Chapter 15 – Becoming Genin, part I

Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were arriving to the training grounds. Ino was very irritable and did not hide it from her two male counterparts. Shikamaru ignored her and Choji was busy eating breakfast. Ino did not like being ignored and voiced it.

"You two slackers better do your part or I will not be held accountable for my actions." Ino said with a tone.

"Are you ever?" Shikamaru asked, getting a glare from her.

"Just sit down Ino and eat something. I'm sure that we will do okay." Choji said, handing her a rice ball. Ino did not accept the kind gesture and Choji just shrugged. He handed it to Shikamaru who took the food and ate. He really liked Choji's cooking. It would not be long until Asuma arrived.

"Well, how are you doing today?" he asked with a little amusement. Everyone but Choji gave him a dirty look. Seeing the container of food, Asuma asked for one of the rice balls. Choji let him have one and Asuma indulged in it. "Wow, this is pretty good. Did you soak the rice in Miso soup?"

"Can we please get on with this?" Ino demanded.

"Fine, fine. Well, the test is pretty simple. You're objective is to capture me. There are a few rules to this test. The first rule is that you must capture me within the forest area over there." Asuma said, pointing to the forest. "The second rule is that you are not allowed to leave the forest but I can. You can use anything in your arsenal. You have two hours to complete the objective."

"Is that all?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, that's it. I'll give you guys about fifteen minutes to make your plans. That time starts now." The three genin dashed into the forest area. Asuma just stood there and lit a cigarette. He was curious as to what they would do.

XXX

Thirty minutes into the test and Ino was starting to get annoyed. When they entered the forest, she started to order them around. Shikamaru ignored her and began to walk near the edge of the forest area. He got out a kunai and tied a prepared tag to it. He stabbed it into the ground and moved on to the next corner. After the second one, Ino finally lost her cool.

"What are you doing?!" Ino shouted.

"What does it look like? I'm setting the board so we can complete this troublesome test." Shikamaru said.

"All you have done is put down some stupid kunai with some stupid tags! It's a waste of time!" Ino shouted.

"Look, I'm not going to get this done any faster with your damn whining. Just be quiet for a while and let me do this. Afterward, we will go after Asuma." Shikamaru said.

"No, I'm done following you around! I'm the leader and I'm calling the shots now. If you jokers don't want to pass, then fine! I'll pass all on my own and leave you two to go back into the academy!" With that, Ino took off, leaving the two boys alone. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance while Choji looked worried. He just followed Shikamaru who just sighed and continued on with the plan.

XXX

Asuma blew out some smoke as he walked around the forest. He figured that an attack was coming since her heard Ino's shouts. She really needed to be more silent. He walked but was alert for any attacks. It would not be long as he dodged some shuriken. That's when Ino burst out of the bush and attacked. Asuma ducked and dodged Ino's quick hit assault. He jumped away when Ino dropped to her knees. She was sucking wind as Asuma stood with his hands in his pockets.

"That was pretty impressive display but you don't have the stamina to continue. Maybe you should eat more properly so that this issue does not happen. You can't always depend on your teammates to bail you out." He said amused.

"Shut up because I've gotten my second wind!" she shouted and charged. Asuma stood still as Ino closed in. That's when Ino found herself down in a pit. Asuma walked over and looked down into the pit. Ino was rubbing her sore butt.

"How's that second wind?" Asuma asked with a smirk. All he got was a glare. Asuma just turned and vanished. Ino was quick to her feet and ran up the sides. Using a kunai, she stabbed it into the ground. She tried to pull herself up but she was still quite tired from earlier. As she was about to lose her grip, a large hand grabbed her and pulled her out. It belonged to Choji. He put her down and his arm returned to normal size. Next to him was Shikamaru.

"Are you done now?" he asked in a lazy tone. Ino just gave him a glare as well.

"At least I tried something! All you two have done is stick kunai into the ground!" Ino shouted.

"Yes and by doing that, we have effectively trapped him inside of the forest area." Shikamaru said.

"What?" Ino asked confused.

"I created a barrier. It's a pretty simple one but it's strong enough to keep him in here. He would need to find the markers to disable it but he will be in for a surprise if he does." Shikamaru explained. "Besides, you running off just might have gotten us a fail, not that I care."

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

"This test was about how well we work as a team. He said only 33% of the teams will pass. That means only three teams will pass. That also means that there is a requirement for passing. The backbone of Konoha's strength is our unity, a. k. a. our teamwork. Come on Ino, think about it. It's not that hard to see why we were put together as a team." Shikamaru explained.

"If you knew about this, why didn't you tell me?" Ino asked.

"Would you have listened in the first place?" he asked. Ino had the decency to look abashed. "Anyway, he isn't getting out, so let's get him to the spot that Choji and I set up." Shikamaru walked away with Choji following him. Ino soon followed. She wasn't really happy about it but she would defer to the slacker, just this once.

XXX

Asuma touched the barrier and was kind of impressed. He really forgot that the slacker of this team knew a bit about barriers. He guessed that there must be at least four markers around here. If he was a betting man, Shikamaru put them at the corners of the forest. He would need to just disable one of them to take out the barrier.

As he was about to do that, he heard the ground rumble. He looked toward his right and out came a large boulder. Asuma dodged the rolling boulder that crashed into the barrier. He jumped into the air to dodge several shuriken coming from the trees. Choji got out of his jutsu before quickly getting back into it. Asuma easily jumped over the attack. He pulled out a kunai and deflected some more shuriken. Choji got out of his roll again and came up from behind. This time he grabbed a staff that was thrown from somewhere.

Choji began to attack, using his training. Asuma would just deflect or parry his attacks but he was pressed a bit. That's when Ino decided to come out of her hiding spot and attack. Asuma kind of frowned at that. Ino was getting in Choji's way, causing his rhythm to be thrown off. However, Choji was able to work around Ino and continue to attack. As they engaged him, he realized that they were leading him. His guess was that Shikamaru was waiting. Not waiting any more, Asuma caught Ino and tossed her into Choji before taking to the trees.

He looked around for the elusive genin when he suddenly felt his instincts kick in. He ran across the large branch and narrowly avoided the shadow. He saw Shikamaru on the other side of the tree. He jumped down and landed on the ground, which suddenly gave way. He was trying to launch himself up when Choji's frame crashed into him. The plump boy closed up the hole and trapped Asuma. Ino came out and cheered.

"Alright, we caught him!" she cheered. Choji also smiled and gave Shikamaru a 'thumbs up'. Shikamaru just sighed but he smirked at the victory.

"Well, that was an impressive strategy." A voice said. Ino and Shikamaru looked to see Asuma step out of the grass, a cigarette in his mouth. They looked shocked to see him. He took a puff before speaking again. "However," an alarm went off in the distance. "you're out of time."

XXX

The three were seated across from Asuma. Ino looked like she wanted to say something and Asuma indulged her.

"There was no way that you escaped! We saw Choji slam into you!" Ino shouted.

"True but I easily countered that attack with a simple Substitution." Asuma explained. "As you were told by your teammate, this was a test about teamwork and you showed just that so congratulates on passing your final." The group let those words set in and he saw that they were happy. "However, there are still a few problems that need to be addressed."

"What do you mean sensei?" Choji asked.

"Well, let's start from the smallest issue to the largest. Ino, you are very loud and impatient. During this test, you belittled your comrades and didn't even ask for their input. You dismissed their strategy because it wasn't quick for you. In the world of shinobi, that could get your team killed." Ino looked like she wanted to argue but held her tongue.

"Choji, I know that Shikamaru is your friend and that you also don't like conflict but the fact that you allowed that argument between your two teammates to escalate so far is unacceptable. You can't just side with Shikamaru all the time. He is not always right. You're taking sides is disrespectful to your other team members." Choji looked down at his feet in shame.

"Shikamaru, I really don't know why you feel that it was right to not tell Ino about the truth about the test. If you had just done that, maybe Ino would have joined you sooner. You might be very intelligent but such actions are borderline and will not be allowed. I don't really care if Ino is 'troublesome', you should have included her." Shikamaru just sighed and muttered 'troublesome'.

"Still, you did pass and I look forward to teaching you all. Meet me back here, bright and early tomorrow." Asuma said. He vanished to let the group celebrate their success.

XXX

An hour after Asuma's test started, another team was getting ready to start their test. They would be tested by Kurenai. She looked at the group and saw that they were well rested.

"Okay, my test is not so hard. We are going to place a game of 'ninja hide and seek'. All you have to do is find me within two hours. It should not be so hard for each of you considering your clans." Kurenai said with a smile.

"Ha, this is going to be a breeze for me" Kiba boasted and Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Someone's confident in their abilities. However, you shouldn't really count me out. I might be a new jonin but I am quite strong in my own right. Also, while I might have praised you all because of what clans' you come from, what make you think that I can't disable them?" Kurenai asked smiling.

"What are you t-talking about sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Well, why don't you use you Byakugan Hinata?" Kurenai teased. Hinata did just that and was stunned.

"She… She's an illusion." Hinata stated.

"That's correct. Oh, and Shino, that was a very nice attempt with your bug. It's safely being taken cared of at my home." With that said, Kurenai exploded in a cloud of rose petals. Kiba and Akamaru started to growl but quickly calmed down. The two sniffed the air for their sensei. While the Kurenai that vanished was an illusion, her scent was here.

"Sensei shouldn't have used those rose petals. They didn't hide her perfume. Let's go boy!" Kiba exclaimed and the two led the team into the village. The two followed the scent until they got to the marketplace. That's when things got weird. Kiba and Akamaru were still getting the scent but it was going in several directions. It was as if Kurenai was everywhere.

"I don't get it. Her scent is everywhere." Kiba said.

"She must have used that perfume and stealthfully placed it on several people." Shino said.

"The perfume I get but her scent is also mixed in." Kiba argued.

"My bugs do the same. They excrete their own scent so that they can be found easily." Shino countered.

"So, w-what can we do now?" Hinata asked.

"We must find the bug I placed on her earlier. Even though she was able to find it, it must have some of her chakra." Shino said. He then used a beetle that came out of his coat. The beetle hoovers and began to move forward. The team followed the beetle toward Kurenai's apartment.

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Authors' Notes: Sorry for the delay but I had some stuff to work out. Any way, I hope that you enjoy this new chapter. I would like to update these story more frequently but I have a process that works for me. It might come out after two weeks but you are entertained. Just please bare with me as I update, especially with this story because it is going to be long.