakura make another one. Technically, we just need bells to pass. If we have said bells, then we pass. Plus, Kakashi didn't spherically mention that we need the two bells he had or forbid us from creating our own bells." He blinks and thinks on this for about two minutes, trying to decide if it was worth a shot. "Fine, we'll try it your way. You better not get in my way." He says and he turns away and begins to walk off to where Kakashi had, knowing that the other two would follow.
)-(Naruto)-(
He watches as the others walk away, leaving him alone. He's glad that they proved that they can work as a team, though he did wonder if Sasuke might have botched it when the Ice King almost cut off his arm. His other hand reaches up and touches the scratch, which had been a more serious about ten minutes ago.
He knew that either plan would work, for Kakashi had pointed out that he was focusing on team work then on following the guidelines and the rule that the jonin set up for this test. True they might have been able to as Kakashi put it, 'bull shit' their way with that plan but they wouldn't be have pass though. He snorts and Kakashi did say he was quite surprise about either plans though and had given them credit that they had the guts to try and follow through with them too.
He turns to glance at a spot where the shadows are the deepest. "You should bandage that." His mind translates the series of growls and barking roars directed at him. "It's going to be gone within the next few minutes, no point in wasting clean bandages over a minor scrap." He tells Shadow. There's a pause between them and after about four minutes Shadow softly roars/growls, "They brought in some Zoids the other night. A Hell Cat and a Command Wolf." He sighs and asks, "Are you sure you don't want to go searching for a suitable Zoid on your own, Shadow? It's going to be, like months before the team I'm on will be allowed to leave this village for C ranked missions. You might have better luck alone, without me to hinder you." "I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the search if I'm worrying about you." Shadow growls softly. He smiles and nods as he says, "I wouldn't be able to concentrate with you gone. What a pair, huh?" Shadow just nods and he pushes himself off the stump and turns in Shadow's direction.
Soon they leave the clearing to check up on the stash of technique scrolls. Between him and Shadow, they stash has about forty-six scrolls. They use to have about sixty, but twenty of them turned out to be summoning scrolls as well as bobby trapped, so that kind of sucked for about five scrolls that he hadn't opened were destroyed. They had grown careful about opening them, so far, he's read a grand total of forty scrolls. Once he finishes reading the scroll, they try to return them to their owner or place them at the back door of the library so that they could be added to their collection of scrolls. He hasn't got a chance yet to practice what the scrolls say, but he has a great deal of time to find time to practice them.
'I wonder if I should try and find Shikamaru and Choji later? I wonder if they passed their exam. I hope so, I would hate to be the only one out of the three of us to make genin.' He thinks after walking for about eight minutes.
To be continued …