""Sayeth the Tree, 'Verily, I pierceth the veil …"
The Book of Log
C9: Genin Days (Pt.1)
Light shone through the windows, illuminating the messy attic room. If you asked Sakura though, she'd insist that it was organised and change the conversation topic immediately. Haphazardly stacked books on tinkering and the old world lined the shelves surrounding a desk at which a pink haired girl sat, slightly hunched over a desk magnifying glass looking at the metallic innards of a rubber duck, reminiscing on yesterday's events.
"We should meet up tomorrow to go over our jutsu cause Kakashi-sensei is probably going to put us through the ringer, right Naruto? Sakura-san?" said Sasuke after their new teacher vanished leaving nothing but a rubber duck with an eye patch in his place.
Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Sakura looked a bit uncertain, not really sure what time they'd want to meet up considering how much she'd messed up her sleep cycles in the last few days, or being honest, the last few months. "I'm not really sure when we should meet up, probably sometime early? What time do you two wake up at?"
"Seven-thirty every day and I go to sleep at either ten-thirty, twelve or one-thirty in the morning at most so that my circadian rhythm is consistent to ensure peak efficiency," responded Naruto almost immediately causing Sasuke to sigh and Sakura to nod in agreement.
"You could sleep at three and still maintain your rhythm if you had no other choice."
Sasuke looked at his pink haired teammate with exasperation. "Just great, I've got two nut-cases on my team." He muttered with a despondent expression on his face.
Naruto immediately elbowed Sasuke in the rib and muttered something to him.
"Forgive my friend here, his choice of words isn't always the best." The blond shoved the Uchiha towards her, "If he's hurt your feelings, feel free to punch him."
"Oi, hands off, blondie!"
"We just met her, and I'd prefer it if she doesn't have a bad impression of us."
"And punching me is going to make her think we're amazing?"
Naruto made to speak, but was interrupted.
Quack.
The whole team turned their head to look at the source of the sound.
The rubber duck!
Sakura was certain that the machinery needed to replicate animal sounds were complex and normally just harvested from old world parts.
This duck needed further examination.
She picked it up and looked at it. One touch and it was clear that this was an ancient object, not even the textile industries of Suna could produce such exquisite rubber.
The girl began to smile until she realised that she was in public. Her fellow teammates were looking at her.
"So… nine alright then?"
Naruto's face was neutral as he looked at the object in her hand.
Sasuke's was scrunched up in a stupid and confused, but oddly adorable expression.
The pinkette took that as her cue to leave.
Sakura leaned back against her chair and looked at her watch.
They should be here right about now.
Her green eyes wandered to the scar on her wrist, bisecting her carpals. It was the first time, she'd used medical ninjutsu. Panicking while she was bleeding out from her wrists after she mishandled one of her tools, her chakra answered her desperation and helped heal it. She still wasn't sure how she'd done it, but after that, she made sure to learn a bit of medical ninjutsu to prevent it from ever happening again.
Her musings were interrupted by the shrill cry of her doorbell.
"You're knocking, I went first with Kakashi-sensei"
Sasuke gave Naruto a meaningful look before he hid in a nearby bush. The Uchiha may have trusted his friend, but the last time they'd knocked at a friend's house without said friend in question… he still had flashbacks from the dogs.
The blond walked towards the oak doors and rang the ornate knocker. A few minutes later, the door swung inwards, revealing Sakura taking a loud bite out of an apple.
He waved at her in what he hoped was a friendly motion, "Morning! I was just wondering if we could also meet your parents, just so they can recognise us on sight. We have little intention of repeating what happened with Kiba' family, right Sasuke?"
Naruto looked around expecting said Uchiha to appear. When nothing seemed forthcoming, he continued, "Is that alright?", after which he turned towards Sakura expectantly.
"No."
She looked away from the blond and focused on a particularly interesting patch of weeds, after a few moments, Naruto made to speak, but she continued, "Mother hates ninjas after they botched up the mission where my dad died. They refused to go after the ninja who did it because they didn't believe us."
By this point, Sasuke appeared and she stopped talking.
Naruto was a bit confused but his face showed none of it, "But you're a ninja? Surely, she understands that she should support you?" He mused, "She'll see us anyway at some point, so we might as well do it now."
Sasuke watched the exchange silently, he was pretty sure that Naruto was definitely butting into someone else's business and that if he was a good friend, he should probably stop him, but he also wanted to know more about what was going.
"Mother hates my guts and has been ignoring me since I joined the Academy. I'm pretty sure it'd be best if we avoided her ever seeing you both" muttered Sakura ominously, with her eyes lingering on Sasuke for a few seconds.
They stood in silence, only punctuated by the sounds of crunching. The two boys weren't really sure why she'd told them such personal things when they barely even knew her, let alone how to continue the conversation, but luckily, she spoke.
"What are we waiting for? If you two are just going to stand there, I'll wash my hands before we set out."
After they started walking down the gravelly path, Naruto spoke, "Why did you just tell us all that?"
"I don't really mind. You both would probably have found out anyway since like you said, we're on the same team." She paused before continuing, "And isn't exchanging personal stuff like this important in trying to make friends?"
"If that's the case then I'll tell you both about my past too."
Sasuke was surprised at Naruto's readiness to talk about his past. He'd never asked him any sort of personal question before, thinking about it.
"I was raised by Anbu since I was an infant, not completely certain as to why but there you go."
They both looked at Sasuke expectantly. He felt a bit out of place and didn't really want to talk about these things, especially with a complete stranger, but he felt pressured to do so.
"Well, I had a …pretty normal upbringing – I think. My dad's a bit grumpy and kinda disliked me when I was younger, but a few years ago, he mellowed out a bit. Aniki's pretty amazing, really freaking amazing. Mum is also really cool… a bit scary at times though."
The Uchiha looked at their faces, Naruto's as vacant as ever, but Sakura's had a look of almost longing, "I wish I had siblings, Mother said she'd never remarry after dad died, and so we're stuck with an empty house cause she's always out running her business."
Sasuke felt a bit awkward now. He regretted talking about his family. He didn't want his teammates to feel bad, so he quickly changed the subject.
"So where are we actually going?"
Naruto looked absent-mindedly behind them.
"We will be approaching a Takoyaki cart, and there is nothing else of note in the vicinity. Shall we get some and sit down somewhere? There's a nice park that's normally empty except for random old cat ladies and this one guy who has like ten dogs leashed to each hand, at this time of day. We can sit there and discuss strategies for tomorrow." Naruto paused as they approached the cart, "Is that alright?"
With mutters of yup and sure, they bought their Takoyaki and went to the park. Finding a picnic bench, 'the best one', Naruto confirmed, they sat down and began to eat.
"Should we go over all of our ninjutsu and other techniques? Just so we know what we're working with, ne?" said Sakura after swallowing a Takoyaki ball whole. Sasuke looked mildly disgusted. She ignored him.
"Sure, I'll go first." Said Naruto as he took out his skills screen.
Gamer's Mind [Passive] {N/A} (Level: MAX):
You're immune to any mental attacks. Genjutsu and other mind ninjutsu don't affect you. You can focus easily and don't feel negative emotions. You don't feel fatigue. You technically, don't even need sleep. You're actually pretty creepy if you think about it.
Gamer's Body [Passive] {N/A} (Level: MAX):
Any locational damage is evenly distributed throughout your body. You regenerate all your health and chakra after a good night's rest. Unless you've deliberately sold your kidneys, for example, you regenerate your organs too. Death is also just your next amazing adventure. Oh, and by the way, this also makes you live your life as an RPG, so yes, you can just say [Time] to bring up the time and other cool things like that.
"I'm so good at removing Genjutsu that I'm basically immune to them. And I have a great sense of time" Naruto looked at their unconvinced faces. He was still unhappy at how rude the descriptions for his skills were.
Did they have to be this mean?
"Immune to Genjutsu? Yeah right… just as much as you don't need sleep." muttered Sasuke, remembering all the times Naruto slept in class which really was almost the entirety of the time they spent at the Academy.
Naruto ignored him.
Genjutsu: Clone [Active] {E – Rank} (Level: MAX):
It's your most basic clone. It creates the illusion of a clone existing. It is only really used to distract others. You've mastered this, enabling you to also clone its surroundings in real-time making this indistinguishable from a real clone, if you constantly feed it chakra.
Henge Transformation Jutsu [Active/Passive] {E – Rank} (Level: MAX):
You can transform yourself into anything. Pretty amazing with unlimited uses. Turn yourself into a kunai and get thrown by your teammate! Turn into a pinata and use seals to make it so beating you up gives people candy! The possibilities are endless. Chakra cost varies. When used, becomes a passive ability. Doesn't replicate smells and everyone's unique chakra print. Everything else is fair game.
Kawarimi Substitution Jutsu [Active] {E – Rank} (Level: MAX):
Swap yourself with anything in almost an instant. Good for protection if you can remember to use it. You can swap with anything if you have enough chakra for it. Larger and more complex the object, the harder it is.
"I've perfected the Academy three." Muttered Naruto
Rope Escape Jutsu [Active] {E – Rank} (Level: MAX):
Escape your bindings by any means necessary. Break your limbs, snap a thumb. Or, you can just use chakra to disintegrate your rope, but that's way less cool. You can rip apart things using chakra, it's proportional to the chakra you use.
Chamaeleon Disguise [Active] {E – Rank} (Level: MAX):
Pick up anything and use chakra to make it blend in with your surroundings. Then cover yourself with it and you're basically invisible. Ineffective beyond movement speed: 3 m/s
"Along with the rope escape and disguise Jutsu"
Projectile Weaponry [Active] {N/A}:
LVMAX — Shurikenjutsu:
You can throw light projectiles like paper balls really well. Great work. 100% Accuracy.
Taijutsu: Konoha Style Advanced [Active] {A – Rank} (Level: MAX):
Being on great terms with the Hokage has its perks. The most advanced Konoha style available to non-clan shinobi is in your hands. Although the technique is perfect, you do not have enough strength to use this, so you can only use the Basic Academy level Konoha Style taijutsu techniques at maximum efficiency. Keep on levelling up strength if you want to use taijutsu in any meaningful way.
-Non-Jutsu Skills are hidden-
"I've also perfected throwing kunai and shuriken and other light projectiles with 100% accuracy every time" said Naruto.
And paper balls too I guess
"My weakness is taijutsu because even though I know the theory behind the advanced Konoha Style, I can only utilise the basic level with maximum efficiency. I can also draw perfectly and do tons of non-Jutsu related stuff amazingly like cooking and cleaning."
Where's the Elemental Mastery I learnt from the Scroll of Sealing? It isn't anywhere…
Sakura looked at her empty Takoyaki box unhappily and tossed it into a bin, all with a contemplative look on her face.
Sasuke looked at Naruto and laughed, "Your skill set is just like the perfect housewife. You can cook, clean and throw stuff in the bin with unerring accuracy. All the while being physically weak as f-"
"Hey" They both looked at Sakura, "That's a bit harsh, insulting him like that, and uncalled for. Just because he only knows basic Jutsu doesn't mean that he can't be useful in a fight, especially since he says that he has mastered it and I think I believe him." she said in an uplifting and hopeful tone, trying to defuse what she felt was going to become an argument.
Naruto looked at her, "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I can call you that right?", he turned his head to Sasuke, "I can absolutely annihilate you in a fight, just like the perfect housewife."
"Oi, just because you beat me that one time."
"That was the hundred and sixtieth time we fought since we've become friends and I've only lost to you about a quarter of the time, although I admit that it has become quite close recently with me only having a lead by two over you"
Sakura looked at them unimpressed, "Excuse me, can we get back to-"
Sasuke got off his seat, "Yeah, well…" He looked left and right, "I'll take you right here right now. This whole place is empty!"
"Guys can we pleas-"
"I have no qualms with destroying you again Sasuke" the blond got up too, deciding that since they had the whole day, it wouldn't matter when they discussed tactics. Punching Sasuke didn't come about every day, normally he'd have to nag him to spar because he had the tendency to sulk after getting decimated.
He loved using complex words to describe how much he was going to pulverise the Uchiha.
Sasuke jumped as he heard something extremely loud slam onto the table, only to see Sakura's fist.
"Shut it you two and sit down"
If looks could kill, they both would probably be dead four times over. The two boys promptly returned to their seats.
"Now let's return to what we were discussing… I'll go next." The pinkette said after taking a deep breath and almost visibly relaxing, "I can do some Iryoninjutsu, nothing too amazing. Just healing grazes and shallow cuts of roughly a centimetre consistently. I can infuse chakra into body parts to increase their strength or abilities, not that well though. It hurts, but I don't think I'm doing anything wrong anatomically. I can do the academy three and the escape and disguise Jutsu to an adequate standard along with normal Bukijutsu and intermediate Academy Taijutsu, although I'm a bit weak at it, so I use chakra enhancement to compensate."
Sasuke still looked visibly shaken. Naruto looked a bit tense.
It was silent with only the rustling leaves punctuating the bubble that seemed to have come over them. The two boys were worried about another outburst.
"Yes? You both alive?"
The two boys nodded almost in unison.
"Then say something, I'm not going to bite or anything. Just don't act stupid in front of me. I don't really tolerate idiots."
"I guess it's my turn then, right?" said Sasuke, looking at his two teammates faces, "Besides the typical academy fare, I can do Katon Jutsus, use wires and strings with my Bukijutsu which although not as good as Naruto's is still pretty great, my Taijutsu is an Uchiha special, but only the basic style because I still haven't unlocked my clans special dojutsu.
Sakura looked at the two of them, waiting to see if either of them wanted to add anything. Nothing seemed to be forthcoming, so she spoke, "Now that's done, how about we make a plan to defeat sensei's survival training? If we work as a team, it should be doable, even if he does make it really hard, ne?" Sakura paused, "He won't make it impossible for us, right? I mean, we're just new Genin…"
"Actually, we aren't Genin yet" added Naruto almost immediately, remembering how he tried equipping the Konoha headband with little success because he required a Konoha ninja ranking which he still hadn't received.
Just as he finished saying that, Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Actually, you are now."
Naruto heard a ping. He had gained the title of Genin and could now equip the headband.
"Normally, Jounin instructors test their academy students to see if they have what it takes to become Genin" Kakashi eye smiled at them, "But seeing you all work together warms my heart. So, I'll let the test slide since your skills seem adequate for a genin too."
Sasuke looked at him questioningly, "You've been spying on us this whole time?"
"You hurt my feelings, Uchiha-san." Kakashi mimed crossing his hands over his heart, "I wasn't deliberately trying to hide myself, you three just suck at detection." The man pointed at Sasuke, "In fact, there was another ninja spying on you before I came here, so you three were lucky that I was here to prevent him from hearing you spilling your guts out"
"You were supposed to be at a meeting, ne?" said Sakura accusatorily, "Why're you-"
"Here? Isn't that why you said we can't do the test today?" completed Kakashi-sensei. He looked at her straight in the eye for a few seconds and then broke contact after realising what he had done, "Sorry, force of habit. Anyway, just think of this as a test to give you time for independent planning. I'm not going to be your nanny. You're now adults in the eyes of the law. If you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to drink and more importantly…" He paused for maximum impact, "Old enough to do things on your own."
He looked at Naruto, wondering whether he was going to pitch in on the Kakashi hate train. When nothing seemed forthcoming, the Hatake continued, "If you all are done, meet me tomorrow at the same time and place."
And with that, their teacher poofed away.
"How did he know what I was going to say?" asked Sakura.
"He used to do this with me sometimes when I was younger to irritate me." The blond looked at the spot where he vanished, "I never figured out how he managed to do it."
Sasuke made to speak, but in that exact moment two more people appeared in his place.
"You're Kakashi's minions, aren't ya?" said a dark purple haired woman wearing a fishnet shirt and a tan trench coat, "You don't, by any chance, know where he's gone do you? Freaking lucky, he can get away with running away from these things with nothing but a light tap."
She looked at them and before they could even respond, she muttered something to her companion and vanished.
Sakura, who was the closest, looked incredulous, "Did she just call us stupid kids?"
Naruto sat on a tree stump with Sasuke at his foot, just leaning against it.
"Why did you wake me up so early Naruto? I could have finished that dream I was having. The koi fish were just about to finish their performance."
"I woke you up only half an hour earlier than usual. Stop complaining."
"We were half an hour early and now it's been fifteen minutes. That's time I could have spent sleeping in my comfy bed and not out in this cold, damp barely lit morning."
"It's your fault you're sitting on the ground."
"The stump's wetter and harder, ergo, ground is superior."
"What about the smaller stump that Sakura took when she joined us a few minutes ago… it seemed less wet."
"It's too small for my legs. She can only just about fit on it."
Sakura interrupted them, "Do you two always fight?"
"We aren't fighting" they both said in unison
"We're just… talking. Right Naruto?" Sasuke asked for confirmation to which Naruto nodded with an affirmative 'hai' and yawned.
"Why don't you make a fire or something Sasuke, the temperature has dropped to an adequate enough level to compromise our immune systems and it could be danger-"
"Alright" Sasuke interrupted the Uzumaki before he could give a long-winded explanation and snapped his fingers trying to create a flame.
Nii-san was just showing me this the other day, a seal-less way of starting a fire
He gave it a few attempts, but to no avail, so he tried starting up a conversation.
"You slept well, Sakura?" asked the Uchiha, trying to make conversation.
"Yes, it was adequate and you?"
"…yes."
Sasuke wasn't really sure where he was going to go with that conversation starter, so he just kept silent and continued snapping his fingers.
They waited beside the pond. Occasional stretched legs and frog croaks punctuated the misty morning until finally a swirl of leaves announced the arrival of their almost bouncing teacher until he saw the dead look on their faces.
"Why the long faces?"
"You're late by one hour, six minutes and thirty-four seconds, sensei." Deadpanned Naruto.
The Uchiha just stared at Kakashi dead-on, his emotions being betrayed by the more aggressive finger snapping. Sakura just looked at the sock puppet on Kakashi's hand questioningly.
"Since no one has any issues with anything, how about we decide on what to do as a team"
The one-eyed instructor surveyed the group with his lone eye darting between all of them, "I'm feeling a bit lazy, so you three can decide how you want to spend your time under me."
He looked at them expectantly.
Naruto saw a screen pop up in front of him
[D] Genin Extraordinaire:
You could just do one D-rank mission and quit being a ninja. Perhaps instead do just enough to unlock C-rank missions? Or maybe even do a few more… Here's a challenge, do 288 and beat the current record for most D-rank missions completed.
Objectives:
Do 1 D-rank mission
Do 20 D-rank missions
Do 200 D-rank missions
Do 288 D-rank missions
Do 300 D-rank missions
Do 350 D-rank missions
Completion Award:
5 EXP; 25 EXP; 200 EXP; 600 EXP; 700 EXP; 1000 EXP
[?]
Completion Failure:
Occurs only if [Ninja] title is removed
Else: Dependant on situation
Accept?
Yes or No
Not everything would give as much EXP as B-rank missions like his run-in with Mizuki, but that didn't stop Naruto from being disappointed.
It'd be at best, half a level.
It took him ages to level up meanwhile, the rest of his class were around the same level as him and he was pretty certain that he was superior to them in a fight.
Life's a drag.
He was starting to sound like Shikamaru now. Thinking about him reminded the blond that he'd been completely wrapped up in trying to max out the academy three in the last few months that he hadn't even talked to him. Or anyone else but Sasuke and his family for that matter. He really needed to try socialising a bit more because staying in his room, he'd read in a book, was a sure-fire way to become a princess and he didn't want to become one.
They're always helpless even though they're pretty. They always need saving; you'd think they'd have wised up and started training to become nin-
"Helllooo" Naruto was snapped out of his musings by a hand being waved infront of his face, "I ask you all a question and blondie here starts spacing out."
Kakashi looked at them with hurt etched in his face, although Naruto was pretty sure it was a tad bit exaggerated, "No one respects their elders these days, you know back in my day, we used to send irritating brats off to die on the front lines to teach them a lesson."
Sakura just looked at him slightly confused at his line of thought, "It's only been a few seconds, sensei, we were just think-"
She was cut off by Kakashi, "Being a ninja means that you've got to be faster at making smart… snap" Kakashi snapped his finger and created a fire ball in his hand, "decisions".
"Try adding as much chakra as necessary first and then decrease it instead of doing it with minimal amounts." The silver haired man looked at Sasuke, "That should do the trick and be a more effective way to learn it."
He faced the team, "If you aren't fast enough, you'll be dead. A few seconds is enough time for an experienced ninja to end a fight."
Naruto looked at him, "Sensei, can we beat the record for D-rank missions?"
Sasuke looked at the blond like as if he was crazy, "D-rank missions are menial chores. Why on earth should we waste our time doing them, I'd rather be out in the world than… than— babysitting someone's pet goose!"
Sakura looked at them and then at her sensei, "Actually, I think Naruto has a good idea. I've been meaning to buy new tools, but they're pretty expensive. Doing tons of D-rank missions should help me get them."
Kakashi raised up two fingers, "Two out of three Sasuke, what do you think?"
Sasuke glared at Naruto and then at Sakura and finally at his sensei, "Alright. D-rank missions suck though, I don't know why on earth you guys would willingly subject yourself to it but okay."
"How about I give you three a little something as an incentive to do it in a month?" Kakashi regretted the words right after they came out. He just ruined his chances at lying around doing absolutely nothing, but the look on Sasuke's face, made him feel like he should at least give him some motivation to try. He remembered Obito's face when his old team used to talk about sealing, feeling left out because he absolutely hated maths with a passion. He never mentioned it though because he didn't want to feel like he was bringing down the rest of his team.
"A little gift if you manage to beat the record."
Naruto tapped yes on his quest screen and a little timer started.
R&R (Suggestions and advice are always welcome!)