Chapter 6
I'm back! Welcome everybody to chapter 6 of 'Artist of Konoha'. In this one, we finally get to the main story. I have the teams ready, the senseis ready and to summarize, I have until the chunin exams planned out. And why to lie, I am hyped to start the real story. And so, we go in 3... 2... 1...
Legend:
"Talking."
'Thinking...'
Chapter 6: Team 7
"So, today is the big day, huh?" Naruto said as he sat between his two friends.
Neji nodded with his eyes closed "Graduation." He let a small smile form on his face. "It was about time."
Sai smiled his 'natural' smile (At this point they didn't even bother to change his facial features) "I wonder who is going to be in our teams?"
Naruto grinned "With some luck, the three of us will be in one, good, happy team." He joked and Neji gave him a look.
"With how your grades are, there are more chances they'll put you with Uchiha."
"Oh c'mon! My grades aren't that bad! And besides, Sasuke isn't bad or something. He is just broody after... y'know, the incident." Naruto said and Neji rolled his eyes but said nothing.
"But we all passed the test they gave us last week. I founded it quite easy." Sai commented and Naruto nodded as he put his arms behind his head.
"Mm. I actually found it easier than most ones they usually gave us."
"It doesn't matter. We passed and somehow, you weren't the dead last. Now we can completely focus on our shinobi careers." Neji interrupted as Iruka walked into the classroom. After he managed to get silence (With some loud screams) he made a farewell speech, saying how proud of this class he was and how in great shinobis they will become. Even one tear escaped from his eye.
After that was done, he took out some notes that he had on a board and started to say the teams. Naruto was waiting anxiously. He wanted to see if he got a good team and an even better sensei.
"Team 7 consist of: Naruto Namikaze," Naruto grinned hearing his name "Neji Hyuga," Neji smirked and Naruto was hoping that the last member would be Sai but...
"And Sasuke Uchiha. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake." Neji actually banged his head on the desk after hearing the last member of their team.
"Team 8 consist of: Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi." Kiba celebrated while Akamaru barked happily for being with his not so secret crush.
"Team 9 consist of: Ten-Ten Agane, Rock Lee and Shino Aburame. Your Sensei is Maito Gai." Lee screamed about 'youthful' or something but Naruto didn't hear. He was too busy trying to calm down Neji.
"Team 10 consist of: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamananka. Your Sensei is Asuma Sarutobi." Ino groaned about hearing who was in her team while her teamates could care less about that.
"And Team 11 consist of: Mei Namikaze, Rin Namikaze and Sai Ruto. Your Sensei is... Yamato?" Iruka said not recognizing that name before. Rin grinned where Mei was sat and Mei gave him a shy smile back.
"And that's all! Your senseis will come and pick you up after lunch. Please, take care from now on." Iruka said before he left the classroom. Once he was gone, everyone went to their supposed teams. Even Sai went voluntarily with his siblings.
Neji stood up "We should go." He started to walk away but stopped when Naruto grabbed the edge of his coat.
"Ah, ah, ah. We should go for Sasuke first. We are a team now, we should act like one."
Neji rolled his eyes "Fine." Naruto smirked and got up, and went where Sasuke was... brooding.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto greeted as he got in front of him. Sasuku glared at him.
"What you want?"
Naruto raised his hands "Relax man, we just wanted to invite you to eat. We're a team now, so some bonding would be great. Don't'cha think?"
Sasuke glared at him before turning back to whatever he was looking before "I am not interested in being with a team with you two. The failure of the hokage and a branch nobody." Neji glared at him and took a step forward, but Naruto stopped him while grinning.
"Oh? So, you want to eat with, I don't know, Sakura!" He screamed the last part and Sasuke jumped and covered his mouth. Naruto grinned at Sasuke annoyed face.
"Fine. I'll go. But don't get used to it Loser."
He then stuffed his hands inside his pockets and left the class being followed by Naruto and Neji.
"See Neji? All can be solved by talking."
"Or forcing in this case."
They went to a roof and each one took out their bentos. Sasuke brought tomato soup, Naruto bringed Ramen and Neji rice balls.
There was a tense silence and Naruto decided to break it. "Sooooo, what do you like to do in your spare time Sasuke?"
Sasuke didn't bat an eye to him "Train."
"Why for?"
"To kill him." Both Neji and Naruto knew who he was talking about. And so, the silence came back. They were like that for an entire hour.
One hating being there.
The other not knowing what else to say.
And the last one annoyed that his friend dragged him to this.
Finally the bell rang "Nice chat." Naruto said sarcastically.
"Hnn." Was all that Sasuke said as they entered the room.
*Several Hours Later*
"Where are they!?" Rin complained. 3 hours had passed and the only ones left where Teams 7 and 11. Naruto and Sai even got bored of drawing and making sculptures.
"I know that Kakashi would be late for god knows what reasons. The other guy I never heard of him." Naruto said absentminded as the door slid open.
There enter two men. The one with gravity defying grey looked around "Team 7, raise your arms." Naruto raised his arm, Neji his and Sasuke moved his hand. The man... eye-smiled at them? Before simply saying.
"Okay! My first impression of you three is..."
"I hate you. Now meet me in the roof." And he puffed into a cloud of smoke.
"Weeell, goodie." Naruto said as he got up and left. Followed by Neji and last Sasuke.
The other guy, which was plain looking, looked at the remaining three students and clapped his hands "Well, let's go with introductions shall we?"
In the roof, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji found their new sensei reading an Icha-Icha book. They sat in front of him and waited for him to address them.
After 10 minutes he did.
"Well, now that we are all here, let's go with introductions."
Neji raised an eyebrow "Introductions?"
Their sensei nodded "Yep. Look, I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like some things, I dislike other things, you three are too young to know my hobbies, and I had a dream last night." The three Genin sweat dropped.
'He only told us his name!'
"Now, you go blondie." Kakashi pointed to Naruto that nodded smirking.
"Sure. My name is Naruto Namikaze. I like art and I dislike people that doesn't take time to make their own opinions, my hobbies are making art and learning new things from Deidara. My dream is for one day to prove to everyone that I am not the 'loser' son." Kakashi nodded still reading his book.
"Pale eyes is next."
Neji frowned at the name "My name is Neji Hyuga. I like my clan and tradition and I dislike people that hate and don't know how to forgive. My hobby is to hang out with my friends and my dream is to dissolve the curse seal of my clan."
"Broody is next." Kakashi pointed out and Sasuke didn't move from his spot.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like many things and I dislike most. I don't have hobby and neither a dream, but what I have is an ambition. And that's it to kill certain man and avenge my clan."
Kakashi nodded and closed his book. "Well, you three sure are an interesting group. Now, for the real test-"
"Wow! Real test?" Naruto asked and Kakashi started to laugh.
"Hahaha! Phew! What a laugh. Did you actually believe that the test they gave you at the academy was the final one? For your information, only 33% of the students become shinobi. The other..."
"...Goes back to the academy."
There was a tense silence on the roof. It lasted until Kakashi spoke again "Meet me tomorrow at 6AM in training ground 3. And one last thing..."
"Don't take breakfast. Or you'll throw it out." After that their new sensei was gone.
*Deidara's Apartment*
"And that was my day in a nutshell." Naruto said as he finished explaining to his mentor.
Deidara nodded as he was still working on a statue "So, you got the Copy-Nin, the Hyuga prodigy and the Uchiha survivor. Hn. Quite a group."
Naruto nodded "Yeah. Got any advice for me?"
Deidara smirked at him "Yeah. First off, you'll eat breakfast one hour before. And then..."
*Next Day, Training Ground 3*
Naruta was sat against a tree making a clay spider. Next to him was Neji and Sasuke was sat on a branch. The three of them arrived at 6AM and 3 hours had passed and no sign of Kakashi.
"We need to talk." Naruto said out of the blue and Neji turned to him and Sasuke looked at him from the corner of his eye.
"About?" Neji asked and Naruto stood up.
"About our strategy. I talked with Deidara yesterday, and he told me some tips to fight off Kakashi."
Sasuke got interested by the name of the man that was once his brother best friend. "Hnn. What did he say?"
Naruto grinned "Well, first off, he told me that Kakashi usually does some teamwork exercise. So, no matter what, we need to stick together. Also, it will not be a fight to win situation. We are fresh Genins. We can't defeat a full-fledged Jonin."
Neji nodded with a hand on his chin "That makes sense. What you suggest?"
"We don't know what we will have to get. So, for now let's assign roles. Neji, you are our close-range fighter. You're taijutsu can keep him busy. Sasuke, you know some fire jutsus and you can keep up in taijutsu. Stay close to him but keep your distance. I will keep my distance and attack from there." Naruto explained and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"And what is your plan of attack then?"
Naruto smirked as he took out his gloves and show Sasuke his extra mouths. "This is my bloodline. It is called Bakuton. To put it short, I can create explosives and make them move." Sasuke only nodded dumbly and not long after that Kakashi appered.
"Hello my cute little Genins." He said eye-smiling.
"You're late." Neji said and Kakashi shrughed.
"Yeeaah, you see, in my way here I saw a black cat so, to avoid bad luck I had to take the long way around."
"That doesn't even deserves an answer..." Naruto said and Kakashi shrugged.
"Suit yourself. Now for the test..." He took out of his pocket two bells. "Is to take this from me."
"Ehm, sensei, there are only two bells." Naruto pointed out and Kakashi nodded.
"That's right. So, it means that one of you WILL go back to the academy." He narrowed his eye "And we start... now!"
With that, the three Genin went to hide into the bushes. Neji and Naruto hid together. "We can take the bells and leave Uchiha alone." Neji suggested and Naruto shook his head.
"No... there is something else about this test. I'll explain but first we need to find Sasuke." Neji sighed but nodded anyway. After some minutes of searching they found Sasuke starring at Kakashi that haven't moved from his position.
"Sasuke." Naruto said and Sasuke turned and glared at them.
"What you want? Take me out to take the bells for yourselves?" Naruto raised his hands.
"Calm down now, we're here to talk."
"There is nothing to talk about. I am going to pass this test and complete my ambition."
"Uchiha. Hear us out." Neji said and Sasuke glared at him but said nothing.
"Okay, there is a trick in this test. Because tell me, when have you hear of a three-man team?" Naruto asked and both Neji and Sasuke started to think.
"Maybe... this is a special case?" Sasuke suggested and Naruto shrugged.
"Maybe. But if it isn't we need to stick to what we talked before." Sasuke glared at him.
"But if it is. Who will stay with the bells?"
Naruto sighed "Look, I'll give you two the bells if shit hits the fan. Okay?" Sasuke and Neji nodded and they went into action.
Kakashi was reading his book and was wondering what was taking them so much time. Maybe they figured the real meaning of the test?
He shook his head. Nah. They wouldn't have. No one does so why would they? Now it was time to wait for the first one to come. He wonders who will that be.
His answer came when two clay birds came down flying at him. He threw two kunais, one to each bird, and then he hears Naruto scream "Katsu!" And the birds exploded in a cloud of smoke.
When the smoke dispersed, he saw a fireball heading his way. He jumped to dodge it and was received by Neji and Sasuke attacking him. He dodged and blocked before he saw a clay snake, slither to him. The snake jumped at him, and he jumped to dogde it. Neji grabbed the snake and threw it to the Jonin.
When it was about to hit Kakashi, Naruto detonated it, creating another cloud of smoke. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu)" Sasuke exclaimed as he threw another fire ball to Kakashi widen his eye and threw a kunai with an explosive tag that luckily stopped the incoming attack. It covered him in a cloud of smoke and he felt something grab his waist.
Once he landed, he noticed that the bells were gone.
"Looking for this?" he turned to a branch where Naruto was sat with a clay bird in his shoulder and the bells in his hands.
Kakashi smirked under his mask. "Good one. Now, who will pass?" naruto didn't hesistate. He threw one bell to Neji and Sasuke.
Kakashi raised his eyebrow when Neji threw the bell back to Naruto. "I am not interested in becoming a shinobi if I left my friend behind."
Sasuke looked at his bell before throwing it to Neji. "Hnn. I will need help for some time at least. You two will do it."
"So, that's your answer?" Kakashi asked when he saw Naruto throw his bell at Sasuke. They nodded. Kakashi eye-smiled at them. "Then you pass." He said in a cheerful tone. "You three figured out the true meaning of the test. No one had done that before." He closed his eye. "From now on, we are team 7. Report here tomorrow for our first missions. Dismissed." Kakashi said before he left in a cloud of smoke.
Naruto grinned and hugged by the side both of his new teammates. "Yeah! Let's go celebrate!"
Neji closed his eyes with a small smile "Sure. Ichiraku like usual?"
Sasuke huffed "I don't have time to celebrate."
Naruto grinned "C'mon! They have tomato soup and besides, I'll pay!"
Sasuke glared at him "Will you shut up if I go?" Naruto nodded still grinning "Fine. Show the way."
And that's the first day of team 7.
And done! That was chapter 6 of 'Artist of Konoha'. Hope that you enjoyed. Now, why I made this team like this? Simple, it is really balanced if you think about it.
Naruto is the distance fighter and trap specialist. In the future he will learn seals.
Sasuke is the jutsu specialist and he is good at taijutsu, making him a mid-close fighter.
And Neji is taijutsu expert. Close combat no one beats him.
And also, Sasuke won't be Emo/Prick all the story. Just this and the next chapter.
And that's all! Remember to leave your Review that it helps my motivation, PM me for any doubts or suggestions, Follow and Favorite me and the story.
Till Next Time.
Roy D. Harper.
Next Chapter: 2 C-Rank in a Month