Sakura Haruno was not happy.
Everything has been going horrible for her recently! First of all, that dumbass Naruto Uzumaki wouldn't stop annoying her! The angry churns she was feeling in her body yearned for her to smack someone in the face!
However, at the moment, that was not a wise decision. She and her team were currently walking with their sensei to go to...somewhere.
Sakura had wanted Sasuke Uchiha on her team. That's it. That's all she asked for! Just Sasuke Uchiha, with no other girls and ESPECIALLY NO NARUTO!
But the world wasn't fair that way now was it. Not only was she not put in a team with Sasuke, but HINATA HYUGA, the SAME girl who everyone barely notices, the SAME girl who Sakura is sure that she is the only person who doesn't like Sasuke in that class for some odd reason. The same person, got with Sasuke.
Which raises another question. Why the hell doesn't Hinata like Sasuke? Sure, it meant less competition for Sasuke, but it still confuzzled her on how a fellow girl could resist how charming (not) and cool Sasuke was.
Sasuke is, Sasuke! It's impossible to resist him! He has that cool attitude around him, that atmosphere! That little something that makes Sakura admire him!
Unfortunately, she had to share that something with every other girl in the class except Hinata.
It could have been worse, she had thought, as Hinata, didn't like Sasuke, as stated before. So unless she started to fall for him, she still had a chance. Hell, she would have been fine with any girl getting to be on a team with Sasuke as long as it WASN'T Ino!
But here she was, with her team and the Jonin sensei who called herself Kurenai Yuhi, a Genjutsu specialist. She took a moment to analyze her sensei.
She had a slender build, with long black untamed hair that went to her upper back. She had unique red eyes with an extra ring, if Sakura didn't know better, she would have thought that Kurenai had the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.
But she knew that wasn't true.
Although Sakura may seem to not take her ninja studies seriously due to Sasuke, she wasn't like the other girls! In fact, as far as she was concerned, at least in terms of book smart, Sakura was the most intelligent in the class.
Every girl fawned over Sasuke, Sakura didn't even know or care much about most of the boys in her class. Naruto and Kiba were idiots and she still didn't care about them. She couldn't say anything about Shino, he honestly seemed like the smart type though. The only other two in the class who was closest in book smart was Hinata and Sasuke, with the Uchiha edging out the Hyuga to Sakura's understanding.
Oh yeah, back to Kurenai.
Her uniform consisted of a red mesh armor blouse (albeit only the right sleeve was visible), over that, she wore this white thing over most of her body that sort of resembled bandages. She noticed the thorn type pattern inscribed the white cloth.
She wore the regular sandals for a Shinobi, she also had bandages covering her upper thighs and arms, and, to Sakura's surprise, red lipstick and purple eye shadow.
Considering what Shinobi do, Sakura didn't think many kunoichi bore makeup, but apparently, this one did.
Sakura then stole a glance at her other two Genin teammates, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame.
The more she thought about, the more she realized that this team actually had 5 members, as Kiba had his ninken Akamaru to assist him in battle.
To her, Kiba was just a less stupid, more brash Naruto. Or maybe more stupid...she didn't know at this point, she was just pissed that she had to be with dog breath and bug boy.
Speaking of bug boy, Sakura hadn't interacted with Shino much in the past. He had always creeped her out due to his chilling and suppressed demeanor along with the fact that he was an Aburame, and Sakura hated bugs!
He was basically a more creepy, disgusting, and less charming version of Sasuke.
She dropped her head out of disappointment.
She was not going to last long in this team, was she?
"Alright, team!" The Jonin sensei Kurenai suddenly spoke, causing Sakura to jump in her place as she realized that she was sitting down on the ground like the rest of her team, except Kurenai, who was standing to represent the difference in authority between the four of them, five if you count Akamaru.
Sakura looked at their surroundings, they were in one of the Training Grounds, but she didn't know which one. It bore a resemblance to Training Ground 3, minus the lake, stumps, and memorial stone. But then again, most of the Training Grounds were like that.
"So, to get to know each other, we are going to be doing introductions. I'll keep going first to give you guys an idea of what to say." She said before clearing her throat.
"I am Kurenai Yuhi, your Jonin sensei for Team 8. My likes…"
At that point, Sakura began to tune out of the introductions as the words flew by her head, immediately thinking about Sasuke and who he got as a Jonin sensei, suddenly feeling resentment towards Hinata once again.
She had tuned out for so long, that she had never noticed when it was her turn, Kurenai had to call her name three times before she responded, much to the Jonin's frustration.
"Sorry sensei!" Sakura sat upright as she began, "My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are…" Her mind immediately drifted off to Sasuke, "My hobbies are…" Sakura thought about Sasuke again, "And then, my dream is…" Thoughts about marrying Sasuke came to her mind before coming back to reality and giving a good answer, "Is to become a strong kunoichi!"
"And your dislikes?" Kurenai reminded the girl, rolling her eyes at her addiction over Sasuke.
"Annoying people like Naruto Uzumaki!"
In the Academy classroom, with Team 7, who were currently waiting for their sensei, Naruto suddenly sneezed.
"B-Bless you, Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered in a low voice.
"Thanks...haha! Someone must be talking about how great and strong I am!" Naruto gloated with a smile.
"Hn, dumbass..."
Back to Team 8, Kurenai closed her eyes as she took in the team she was working with.
She had WANTED a tracking team, composed of Kiba, Shino, AND Hinata Hyuga due to her Byakugan. However, Kakashi had insisted on taking Hinata, saying that due to Naruto being on the team, it should help with her confidence issues and something like with her Byakugan and Gentle Fist capabilities, Hinata will be able to alert Naruto and Sasuke of an enemy and work well with their fighting styles.
That still doesn't help the fact that Sakura has no TRACKING capabilities. But, Kurenai thought that she had a solution to the problem, that is, if these three passed the test. And even if they did pass, that was up to Sakura, if she wanted to learn…
"Ok, tomorrow morning, we are going to our first and maybe only activity together." Kurenai stated nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong with her statement at all.
"Alright!" Kiba cheered as Akamaru barked out of excitement before realizing the second part, "Wait, and maybe only? What do you mean by that?"
Kurenai nodded her head, "I'm glad you asked that Kiba. Now, as a Jonin sensei, before we can officially be called a team, I have to run you through a test, as a precautionary measure to make sure you're really ready to become ninja."
"Wait a minute, so you mean to tell me that the test at the Academy was a fake?!" Kiba exclaimed out of shock and anger.
"No. The test at the Academy was to see if you were ready to become a Genin. This test, is to see if you are ready to go out into the ninja world." Kurenai explained, "Oh, and if you fail this test, you will be sent back to the Academy."
"What?!" Sakura gasped out of shock.
CHA! We can't afford to fail this test, if we do, we'll be separated from Sasuke-kun forever! Inner Sakura raged throughout Sakura's head.
Shino remained indifferent, showing no reaction or emotion at this news at all.
"Now, tomorrow at 10:00 in the morning, meet here at Training Ground 8." And with that information now imparted with the three, a sea of flower petals engulfed Kurenai, when they were gone, Kurenai was gone as well.
"What?" Kiba mused out of confusion, never seeing someone disappear like that before.
"It was Genjutsu." Shino spoke up, "She was hiding in the nearby forest the entire time. Why? Because-"
"That was such an easy Genjutsu!" Sakura cried out loud as she grabbed her hair. How didn't she catch?! Normally, she would be able to sense easy Genjutsu like this unless she was preoccupied or under pressure!
"Ignored again." Shino deadpanned, although he knew no one was paying attention. He then heard the rustling of feet, followed by the sounds of feet hitting the ground in a pattern, followed by the bark of a dog, then, one pair of feet began to quicken up the pace, eventually starting to run.
Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru had left him.
Shino himself soon left while Kurenai watched from a nearby tree.
Not bad. Kurenai admitted at the Aburame seeing through the Genjutsu, He knew it was a Genjutsu from the very start. Kiba will need some work, and Sakura...from the report on her academics, she was very prominent in Chakra control and judging from the fact that she had the highest grade in book smarts, she should be very adapt in a Genjutsu and should be able to tell what is a Genjutsu or not.
And Kurenai knew why she didn't see through it.
The Next Day
"Ok, now that we are all here, we may begin." Kurenai said as she began to explain the test, "The objective, is for each of you to get good hit on me."
"That's it?" Kiba questioned, thinking the test to be much harder.
"That's it. Now, normally, I would do something else for a full team of sensors, but due to a last minute switch in teams, Sakura is now on this team, and Hinata Hyuga was thrown into Team 7." Kurenai told the group, much to Sakura's shock.
I was supposed to be on the same team as Sasuke-kun?! But I was switched with Hinata?! No doubt she used her status as heiress of the Hyuga Clan to force a switch in the teams so she could be with Sasuke! She faked not liking him all along! Sakura grit her teeth as she reached a conclusion, and was sure that was the case.
Why else would they switch the teams?
I need to get her back for this! Sakura thought to herself.
"The thing that will make this hard is that I will be hiding somewhere in the forest." Kurenai pointed to the vast amount of trees in the area. "I will also be using any means necessary to make sure you don't land a finger on me. And you should also use any means necessary to make sure you get a hit on me. And remember, all three of you each must hit me at least once! You have an hour to do so, if one of you can't hit me in that time, you fail."
"But how are we supposed to find you, sensei?" Sakura asked in a curious manner.
"The purpose of this exercise is for us to use our tracking skills. However, Sakura has no tracking capabilities." Shino talked in a neutral tone, once again not seeming concerned about the test at all.
"How you deal with your dilemma is your problem, Sakura. One of the things about being a Shinobi is learning how to problem solve." Kurenai informed the pink-haired girl.
But couldn't she help her just this once?! That was what Sakura was thinking.
It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair that the little princess got whatever team she wanted while Sakura got a team of a dumbass and a weirdo who don't compliment her skills at all.
They are like fire and ice, they don't go well together.
Sakura, as Shino had previously stated, had no feats in tracking unlike people from the Inuzuka, Aburame, or Hyuga Clans. So what was she supposed to do?!
If only that damn little Hyuga didn't interfere! She would have been a team that better complimented her skills as a kunoichi! She wouldn't be in this situation!
She would be on the same team as Sasuke...
"We'll have this done in 5 minutes!" Kiba boasted as Akamaru gave him a bark of support.
Kiba, the brash and cocky one out of the bunch. Seems to be the type to rush into battle without thinking things through. That could lead to some trouble at some point down the road.
"Highly unlikely, Kiba. Why? It's because she is a Jonin, and a Genjutsu specialist. She won't make this easy for us." Shino told Kiba.
"You overthink things way too much, Shino!" Kiba responded with an annoyed tone in his voice.
Shino, calm, collected, and calculated. One of the best kind of Shinobi to have in a group. Emotions won't get in his way, and he'll be very good at thinking out of tough situations.
And then…
Sakura, good Chakra control, great in book smarts. Not much seen when it comes to battle intelligence. Shown to be able to see through basic Genjutsu, and could be a very good specialist in Genjutsu like Kurenai herself.
"Now, without further ado, let's begin!"
Immediately, Kiba was on the move, Akamaru jumping off of his head as he ran towards Kurenai, beginning to spin wildly in the air at great speed, giving a drill like effect to those watching.
"Tsuuga (Passing Fang)!" Kiba shouted the name of his attack as he drilled right through Kurenai, only for him to not feel any solid connection as he kept drilling through, eventually coming to a Stop right before he could cut through a tree. "What?!" Kiba looked back in disbelief to see that Kurenai was slowly disappearing from the feet up, ending with her face.
"Yet another Genjutsu." Shino stated as he adjusted his glasses. "She did say she would use any means necessary to make sure we wouldn't be able to land a finger on her."
"Damn it! I'll just have to pick up her scent then!" Kiba exclaimed as Akamaru jumped onto his shoulder, clinging onto it tightly.
And with that, Kiba had jumped into the forest alone.
"Are you coming, Sakura?" Shino questioned the kunoichi as he approached the entrance to the forest.
"Fine." Sakura grumbled as she followed Shino into the forest.
With Kiba
Kiba rushed through the lush leaves of the forest as he kept sniffing out for Kurenai's scent. He had spent about 10 minutes trying to so.
This was his means of tracking. The Inuzuka Clan's beast like attributes. And with Akamaru by his side, that means two noses trying to sniff out for Kurenai.
"Got it!" Kiba grinned as he ran towards the source, only to find that Akamaru had jumped off of his head, he immediately skidded to a halt. "Something wrong, Akamaru?"
The dog whimpered as he nudged his paw in the opposite direction Kiba was going.
"You smell her that way?"
A nod from Akamaru confirmed his suspicions.
"But how?! I smell over here!" Kiba argued as he pointed over in the direction he was originally running in, before coming to a small realization.
Is she using Genjutsu to replicate her scent? No, that can't be possible...can it?
Suddenly, Kiba picked up Kurenai's scent once again, this time, in another direction. To his left, which, if he followed the path long enough, would bring him out of the Training Ground, and out of the forest.
Kurenai had said that she would be hiding somewhere in the forest, implying that Kurenai was not allowed to leave the forest much less the Training Ground.
He then picked up Kurenai's scent once again, this time to his right.
Kurenai was hiding behind a nearby tree, analyzing Kiba's movements, and it wasn't looking good for the Inuzuka.
Kurenai hadn't taken into consideration that Kiba wouldn't know how to bring down a Genjutsu. Heck, Kurenai wasn't even sure if Kiba even knew if he was in a Genjutsu, for all she knew, Kiba was probably thinking that Kurenai had dropped some of her things in the places he was picking up her scent.
This was the truth.
There were 5 scents of Kurenai.
Two of them were real, and three of them were mere illusions from the Genjutsu affecting Kiba's senses.
One of the two real scents was Kurenai herself, while the other one was a kunai that she had implanted in a tree not too far away from Kiba, this was actually the place he was heading towards originally, before Akamaru stopped him.
Kiba is too caught up with the three fake scents and the scent emitting off of the kunai that his senses are starting to play tricks on him, he couldn't even smell where the real Kurenai was. The only way he could was to dispel the Genjutsu, which is something he seems to be struggling with at the moment.
Eventually, after a couple of minutes, not too far away, Kurenai could hear the distant running footsteps of Sakura and Shino, only getting louder as they approached Kiba.
"You idiot! Running off on your own like that!" Sakura punched Kiba up the head hard, causing the boy to cry out of pain, and unknowingly knocking him out of the Genjutsu.
"OWW! What the hell was that for?!" Kiba spat out of anger, raising a fist at Sakura.
"If you didn't go on your own like a dumbass, I wouldn't have punched you!" Sakura yelled back with an equal amount of fury as Kiba.
Shino merely sighed as he ignored his teammates antics walking forward, placing his hand on the ground, feeling the blades of grass tickle his hand.
"Hijutsu: Muchiyose (Insect Summoning Jutsu)!" Sakura and Kiba stopped arguing as they looked down at their crouched teammate as he seemed to be concentrating on something.
"I know where she is." Shino announced, his eyes narrowing under his glasses as he could feel the gazes of his teammates fall on him.
Of course, one of the Aburame Clan's tracking techniques. Sakura noted immediately, maybe Shino wasn't as weird as she thought.
Sakura reached down into her pouch and pulled out a kunai at the ready, unlike the other two, she wasn't part of a clan, and as a result, she wasn't entrusted with any special Jutsu like the one Shino has just utilized.
Despite this, she still had to try and be useful to the team!
Kurenai senses the three rushing at the tree she was hiding behind as she gave a small smile, Although the formation is highly flawed, and despite only being appointed to the same team mere hours ago, they're actually trying to attack in a coordinated fashion. Not bad…
From what she could sense, Kiba was in the middle, Sakura on the right, and Shino running to the left, albeit a tiny bit farther away from Kiba than Sakura was,
Due to the Inuzuka Clans abilities, Kurenai already knew what Kiba and Akamaru were going to do.
"Alright, Akamaru, lets go!" Akamaru ruffed out of agreement, jumping off of Kiba's head, running alongside him as Kiba, who was rushing ahead of a Shino and Sakura, formed a hand sign, "Juujin Bunshin!"
Akamaru transformed into a replica of Kiba, albeit more feral and wild, the difference between the two obvious, he ran four legged with Kiba as both of them began to spin the air, both of them quickly wrapping around the tree and shooting right for Kurenai.
"Gatsuuga (Fang Over Fang)!"
Sakura narrowed her eyes ahead of her, preparing herself to launch the kunai forward in case Kurenai had popped down on her side.
Shino on the other hand, had his hands outstretched, ready to unleash his insects in Kurenai should she come out on his side.
To the four's surprise, nothing that they had expected happened, Kiba had to quickly veer off to the right in order to fight hitting Akamaru by accident. Both stopped spinning, quickly trying to look for Kurenai's scent, picking her scent that was…
Above them?
They shot their heads up, only to widen their eyes out of shock, the loud whizzing of shuriken in front of them made the first reaction too obvious.
Move.
Both Sakura and Shino reacted quickly, seeing a person in their sights, unleashing their respective attacks, a kunai and multiple kikaichu.
Time ran slow as their blood ran cold at the sight of the person they launched their attacks at.
The grey furred jacket all but gave it away.
That wasn't Kurenai.
"KIBA!" Both Sakura and Shino shouted in unison, she heard Shino's voice, surprised to hear him speak that loudly, but immediately shrugged it off due to the severity of the situation.
Both Kiba and Akamaru turned their heads and saw their respective attacks coming in hot, a kunai and an army of kikaichu.
Kiba bent his up so his eyes were facing the sky blocked by trees as the sound of a kunai whizzed right past his chin, thankfully, not grazing him.
Akamaru didn't react as quickly, the dog was enveloped in the kikaichu. Had that been a real fight or Kurenai, it would have been perfect for Shino, but he had to command his kikaichu to not start sucking the Chakra out of Akamaru.
Shino had heard Sakura also yell Kiba's name, but they were too far away from the both Kiba replicas to tell the difference.
Secretly, in case the replica that Sakura had attacked didn't dodge in time, Shino had hoped that it was Kiba, as the wound that the Inuzuka would suffer from would not be as fatal as it would be to a dog.
Shino immediately retracted his insects, as the swarm of bugs seemingly crawled back into his sleeves, Shino took off running towards the Kiba in front of him, only to see a proof of smoke, revealing Akamaru, who came dashing towards him in a flash.
Kiba did the same on Sakura's side.
"What happened? Was it a Genjutsu?" Sakura questioned her teammate, she got surprised when she saw Kiba shake his head.
"No, when I looked up, she was standing on a tree chucking shuriken at us!" Kiba answered, his lips curving into a frown. "And you threw a kunai at me!"
"I thought you were Kurenai-sensei!" Sakura protested in her defense.
Kurenai listened in from her place on the tree, closing her eyes, letting out a long sigh.
Kiba and Sakura seem to have trouble getting along, while Shino is too quiet and reserved to even make much conversation with his teammates.
This could deal a lot of damage to the teamwork factor. Also, Sakura seems to have not figured out her role in the tracking team.
I suppose this is a little too hard for mere Genin. At the moment, I should be a little lenient on these 3, after all, that last minute change did mess up things for my team...Kurenai thought to herself, taking the moment to reveal herself. With great speed, Kurenai wrapped around the tree and jumped on Shino, throwing him backwards onto the ground.
Kurenai quickly flipped Shino's body around so his face was to the ground, pulling a kunai and holding it to his neck.
"Kiba, kill Sakura or I will slit Shino's throat!" Kurenai announced to the dog user, who froze in his tracks.
Sensei never said anything about killing people! Sakura widened her eyes, now actually a little spooked by this fact.
"Enough." Kurenai suddenly spoke as she removed the kunai off of Shino, getting off of him and rising to her feet.
"What? But it hasn't been an hour!" Kiba yelled out of anger, under the impression that Kurenai was going to fail them without even completing the exercise.
"I've seen enough of your capabilities." Kurenai spoke with her lips formed into a thin line.
"What about the fact that we needed to hit you three times?" Shino asked, rising to his feet.
Kurenai chuckled as if Shino said something funny, "I'm a Jonin. You would have to be promoted immediately if you could land even a single hit on me alone."
"Do we pass or fail?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Pass." She gave the team a smile while closing her eyes.
"Huh?!" Kiba droned with an open mouth.
"I said that you pass. However…" Kurenai's smile turned into a frown, "You guy could use a lot of improvement. Had it been someone else as your Jonin sensei, you would have failed. However, I see some potential in this group, and for a little bit, you guys worked together, whch was one of the main purposes of this exam, but there were still a lot of things wrong other than the formation and teamwork that need to be worked on, so I'll make you guys a deal. I'll let you pass, if you guys do well as a team and prove to me that you have what it takes to be real ninja, then I will finalize the formation of this team. If you can't, I'll disband the team and send you back to the Academy."
"HELL YEAH!" Kiba cheered loudly, causing Sakura to wince as he was right next to her, prompting her to smack him on the head.
"You're too loud!" Sakura scolded her teammate, as she really didn't want to deal with any stupid crap.
While she was happy that they were a team, she didn't forget what Kurenai had just said. Kiba was overreacting about this. As Kurenai had implied, just because they passed doesn't mean that they are in the clear.
"Our missions will start tomorrow. Be ready!" Kurenai's frown turned into a smile. She wasn't lying when she had said that she saw potential in this team.
Maybe she didn't see as much potential as she saw with the team originally due to the switch with Hinata and Sakura, but it was still there.
Kurenai took a glance at Sakura. She was going to need work, especially if she was going to be in a Tracking Squad rather than an Assault Squad.
She'll make sure that Sakura fits in.
And with that, Team 8 had left the forest, with relief and worry. Worry that they wouldn't be able to meet Kurenai's expectations and get sent back to the Academy.
Kiba was excited for the prospect of missions starting tomorrow.
Too bad he was going to hate when he felt the experience…
Alright, this is the start of the mini Team 8 arc. If you couldn't tell, we went back in time to when the teams were assigned and we will go from there.
Now, this will definitely be the last chapter of the year, so I just wanted to say Happy New Years to all of you guys.
Alright, that is all for now.
Sorry that this is a really short chapter. If I make this mini arc 3 chapters, then the next two chapters will also be short as well. I might just finish this arc all in 1 chapter to make it longer.
Hope you guys enjoyed, take care, goodbye!