I'm still alive, just busy with the usual excuses work, family and an attempt to have a social life.
Chapter 10
Training Continues
As the Genin walked to the other side of the clearing Naruto waved Anko closer and whispered in her ear. A wicked grin grew on Anko's face as she nodded and walked away.
"You've got a minute to hide and then we start the test!" Anko shouted, "No trying to move before I tell you too." The Genin all vanished into the surrounding foliage and separate to find a good place to start. "Start!"
"Ino, I can see that tacky outfit from here!" Naruto called out with a smirk, the platinum blonde immediately jumped from her hiding place.
"This is not tacky!" She screamed back.
"Found one." Naruto said, looking back at Kurenai. The raven haired kunoichi shook her head at Naruto then pointed to a bush about twenty feet from Ino. "Sorry Sakura, I can hear you laughing."
"Yamanaka and Haruno have been sighted." Kurenai said, after confirming Sakura's position. "Come join us over here." Sakura slowly rose out of the bush, pouting as she and Ino walked over.
"That was a dirty trick." Ino complained as she stood next to Naruto.
"We're ninja, dirty tricks are fair game." He replied without looking at her, keeping his attention on the task he'd been given.
"Adding 'work on composure' to the list." Anko muttered before raising her voice. "If you're trying to hide, you can't let things get to you. When you go stealth, you need to stay in stealth until you're ready to break it."
Over the next few minutes Naruto was able to point out Lee in the trees, as he was moving too quickly, Kiba and Sasuke were both caught when they started arguing over the route they were taking, Choji accidentally stepped on a twig and Shikamaru failed due to deciding to take a nap instead of attempt the test. Shino, Tenten, Neji and Hinata all passed with varying degrees of success, Shino needed to work on keeping his insects quiet and Hinata kept second-guessing her every move. Sasuke wanted to try again claiming without Kiba's interference he would've passed but Anko denied him.
"You heard what I said when Pinkie and the Weed got caught."
"Hey!" Ino shouted.
"Don't like the nickname, prove to me you deserve a better one Weed. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, there'll be times in the field when something happens right next to where you're hiding, you need to be in control of yourself and good enough to stay hidden even when things around you go to hell. Request denied. I'll be seeing most of you tomorrow for remedial training, those of you who passed are welcome to join the training if you want." Anko jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "I know Blondie's going to be joining as soon as he can." Naruto nodded in agreement. "Now next test, tracking and let's make it interesting. Who can track without using family gifts, no jutsu or Kekkei Genkai"
Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Sasuke and surprisingly Shikamaru raised their hands.
"I can but only for fairly fresh trails, if it's been more than a couple of hours I start struggling." Tenten said half raising her hand.
"Same with me." Naruto said, "I can send a bunch of clones around looking for clear traces but you said no jutsu so…" He trailed off.
"I'll test you on how to track someone but first, Sloth," Anko pointed at Shikamaru, "How do you know how to track?"
"Sometimes the deer wander off, mom makes me find them." He yawned.
"That'll do it, she's enough of a drill sergeant to have you be competent."
Anko quizzed the Genin on the signs to look for, from the obvious traces like footprints, broken twigs and bits of fabric being left behind, to the more obscure such as animal behaviour and signs of a hidden trail. In the end all of the Genin showed themselves able track competently but with room for improvement. Anko made a mental note to set up a few trails for them to try and follow for the next training session.
After they'd covered tracking Anko went over the basics of survival skills, best places to find shelter/food/water, things to keep on your person in case of emergency.
"As much as I hate saying this, all you brats are going to be getting homework. We can only cover so much, you'll need to put in the work outside of these sessions."
Herbology and Botany were the next topics on Anko's list, she would give the Genin the name of a plant and then ask if it was edible, medical or poisonous. As expected Ino excelled with Sakura, Hinata, Choji and Tenten doing well, Naruto, Neji, Shino and Shikamaru were competent enough, Kiba only knew plants that were dangerous for dogs leaving Lee and Sasuke with barely passable skill in the topic.
Sakura was thrown over Anko's shoulder after she tried to escape when the Tokubetsu Jonin said she wanted to take the girls to have a bit of 'girl talk'. Kurenai ended up entangled in snakes when she tried to go and supervise but by the time she'd escaped the snakes Anko was long gone with the girls.
"What's all that about?" Kiba asked.
"Suppose we should give the guys a similar talk." Asuma shrugged as he took a drag from his cigarette. He walked over to Kiba and poked his forehead. "When on a mission, think with this head, not your other one." Kurenai facepalmed. "What?" Asuma asked. "That covers it."
"Anko is telling the girls about the dangers a kunoichi can face, ways to counter them and…ways to escape them." Kurenai explained.
"What kind of dangers?" Kiba asked.
"What do scumbags like to do with women they capture?" Naruto said, he waited a few seconds as he watched Kiba work out the answer.
"Oh." The Inuzuka heir said quietly.
"Yeah."
"Sometimes the only way to escape capture is to not be take alive." Kakashi added as he put his book back in his pouch, as Kiba walked away. "Knowing Anko she's probably telling them about seduction techniques too."
"How many do you think will need to be carried back?" Asuma asked. "I'm guessing two."
"Two sounds about right, I would've said three but Sakura's already 'girl talk' with Anko she'll probably be able to walk back."
"One." Naruto said, walking over to the Jonin. "Hinata's going to be carried back."
"She's stronger than you think." Kurenai said, sounding offended.
"I know she is but with how shy she is and Anko being, well Anko…"
"…Fair enough, you may have a point." Kurenai sighed. "I should've gone with them."
"Anko knows what she's doing." Asuma said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "She might be heavy handed and as blunt as the Nidaime's scowl doing it but she'll get her point across." Kurenai nodded and gave the bearded Jonin a small smile.
"So…," Naruto said after a bit of silence. "Is there a timetable for what we're going to be training?"
"Not yet." Kurenai said, moving out from under Asuma's hand and walked Naruto over to the other boys. "Once we know the gaps in your knowledge and which skills need the most work, we'll be able to make a schedule. For right now though, Guy will have a fitness routine designed for each of you by tomorrow and you'll all be working from it as soon as you get them. We may bring in some other Jonin to help with the training, I know a few people who can help with weapons training, Iryōjutsu and first aid, tactic and team formations along with other skills you might need."
A few minutes passed before Anko returned, as Naruto predicted Hinata was being carried on Anko's back, completely passed out and bright red. Ino and Tenten were also red-faced but conscious while Sakura had turned a dark shade of pink, none of the conscious girls were able to look at each other while Anko had a smug grin on her face and a spring in her step.
"Well, Anko's pleased with herself. Must've gone better than even she thought it would." Asuma chuckled.
Once Hinata was brought back to consciousness Anko moved on to her next test, interrogation skills. Anko would whisper something to Naruto and tasked the others to get the information from him. Predictably being the daughter of an interrogation expert Ino did well, as did Tenten with a detailed explanation of different injuries she could inflict with her weapons without causing a fatal injury. Naruto told Ino that there are things more important than looking good for someone who doesn't care, Tenten glared at Anko when she heard Naruto say weapons are a poor substitute for a boyfriend.
Neji showed competency by describing the ways of using Gentle Fist to manipulate pain centres. Shino showcased a number of ways to use his insects to instil fear and was judged competent like Neji. Neji turned and stalked away when Naruto said that standing tall didn't require having a stick up your ass and Shino just nodded hearing a hive can benefit from outside influence.
Sakura and Hinata barely got a passing grade by using a mixture of medical and psychological knowledge and explaining how the Gentle Fist could be used to subtly make those affected by it more likely to tell the truth with varying degrees of success. Sakura was told to stick to her path and not get distracted by shadows, while Hinata heard there was more to strength than muscle and force, heart and soul are even more powerful but confidence binds them all together.
Shikamaru worked with Choji, choosing to play mind games while Choji used his signature jutsu to slowly make himself larger as he stood silently in Naruto's peripheral vision. They were told it's alright to watch but standing still won't keep you safe and even the gentlest of creature don't hesitate to act when they need too.
Lee failed but only just, the amount of exercises he made himself to do whenever Naruto didn't answer a question had the blonde feeling sorry for him and was almost enough to make him talk.
Sasuke and Kiba failed miserably, Sasuke just asked the same question twice before miming stabbing Naruto in the heart and saying to bring him another prisoner, while Kiba just barked and growled trying to intimidate Naruto.
"Ugh." Anko sighed, "What did I sign up for?" She ran her hand down her face. "Mental Break, you can't just kill a subject when they don't answer, you might only have the one prisoner. Everyone has a breaking point, it's just a matter of finding it and pressing with just the right amount of pressure. Too little and you fail, too much and you risk shattering them. Runt, you're not going to be able to intimidate everyone. From what I've seen from you, your sister got all your mother's brains and left you with nothing. If an approach doesn't work, don't keep doing it, think and come up with a different plan. Mini-Guy, you came close but that was from sympathy so that doesn't count. You have the same problem as the Runt, think before you act, instinct will only take you so far." She turned to Shikamaru and Choji. "Sloth, Munchies, nice touch working together, if you have the option to have someone with you take it. Teamwork is something that is always useful."
"What about Naruto?" Ino asked.
"I've seen his work, he passes." Anko replied, holding a finger against Ino's lips when she saw the blonde about to spoke. "Can't talk about it, mission they were on escalated quickly and what happened has been classified. Not entirely sure how he did it but he got the info he needed and acted on it." She clapped her hands once. "On to the next test, intelligence gathering. For now we'll stick with reading people, the other stuff can come later." Anko whistled and a woman walked into the clearing the woman was petite with a slim build. She had long white hair in a ponytail that was off centre with a glittering crystal ornament holding it in place, pale skin, strikingly icy blue eyes and a small light red scar running from just above her left eyebrow to just under her cheekbone. She was wearing a short white dress with a flared out skirt with a matching long-sleeved short jacket which had a red inner lining, the dress and jacket sleeves faded into a light blue at the ends. Her legs were bare and she wore white high heeled boots, a thin sword rested on her left hip. "Alright, what can you tell me about this snowflake?" The woman glared at Anko's nickname for her.
"She either doesn't like you or hates her nickname." Tenten said, "She's a speed fighter, focusses on stabbing attacks more than slashing. Sword is very well made, so she's got a decent amount of money. She's acrobatic, wouldn't stand around in a fight. Constant movement, hit and run tactics, precision attacks. The way she walks screams confidence in her abilities."
"Excellent dress sense." Ino added. "Definitely either has a lot of money or comes from a rich family. Those are top of the line clothes and accessories. She's proud of her looks and the way she's styled her hair says she wants to stand out from what she's supposed to be. It's an act of rebellion."
"She's from nobility." Hinata murmured, not looking at the woman. "Maybe a royal house."
"How can you tell?" Anko pressed.
"Her stance, her expression and the presence she has. My family acts similarly and has met nobility like her."
"She's smart, you can see it in her eyes. She was assessing us as soon as she walked into the clearing." Sakura thought out-loud. "She was curious about what we could do but now she's getting annoyed. I'm guessing we're right?"
"Pretty much." Anko laughed, "Meet Yuki Shiroi," Hinata tensed at the name. "She is from a royal house but decided to piss off daddy dearest by becoming a kunoinchi instead of the perfect doll he wanted her to be."
"Watch your tongue." Yuki growled, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"Why? I know you prefer someone else's." A flash of silver lashed out as Anko vanished in a blur with Yuki in hot pursuit. The Genin could just barely follow the pair thanks to the flicker of white against the dark greens and browns of the surrounding forest. Kurenai sighed as she ran a hand from her forehead through her long hair.
"While Anko's…occupied, let's see what the boys can do." She said waving in another figure from the trees. A tall woman with long mane of blonde hair that went past her lower back, violet eyes, slightly sun-kissed skin and what looked like a perfect hourglass figure. She wore a lowcut yellow t-shirt with a black symbol that looked like a burning heart over her right breast, the t-shirt showed off her bare midriff under a short sleeved tan jacket, a pair of sunglasses resting on her forehead. A pair of tight black shorts encased her thighs with a short cape the same colour as her jacket hanging from the back of her belt. A pair of tan boots finished the look with a pair of black gloves and small golden bracers on her wrists. "What can you tell me about this person?"
"She's hot." Kiba said, causing the woman to smirk while Kurenai sighed.
"You can't say he's wrong." The woman said, giving Kurenai a shoulder bump.
"She is a competent fighter." Shino said, "Most likely a martial artist of some sort. Why you ask? It is because she has no visible weapons and her gloves look reinforced."
"Yes, I can see she is more focussed on punches over kicks." Lee added. "Some form of boxing if I am not mistaken."
"She's protective." Choji said in between eating a pack of chips.
"Explain." Kurenai prompted.
"Her eyes keep going to where the chase is, she wants to get in and help. Not sure who she wants to help though."
"She's like Anko, she likes to tease and have fun." Naruto said. "She has a temper too."
"What makes you say that?" The woman asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Pervy sage is watching and he has a thing for angry blondes."
"Pervy sage?" The woman chuckled before Naruto threw a kunai into the branches of a nearby tree.
"Hey! Watch the notebook!" A familiar Sannin's voice shouted from the leave cover. Asuma chuckled before disguising it as a cough when Kurenai glared at him.
"She's impulsive." Shikamaru yawned.
"Really?" The woman smirked.
"Yeah, really. I've seen that look in Naruto's eyes enough to know when someone has no impulse control."
"She's nothing special." Sasuke muttered as he looked at the surrounding forest.
"Wanna bet?" The woman growled her eyes quickly flashing red as seals on her bracers lit up and the bracers shifted into gauntlets.
"Thanks for proving my point." Shikamaru drawled. The tense moment was quickly shattered when Tenten materialised next to the woman.
"How did you do that? What can they do? How do I get some?" The bun haired girl questioned.
"Whoa, easy there spitfire. I don't understand the whole process of how these work. My sister's the one who made them, you'd need to take it up with her. She's as much of a weapon nerd as you." The woman replied, smiling as she put a hand on Tenten's head and ruffled her hair. The bun-haired brunette was too busy admiring the weaponry to notice.
"This is excellent sealmanship." Jiraiya added from the woman's other side. Surprised the woman reacted on instinct and swung a punch at the Sannin, a metallic clink was heard a split second before a burst of fire came from the front of the gauntlet and a small capsule fell out of one of the seals. Tenten immediately picked up the capsule and began inspecting it. "You should be more careful with that." Jiraiya said from behind Kakashi. "Could hurt a young and handsome virile man."
"I'd need to find one first." The woman snarked, sending a small pulse of chakra into the gauntlets causing them to shrink back into bracers.
"Chīsana!" A voice shouted from the trees as a blur of red shot into the clearing, skidding to a stop in front of the blonde woman. "We heard fighting, what happened?" The voice belonged to a petite young woman in her late teens with short black hair that has a faint red tint to it and pale skin. She wore a black lolita style dress with a black corset that had blood red stitching around her stomach, an underskirt the same colour as the stitching could be seen extending an inch or so from under the dress. A black belt with a large silver buckle in the shape of a rose was around her waist, heavy black combat boots and black tights finished the look along with a long hooded red cape. In her hands was a larger than her mechanical looking scythe, in the same colour theme as her clothes, poised ready for attack.
"Whatever happened, I'm sure this pervert is to blame." A husky voice said from behind Jiraiya. Looking over his shoulder he saw a tall woman with long silky black hair, her face was half-hidden behind a mask. The mask had 2 slits over each eye and was white for the most part with a thin red line along the bottom edge that got slightly wider the further away it got from the centre of the mask, thick almost horn like red markings that crossed the eye slits and a curved red symbol either side of the nose at eye level. She was wearing the typical ANBU uniform over what looked like a red silk dress shirt and a dark blazer with a an image that looked like a white leaf surrounded by falling rose petals, a black silk ribbon was tied in a bow on top of her hair. The lower half of her face showed pale skin and a blank expression as she was holding a pure black katana and it's bladed sheath at the back of Jiraiya's neck.
"Kokujū, it's been a while." Kakashi said, flipping a page of his book. "How have you been?"
"Classified." The woman replied.
"Thought as much."
"Come on babe, leave the old man alone. Not like he'd know what to do with a woman if he ever managed to convince one to sleep with him." Chīsana said, stepping over to the young woman in black and red, ruffling her hair. "Everything's fine Sis, just caught off guard."
"Don't do that!" The woman whined knocking Chīsana's hand away. "Sorry about interrupting your training session." She said, tapping something on her scythe causing it to collapse into a hand sized version of its previous appearance which she stuck to the small of her back. She bowed towards the Jonin in apology. Tenten ran over to her and started to rapid-fire questions
"There's no need for that Sukoshi, it was a valid reaction." Asuma smiled, "You're a Jonin like the rest of us, you don't need to bow or anything."
"Yeah Sis, you're the team leader, they should be bowing to you." Chīsana smirked.
"Captain." Kokujū called. "What should I do with this pervert?"
"Let him go Re.. Kokujū. He's one of the Sannin." Sukoshi said, temporarily breaking from her conversation with Tenten. Kokujū nodded once and lowered her blades while taking a step back.
"Hey, I'm not a pervert!" Jiraiya exclaimed, "I'm a MEGA Pervert!"
"That's not something to be proud of Pervy Sage." Naruto muttered as he ran a hand down his face.
"He's seriously one of the Sannin?" Ino whispered to Kurenai.
"He is." The Jonin replied with a sigh. "You'd be hard-pressed to find any shinobi with a strong reputation that doesn't have a personality quirk." Kurenai vaguely gestured towards Kakashi, Guy and Anko.
"It's not nice to call someone a pervert without owning up to it yourself." Jiraiya chuckled as he held up a book. "I would think you'd have better taste though. Ninja's of Love is a travesty to literacy." The book was torn from Jiraiya's hand as Kokujū blurred from her position and reappeared behind Chīsana.
"Ninja's of Love is far superior to the trash you publish, fiend." Kokujū snapped as she put the book away.
"Hey, I'm at the top of the best sellers!"
"You haven't looked at the list for a while have you? You're at number 7. Ninja's of Love is at 1 and has been for 2 months."
"What does that have that my work doesn't?"
"Plot." Naruto coughed, drawing a betrayed glare Jiraiya.
"Strong female characters, a collective storyline, an engaging premise, character development, equivalent consequences for the characters actions, I can go on if you wish." Kokujū replied. Each word hit Jiraiya like a brick until he pulled out his notebook and started writing furiously.
"The books have a consistent release schedule too." Chīsana added. "They've got some very good ideas in them too." She threw an arm around Kokujū's shoulder and kissed her on the temple. "Hey sis, you might want to rein in the Ice Queen, she's been chasing Snake Hips for a few minutes."
"Love that name." Anko said as she dashed past, giving Chīsana a slap on the ass in the process.
"Don't harass my teammates!" Yuki shouted.
"Yuki, leave her alone. We need to meet a client at the gates soon." Sukoshi called out.
"This isn't over Mitarashi." Yui growled as she walked to stand beside Sukoshi, sheathing her sword.
"Looking forward to it." Anko replied with a sadistic grin.
"We'll have to carry this conversation on when I get back." Sukoshi said to Tenten. "Here, these are the basics." She handed over a scroll. "Don't try any of them though, wait till I get back and come to find you, for now just keep reading so you fully understand the concepts…er who'd your Jonin Sensei?"
"Guy-Sensei." Tenten replied, holding the scroll as though it was the most fragile thing in existence.
"I'm perfectly fine with you giving Tenten some tutelage. She is naturally gifted with weaponry which isn't my area of expertise, in fact I would appreciate the assistance in her training." Guy shared a look with the other Jonin-Sensei present. "Actually, I think I speak for all of us when I say we would appreciate you and your team's assistance in training our teams. We have a lot of different types of training planned and are going to be looking at getting help from other shinobi in the village. Will the four of you aid us?"
"There's no need to be so formal Guy." Asuma said as he lit a new cigarette, "Fancy helping whip these brats into shape?"
"I'm so in." Chīsana said before getting an elbow in the side. "If the boss says we can of course." Sukoshi gave Yuki a side-glance earning a slight dip of the head and looking at Kokujū received a nod.
"We'd be happy to help. It might be a week or more before we get back but we'll find you when we do." With that the four women left the clearing.
"So how'd the guys do on people reading?" Anko asked.
"Shino, Naruto and Choji did well, as did Lee but that was only relating to fighting ability. Shikamaru did decently but didn't apply himself fully, Kiba was distracted by her looks…"
"Not like you can blame him for that. I mean.." Anko interrupted with a whistle.
"Sasuke barely acknowledged her presence after calling her nothing special, I'd call that a fail." Kurenai continued.
"Alright, we'll call it here for today. From what's we've learnt today, we're going to need more than 2 group sessions a week. There's lot to drill into you and the sooner the better. Be here same time tomorrow and we'll go over some other stuff. Elemental affinities, weaponry choices, team roles, first aid, etc. We'll be giving you tests and randomising the teams. If you make it to Chunin you won't always be able to work in the same team you're in now, learning how to be flexible with your role on the team and know how to adjust it depending on who you're with is an essential skill to have. You'll be working on increasing the size of your chakra pools cause right now, most of you are just pitiful, poison resistance is on the lest along with my favourite…pain tolerance." Anko's grin briefly turned almost demonically sadistic before it returned to her usual smile. "Take it easy Blondie, I'll give you some stuff to keep you busy later. Cyclops isn't lying about taking your hitai-ate, no physical training for a week. Work that peanut brain of yours instead."
"Understood." Naruto grumbled.
The Genin teams slowly made their way out of the training ground as the sun was starting to set.
"I'm going to Ichiraku's if anyone wants to join." Naruto said before everyone split up.
"I could eat." Choji answered.
"Yeah, why not. We're going to be working together might as well get to know each other." Tenten added, hugging her scroll to her chest. The other all had a similar sentiment apart from Sasuke and Neji who just walked off without saying a word. "You might want to get changed first though."
"Huh?" Naruto looked down at his clothes which were still in shreds from when he was sent into the thicket by Sakura's punch. "Oh yeah. Meh, it'll be fine, I live on the other side of the village and Ichiraku's is on the way, doesn't make sense to double back. Could just pick something up on the way, I suppose."
"Shopping trip?" Ino said, her eyes lighting up.
"No, nope, nu-uh, not happening. You're not making me a pack mule when all I need is a t-shirt, I'll be fine till I get home." An idea struck Naruto and he was briefly covered in smoke. "Transformation Jutsu with the save." As the smoke cleared the Genin could see Naruto with his clothes in perfect condition. "Now to Ichiraku's!" He started marching towards their destination when Ino grabbed his collar.
"I said. Shopping. Trip."
"And I say you're forgetting something."
"What's that?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders and took a few steps forward, leaving the ruined jacket in Ino's grasp.
"Ramen, here I come!" With that Naruto broke out into a dash.
"Get back here!" Ino screamed as she chased after him. "I said Shopping Trip!"
"And I said Ramen!" Naruto laughed.
"I don't know where he gets the energy from." Sakura sighed, "We should catch up before he eats everything Ichiraku's has." She started to jog after the blondes with the other Genin joining her, apart from Lee who sprinted to catch up to Naruto.
'Countdown… start.' Naruto thought as he sped through the village.
Hours later Jiraiya looked up from his notebook.
"Shit, I'll have to track down the brat when I get back." Looking at the sky he estimated the time. "Few hours sleep and I'll head out. I'm coming to find you Hime." Jiraiya smiled fondly as he leapt into the trees, made himself comfortable on a branch and dozed off.
That's all I've got for now, hopefully it was worth the wait and it won't be so long before the next chapter's out.
The team that helped with the training it team RWBY from the series of the same name.
Until Next Time.
Basic Trainer