What is going on you wonderful people, I'm back after taking a couple days off to deal with some stuff I had going on. So, before we even get this started, I want to thank each person who has favorited and followed this story. If you'd asked me if I'd be over 40 in each one before I even hit the land of waves arc, there's no way I'd have ever believed you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Second, the poll for Sakura's jutsu specialty wound up being a tie between water and earth style, so in the interest of fairness, I put both into a randomizer and earth was the big winner. Thanks to everyone who voted!
Chapter 4: Initial Impressions
It didn't take long for Sakura to start thinking that the decision to split up was a bad call. The direction she'd gone in led her further into the wooded area, so far from the clearing that she couldn't even see the spot where they'd been anymore. It was bad terrain to be in when you were against someone as strong as Kakashi no doubt was. Even a low-level academy student would know that if you could get the drop on someone within an environment that contained enough natural cover, such as the bushes and trees around her, you could completely dictate the pace of a battle and keep your opponent on the backfoot. 'Have to get to a more open area if my jutsu is going to be effective as well' she thought to herself. She turned and glanced around, spotting an opening in the trees she could make for. She did so, but just a few short yards from her intended destination she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. She skidded to a halt and threw a kunai in the direction of it, but it caught only empty air before slowly falling into the grass beneath where her 'target' was supposed to be. Her body tensed up a little bit and her eyes flicked back and forth, taking a few slightly shaky breaths.
She could see why a jounin's skill gap was far from an over exaggeration like some kids back in the academy wanted to believe. Kakashi was clearly somewhere close by, or at the very least a clone of him was, and he was just dancing along the edges of her vision. He'd yet to even do anything really and she was feeling a cold shiver run all over as she tried to spot him. 'Okay Sakura, try and calm down…. he's just testing to see if he can catch you off guard, right? So, flailing around like this isn't going to do anything except help his avoiding you….and make you look like a fool on top of that.' She thought about trying to sense his chakra but discarded this idea before she could even really consider it past the concept. Kakashi wasn't going to make it easy like that. 'Wait…I don't need his chakra to be built up. There is another option," she said with a slight smirk. She placed her hand flat against the ground and closed her eyes, focusing her power into her fingertips.
Earth Style: Geo-locator
A pulse of chakra went out in all directions, trying to sense Kakashi's movements. The jutsu was a form of echolocation that relied on the vibrations made when anyone from a grown man to a small animal. Unfortunately, it wasn't the solution she had believed it might've been. She hadn't had many chances to try this in an actual combat scenario, and she was limited in her range. After a certain point, the locator simply became to fuzzy to determine any solid shapes. And even if these next two things weren't a factor, it mattered little in the end. She couldn't sense him at ALL in the area she could reach. The most she could detect was a few squirrels and a rabbit. She muttered a curse under her breath. She'd figured out the error in their plan much too slowly. Their teacher had likely moved to a spot where he could see which direction the genin had split off in after Naruto's outburst, and she'd been the only one stupid enough to go this far into the woods. She practically jumped out of her skin when she felt what she was sure was a hand on her shoulder. She went to swing a punch, but again caught nothing but empty space, falling a bit off balance. She let out a frustrated growl through her teeth. "Knock the games off already and come out already!" she snapped.
"As you wish," Kakashi said, his voice sounding like it was right in her ear. She again turned, but this time no empty area greeted her. Kakashi stood over her, a hand seal already formed. Sakura felt her vision starting to cloud, leaves appearing to swirl all around her. A genjutsu….it had to be. If she let herself fall under it fully, she probably wouldn't be woken until either of the guys found her OR until they'd already failed the assignment. Before she lost all consciousness, she quickly made the seal for the counter measure and released it. Kakashi's eye widened just a bit. "Well, well…maybe you have a bit of potential after all," he said. Sakura didn't want for his next move. She leapt the rest of the way out of the tree cover and let out a quick breath of relief seeing she was back in the open air. Kakashi walked out, a bit more casually than you'd usually expects, and again pulled the little book she'd seen earlier. "Now where was I again…oh right," he mumbled. Sakura's jaw clenched a bit.
"Hey! Is this all just a game to you, or what?!"
"Hardly. If this was a game, I'd be having fun. No, I'm just not seeing a lot to be concerned with so far. It's good that you're not completely incompetent about genjutsu, but any hack ninja can learn that basic trick with enough time and luck. And your ninjutsu usage was sloppy. It's a waste of chakra to use a jutsu that you can't use to its fullest." Sakura wanted to yell again, but she took a moment to collect herself. Arguing with him would just feed into whatever his little plan was. And waste her energy. "And besides, there's no reason for ME to be overly concerned. I'm not the one working with a timer that's ticking down to failing my first trial as a ninja." Sakura didn't respond. Her only action was to take a wider stance and her hands began to weave the necessary seals for her counterattack. Sensing her chakra building, Kakashi glanced up from his page.
Earth Style: Immobilization
Underneath Kakashi's feet, the ground shot upwards, both his legs becoming pinned by the now torn up stones. The book fell from his hand for a moment because of the shaking, but he caught it deftly. Sakura smirked and ran towards him, her eyes locking on the bells which were just barely visible now that most of his lower body was locked up. "Can't really protect those bells if you can't run away from me, right?" she said. Kakashi let out a grunt. Good to note that Naruto was far from the only impulsive one he'd be dealing with on this squad.
"Wrong again. True, I may not be able to move with my legs, but…." When Sakura reached for the bells, 'Kakashi' was replaced by a log. 'Oh, come ON' she thought angrily. She didn't have long to contemplate what to possibly do next though. She felt the ground underneath her rumbled a bit.
Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu
In one fluid motion, Sakura was dragged by her ankle underneath the ground up to her neck. The pressure on her body made it harder to move except for turning her head from one side to another. Kakashi appeared in front of her and smiled. "You thought you were the only one who liked to use earth-based techniques? Third rule of shinobi training, Sakura, never tip your hand too early. Naruto did it back there and rather than learn from that slip up, you've simply repeated his mistakes. "Just relax here for a bit. I'll either send someone for you or I'll come back myself…. eventually," he said, ignoring the loudly shouted insults and various threats that the livid Sakura was throwing his way. Well, that was one member of his new team dealt with. Taking one last look over his shoulder at her, he leapt into the air and vanished as he went about searching for the other two. He didn't think Naruto was going to wind up being the struggle he had been preparing for. He had potential, and you couldn't grow up around the household he did without picking up some good tips, but so far he'd been too hotheaded to use any of that. No, he expected he could handle him, but Sasuke was an outlier.
The boy didn't have his sharingan just yet, but the entire culture that surrounded the Uchiha was a breeding ground for some of the best raw talent in not only this village but the Land of Fire in general. The only clan that was arguably stronger was the Hyuga clan, though he didn't have an opinion one way or another on that particular can of worms. That was the quickest way to start a full-on argument amongst even non-shinobi in the village, and sometimes it got nasty. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a faint whistling to his right. He turned and blocked the kunai that were coming his way and sighed. "You know, I'm thankful for the chance to get so much reading done, but come on Naruto did you really think- "
"Who said it was Naruto?" Kakashi's eye widened a bit and he had to snap his head around just in time to see Sasuke, mid-air, aiming a kick at the side of his face. He leapt backwards, Sasuke's foot just barely missing his nose. When he landed however, Sasuke was already on him, running towards him as his hands were weaving signs.
Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Kakashi muttered. He easily moved out of the way, but Sasuke was simply relentless. He'd move to the side, Sasuke was there. Backwards, up in the air, it didn't matter. His strikes were precise, aiming to soften him up so he could try and make a grab for the bells. At one point, he managed to get his fingertips on them and Kakashi had to really put some force into his next punch, sending Sasuke away from him for just a moment. "Well, I have to give you credit. You came a lot closer than Sakura did. I'm not able to read when dealing with you, and don't underestimate how big that is compared to my initial expectations of you. But even still…I think you'll find now that I've had the chance to feel you out, you won't get that close again." Sasuke could only smirk.
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Kakashi smirked just a bit as he quickly formed a clone to intercept his next round of attacks and sent it forward. "Hiding behind clones now? What happened to knowing how to deal with me huh? Doesn't matter, I'll just go around!" He poured chakra into his feet and leapt upwards with the help of it, launching over the head of the clone, but that was the precise moment he'd messed up. The clone tuned and jumped, grabbing onto his ankle. It reacted much faster than he'd figured It might. He was slammed down onto the ground, knocking some of the wind from him. Before he could stagger to his feet, the real Kakashi appeared before him.
Earth Style: Rock Coffin
The earth around Sasuke twisted around his body like clay and covered everything from the shoulders down. "Crap….I can't move anything, this stuff is like glue," he muttered. Kakashi dispelled his clone and chuckled just a little bit.
"Got to hand it to you, kid. You really have proven that the Uchiha are just as strong as ever. To think a genin could actually push me a bit…but the result is still as it is. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's still one more loose end I need to deal with. Sasuke could do nothing but watch as Kakashi left, muttering under his breath as he tried to shake himself free, or at least get his hand around his kunai pouch so he could work it against the earth binding him. 'Naruto, I don't know where you ended up, but you better watch yourself. He isn't playing around'.
-Meanwhile-
Naruto, as it turned out, had doubled back to try and see if he could pick up Kakashi's trail when he realized that the area of the training grounds that he had chosen to head for was smaller than he initially thought. Jounin or not, there wasn't going to be anywhere he could've hidden in for long. He'd used his shadow clones to search the spots that were there just to be safe, but after coming up empty handed as he expected, he didn't feel like waiting around for Kakashi to make the first move towards him.
'How someone raised in the household of a Kage could act so pitifully is beyond me.'
The words made his anger bubble up to the surface again as he ran, and his fists clenched and unclenched a few times. That had been the type of response he'd gotten so many times. Maybe not word for word, but the tone and the overall message was there all the same. Just about everyone in the village that he ever dealt with aside from a small handful of exceptions here and there either looked at him like there were going to rip their heads off if they misspoke or thought he was bringing some sort of disgrace to the old man. He hated it, even though Asuma and Iruka had done their best to tell him that they simply misunderstood him and that eventually they'd figure out they were wrong, it was hard to not hate it all the same. He'd show them. Once he became a great ninja, and eventually Hokage, they'd all see how wrong they were for treating him in the ways that they had over the years. Coming up to the edge of the thicker part of the woods, he paused when he heard Sakura's voice call out. For a second, he thought he'd imagined it, but no that was her. When he eventually found Sakura, he saw just her head peeking out from the ground- "What the hell?!" he said in horror, falling flat on his butt and crawling away a bit. 'S-Sakura's just…did Kakashi really- '
"Calm down, Naruto, and just help me out of this please?"
"GAH! How are you talking if your just- "?
"NARUTO!" she seethed a bit, feeling a bit guilty when he flinched away. "Sorry, okay? Sorry, just…. please help me out of here and we can try and find Sasuke. He's going to be too much if we keep trying to just fight him one on one," she said. Naruto gave her a nod and after a bit of work, he had freed her. She smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks Naruto…and hey, I really am sorry I snapped at you, okay? I just…I can't believe how easily I let him get the jump on me like that. He said he was going to try and find you and Sasuke. I'd say if he managed to find you and Sasuke and did the same sort of trap on you that would've been its s far as the test goes," she said with a sigh. What she left unsaid was that everything she had seen likely wasn't even fully scratching the surface of what Kakashi might be able to do.
"Yeah, I figured that might be the case. I covered my area, and he wasn't around so I figured he might be fighting with you guys." He helped Sakura to her feet and the two of them went over their options. Time continued to tick by, and if Sakura's description of Kakashi's fighting style were any indicator, they were going to need to coordinate with Sasuke for sure if they wanted to pass this test. Naruto said as much, and Sakura couldn't find a reason to disagree. They set off and eventually discovered Sasuke just as he was freeing himself. After getting a quick recap from them, he let out an irritated sigh. So, Sakura hadn't had any luck and Naruto had yet to properly face him. Well, this was going just swimmingly, wasn't it? Naruto for his part was surprised. Sasuke had always been just a bit better than him, even though it pained him to admit that there was little point in being in denial, and even he had been bested, though not as easily. Sakura was right. This was an exercise to try and pass on as a team, right? So, they needed to coordinate as a team to take him out. "Now the only question is going to be how do we accomplish that?" he said aloud. They stood there for a moment, racking their brains, when suddenly he had a thought.
"Naruto? I know that look…what do you have?" Sasuke asked.
"He said the only way to get lunch was to get a bell, right? That means he probably brought some stuff to eat with him. I could go back to the meet up spot and see if I could try and swipe whatever is in there." He saw Sasuke's eye twitch a bit and chuckled. "No, I'm not just thinking with my stomach. This time, anyway. If I go there and try to 'steal' whatever he brought with him, he'll show up to stop me. While he's doing that, you two get in position nearby, and we can jump him as a team. Like we agreed, it's our best bet." Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a look that said, 'I got nothing better, do you?' and when neither offered anything they nodded. "Alright, just take a long route around and give me ten minutes. Stay within range of each other just in case he tries to divide us up again. I'll head there now," he said before throwing a quick salute and taking off.
"Well, I'll give him this much…it's an unconventional plan, but that is what he does best," Sasuke said with a smirk. Sakura watched Naruto go and nodded, smiling softly.
"He's definitely one of a kind, isn't he?" After he was out of their direct eyesight, they nodded to one another and went to execute their part of the plan.
PHEW. Okay, finally got this knocked out. Really, I can crank out a character dialogue heavy chapter in an afternoon if I don't have any sort of interruptions but sit me down and tell me to write some action sequences, and it's like I'm back in middle school again, not knowing which way is up at a computer all over again. Regardless, I hope you liked this chapter guys and if you could take a moment to review, I'd be truly grateful for that, and I will see you next time!
Stay cool, fellow readers,
-Elise
