Hello, readers! A long-awaited update! This chapter is dedicated almost exclusively to the Genin test. I hope that you're ready for some action! Long paragraphs and dialogues! Yay~
Happy reading!
• • • • • •
"Survive," and with a small puff of smoke, he vanished in a shunshin.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait, what? Does that mean we have to survive the wilderness? For how long? Dude... this sucks," Shouma rambled in shock.
"Shouma, come, we can do this." Shiki pulled the shorter boy closer to him and whispered, "Let's ditch this guy, nobody wanted to be on a team with him anyways. He's strange, doesn't that mask give you weird vibes? When he leaves, we meet up and go."
"Y-yeah."
"Let's scout the area and meet back here in twenty minutes."
Kuroko nodded blankly and went along with the plan. He didn't really want to say anything to get him on their bad side, so he just let them take the lead. He overheard their conversation and decided to leave them alone as they wished. He wouldn't be able to force them to like him anyway.
When he came back to the clearing, he waited, waited... and waited. He sighed and stood up. "I should have known..." At least he knew how to survive outside, even in the cold snow. He went to the cave he found and sat down, he cupped his hands over his mouth and breathed warm air on them. It was getting late, and the sun was almost past the horizon. He unsealed a few ration bars. They didn't taste that great, but they would give him the energy he would need. He couldn't just leave to eat what the Akimichi have planned for him. He was in the cave for a while, a few hours from the stars that were in the sky.
It was going to be a long night.
As soon as he finished that thought, he heard screams in the distance. They were faint, past the other side of the clearing and further into the trees. Instantly he stiffened, straining his ears for any sounds. He heard a footstep, and it was silent for a few seconds, but he knew better, then the footfalls continued to come closer.
Kuroko narrowed his eyes in suspicion. It's been oddly silent for too long.
His ears perked when he heard a whistling noise was drawing near, something was flying through the air towards him. From the tone of the whistle, he thought it was a kunai. When it came into view, he dodged and noticed a piece of paper at the end of it. An explosive tag. He bolted out of there and was confused when the tag didn't go off. He sighed lightly, it was a dud. Then, unexpectedly, he was almost blinded by a bright flash. If he didn't smell smoke beforehand, he wouldn't have been prepared to dive behind a tree.
He stayed on guard, waiting for the next move. No doubt it was his sensei that ambushed him. He had ordered them to survive, simple to underestimate the task, but that's precisely what the man wanted. From the screams he heard earlier, he assumed that his "teammates" have been the unfortunate first victims. Kuroko came to think that if he didn't hear those cries, he wouldn't have expected the ambush. In a twisted way, it was supposedly a good thing that they ditched him. Otherwise, he would have been finished, probably. He didn't like the thought of leaving them alone in the cold though.
The next assault was a wave of shuriken, and he had no choice other than to take one to the shoulder. It dug in pretty deep. He didn't rip it out because otherwise he would risk unblocking the wound and start to bleed out. He was glad that he read those strategy and tactic books that Shikamaru had. They had a whole bunch of nifty facts in them that were beneficial to him at the moment. Kuroko ran to an opening in the field, rather than being in the woods and not being able to keep track of the attacker, his sensei. He needed to figure out where the man was. He was good, of course he would be, the man was a Jounin. Kuroko didn't stand a chance and he knew it. He would somehow have to catch the man by surprise.
"You're smarter than the others," Kuroko heard the man approach from behind. "Fell for a simple pitfall," he sighed heavily, Kuroko almost laughed at that, and his possibly soon-to-be-sensei caught on to his amusement. "I'll tell you what I told the other two. You need to survive until morning, try to fight a bit better than them please," he turned on his heel and left in a wisp of smoke. Kuroko heard the man say 'pathetic' under his breath before he disappeared.
The words echoed through Kuroko's head, 'fight a bit better than the others'. Okay, so that meant that he had to fight back at some point. Running and hiding wasn't the only point of this test. Kuroko had an advantage since he was used to these kinds of conditions—sleepless nights in the cold were a norm these days for him. He sighed, it was going to be a long and stressful night.
He was worried about the other two though. It was getting darker earlier because of the season and thus got colder, faster. From what the man said he could guess that the other two were still in the pitfall. He could risk going to help them out... but he couldn't trust them.
Kuroko nodded to himself, he couldn't just leave them alone. As he made way to where the screams came from—he could remember where the sound came from—he kept kunai at the ready, prepared to deflect projectiles. When he saw the pitfall the man talked about, he approached cautiously and peeked over the edge.
"H-hello?" He got closer and waved down to the two and noted that there were scuff marks around the hole indicating that they have been trying to get out.
The two boys had no other options, nothing they tried was in their attempts to get out was successful, so they gave up. Shiki sat on the ground, leaning on the wall of the hole while Shouma laid on his back in the dirt.
"Kuroko?!" Shouma sat up quickly with his shout, surprised to even see him.
"Shh!" Kuroko put a finger to where his lips would be to try and silence him, "Sensei could be around."
"You actually came." Shiki didn't think he would actually go to them, much less help them out.
"Y-yeah. Have you guys tried using kunai to get out?" That's what he would do if he were stuck in a hole.
"What do you mean?" Shiki asked. He was the more intelligent one out of the two stuck in the hole.
"L-lodge the kunai in the wall and use them as footholds."
"Oh! Mmph!" Shouma was cut off from his loud exclamation by Shiki. "Great idea!" he whispered after licking the hand on his mouth.
Suddenly there was a metallic clang as Kuroko turned his head. He heard a shuriken coming and knew he couldn't avoid it in time due to his position, but turned his head so it would hit his mask. He got up and tried defending against the onslaught but was forced to retreat back from where he came from.
"What's going on up there? Nekoma?!" Shouma shouted as he looked up. He saw the projectiles flying above them from the pit trap.
"Come on Shouma, let's get out of here."
After a few failed attempts, due to the kunai not being lodged in far enough, they got out to see no trace of Kuroko around. His footprints already hidden by the snow and wind.
"Shouldn't we use the hole for shelter?" Shouma had a stroke of brilliance, "It'll keep us from the wind." He shivered, he hasn't dressed appropriately for the weather.
"He did say we just had to survive..."
• • • • • •
Kuroko did not let up in his dead sprint. He needed to gain ground and put distance between him and the threat. Approaching the clearing, he noted that the depth of the snow looked was around his waist height. Using chakra to give him an initial boost, he ran at a tree that didn't have snow on the bark and utilised another burst to help him leap into the middle of the clearing. That way there would be no trail to where he would be.
Now he could prepare his hiding spot in plain sight.
Luckily, he landed at a spot where the ground dipped, making it that the snow surrounding him was up to his eye level when sitting down. He dug some snow away, making more elbow room so there would be no risk he would ruin his makeshift shelter. Kuroko could already feel himself warming up. The hole he created blocked the wind, while his mask protected his face from the flurry of snow.
Looking around cautiously, he lobbed kunai high into the air around him in a circle. Each one creating small holes in the snow, and Kuroko hoped that the wind and snow would hide them soon.
Now that his trap was laid out, he tilted his head back so his mask would be the only part of him visible.
Good thing it was white.
• • • • • •
Kuroko sighed silently. He's been as still as he possibly could for… he thought for a moment, about two hours—It's around three am I think? He was getting stiff from sitting in the same position for so long, his neck in the most discomfort. He also had a headache coming on, the result of mental strain and being awake for so long.
Kuroko needed to keep aware of his surroundings, and while he usually filtered out sounds for comfort, he couldn't afford that in the current situation. Each noise had to be heard and be differentiated from each other. The real headache was the wind. It was blowing east, and while that was simple enough to keep track of, it changed uncontrollably both in direction and strength. A quick shift in the wind caused all the sounds to alter around him, an influx of leaves rustling and branches creaking when it abruptly moved in a different direction.
It was a challenge to try and listen for anything that didn't sound natural with the wind.
He could only take solace in his trap. Kuroko didn't have much confidence in his skills, but he was sure it would work well enough for him to escape another assault—but before that, he would have to confront his possible Sensei. Surviving couldn't be the only requirement to pass, he was sure about that.
He would try and get a few hits on the man, that was his goal for this test. Kuroko started to doubt himself but recalled the advice he and Shikamaru received. Shikaku told them to use what they knew to its fullest potential. It was what initially made him think of how versatile chakra strings really were. No hand signs were required, and he could hide his hands movements from under his poncho. He could also play on how he would be underestimated.
Kuroko smiled, the man won't know what hit him!... Hopefully. Despite feeling drained mentally, he felt prepared.
• • • • • •
Hidden in the underbrush, the man smirked. Clever idea. I wouldn't have seen him at all if I didn't sense his chakra. He was now interested in the kid. If a sole Genin were up against a Jounin, it would be immediate defeat—but Kuroko played around the immediate danger with cunning ideas.
Let's get this started. The man drew a few kunai and silently jumped onto a tree branch when the wind picked up as to not make any sound. To the Jounin's alarm, he saw the mask of Kuroko twitch in his direction. His smirk shifted to a grin, oh this kid is sharp. So he could hear that this branch I landed on was from an unnatural cause.
Not giving Kuroko any further time to think, he flung a kunai at Kuroko's head before using shunshin to approach from behind. Rather than blocking the blade with his mask as the Jounin initially thought, Kuroko straightened his head and the kunai flew by harmlessly.
He thought that Kuroko would block the blow with his mask as he did before by the pit trap—he thought wrong. The Jounin quickly drew another kunai to parry his own attack.
If that was on purpose I'd be impressed, the man frowned thoughtfully. Actually, that's already happened.
Slowly getting up from the ground, Kuroko crouched into a defensive stance. He couldn't say that he didn't expect another kunai to be aimed for his face, but he had a hunch from the man's actions beforehand. When metal had rained down upon him by the pit hole, there were three instances where he blocked kunai with his mask.
The man saw Kuroko shiver, wind cutting through both of them. He noticed that with how Kuroko was leaning forwards, he couldn't tell where his arms were under his poncho. They stared at each other, waiting for the other to make their move. Kuroko was waiting for a chance, a chance to somehow get the man into the air. It was the pivotal point in his plan.
Kuroko shifted slightly, getting uncomfortable. His hands were getting really cold.
He's definitely smarter than the other two, the Jounin reiterated once again, narrowing his eyes at the comically short boy in front of him. When he ambushed the other two, Shiki and Shouma, they both went straight for him and charged straight into the pit hole. Their stupidity almost made him laugh. Almost.
Seeing a moment of distraction from the quirk in facial expression, Kuroko threw a projectile at the Jounin from under his poncho. White flew by, almost hitting him and the man frowned. It was a snowball. What is he playing at? Then Kuroko threw another, and he didn't need to move as it fell to the ground just before his feet. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow, Did I judge wrong?
"What's that going to do kid?" he was getting irritated.
Kuroko threw another.
Okay, now he was angry. His beady orange eyes narrowed dangerously as he caught the snowball, "E—nough!" and crushed it in an iron grip.
Bad choice.
There was an audible hiss when the shuriken embedded deep into the palm of his hand. Blood flowed freely and dripped onto the snow. "Fuck that's in deep," he grumbled under his breath. Gritting his teeth, he tugged sharply and ripped out the shuriken. He wouldn't be able to use that hand anymore, tendons were cut and he couldn't move his index, middle, and ring fingers.
Just as the offending shuriken was thrown to the side, Kuroko spun on the ball on his feet and whipped a group of snowballs from within his scarf in a horizontal line. With actual effort put into the move this time around, the Jounin only had enough time to jump over them from the close distance.
Reaching his goal, Kuroko flicked his wrist up, and some of the hidden projectiles shot up from under the snow.
"Nice try." The man grabbed a kunai and deflected them, but couldn't react in time for the snowballs that were thrown earlier to shoot up from under him. A kunai went through the bottom of his left shoe, and one got the underside of his left thigh. He landed and kept his injured leg off the ground, taking out the projectiles in a swift motion as to not aggravate the wounds. Plus, he couldn't really stand on his leg when a kunai was in the bottom of his foot.
"Fuck." Alright, I can't afford to underestimate this one anymore—because now he had a hole in his shoe that was letting the cold snow in and his blood out. Not to mention an injured thigh and hand—he's got some tricks up that poncho of his...
Shikamaru's shogi games were really having a positive result on Kuroko. His planning skills have improved, but at the moment he didn't have anything else. He was brought back from his mind when his hopefully soon-to-be Sensei moved.
They engaged in a bout of taijutsu, and because Kuroko was so small, it was hard to get any hits in—but it was the same for the man. Kuroko twirled around a punch and grabbed the wrist, gripping harder, he jabbed his thumb in right where veins met. Kuroko only got one additional hit in before he was completely overwhelmed.
He pushed off the man's leg, making him lose his balance momentarily, and retreated with a back handspring. Suddenly, a sharp pain came from his shoulder, and he fell as the arm collapsed under his weight, grunting with the tumble. Kuroko had forgotten about the shuriken in his shoulder with how numb it felt. The throbbing he got accustomed to grew much more intense and new, fresh blood flowed freely down his arm, soaking into the bandages.
Rolling off of his shoulder, he kicked up and quickly threw four kunai with his good arm. Immediately afterwards he used chakra strings to move the weapons in the snow to distract the man while he escaped.
While the Jounin was distracted by the floating weapons circling around him, Kuroko disappeared. The projectiles dropped out of the air when Kuroko's range ran out.
Judging from the trail of blood on the snow, it had to hurt. Following the blood into the foliage, the blood and footprints vanished. "I'll have to check on him."
But before that… it was about time to check up on the other two.
Vanishing in a puff of smoke, the man reappeared right at the edge of the hole.
Looking down into the pitfall, he sighed, frown surfacing once again. "... Those two are lost causes." The boys were sleeping without a care in the world. Both of them. Not even bothering to sleep in shifts to keep watch.
"Dead."
• • • • • •
The test ended when a sharp whistle sounded from the training field. With that signal, Kuroko came out from his hiding spot that he was at for the rest of the test and went to the clearing. It's where the sound came from. He was the first one there, and it took a few minutes before the two other boys stumbled through a bush, clothes and hair covered in dirt.
Shouma stretched with a massive yawn, "So did we pass?" he asked and wiped his sleep filled eyes. "We survived."
"That... is true," the Jounin scratched his scruff, "but it was not the true meaning of the test."
"What do you mean? We did exactly what you asked," Shiki crossed his arms, irked.
"Not in the way I wanted you to. You two fail," and before Shouma could start his shouting, the Jounin continued, "When ambushed, you two charged immediately with no other forethought, got trapped in a pitfall, and stayed there for the night even when helped by your teammate. Another year at the academy wouldn't help you."
"What do you mean?" Shiki reiterated.
"Choose to give up on a shinobi career, or try to pass again next year."
"Well, I'd try again next year of course! I ain't giving up!" Shiki nodded in agreement with Shouma's exclamation.
"Then go to the academy. Leave."
"But!"
"You cannot change my judgment." The man went through a few hand signs before the two of them vanished. Some sort of jutsu that transported similarly to the shunshin? Kuroko was curious, the shunshin was one of the techniques he wanted to learn.
Kuroko blinked, "U-um, then what a-about me?"
"You've passed my criteria. I see potential in you and want to pass you, though unfortunately teams are made of four-man cells. I'll try and see what I can do with you."
"Ah, o-okay. Um, t-then may I ask why?"
"No." At that Kuroko's shoulders slumped. "Not now at least."
"I n-never got your name, Sir."
He just smiled, "I'll contact you within a few days," and with a two-fingered salute, he poofed away, totally avoiding the question.
Kuroko blinked owlishly, "... How do I get back?" The snow covered any path that would lead back to the village. He sighed and flexed his hand on his injured arm. Medical attention was needed. Since he didn't know which way to go, he walked towards the direction he heard sound coming from.
When Kuroko pushed through some shrubbery, he had expected maybe a shinobi training. As he got closer, he heard talking but didn't bother with trying to hear the conversation. From what he could see, there were three people, all familiar. A boy tied to a post with unruly blond hair, a girl with long pink hair, and another with black hair who was pinned on the ground by a grown man with impossibly styled silver hair.
The students didn't notice him, but the teacher did.
The man glanced up to the new addition, but didn't get off of Sasuke and continued with his lesson. "Shinobi are faced with hard tasks. What is even more important now is teamwork! Running in without a plan is suicide. You might as well kill your team with your own hands." He casually reached back into his pouch and poised a kunai at Sasuke's neck. Kuroko tensed but didn't move, a lesson was being taught. "Sakura! Kill Naruto, or Sasuke dies."
The one in question paled and looked with wide eyes to Naruto, fear rattled through his very being, a sharp chill went down her spine.
Before Kuroko could entirely think it through, a chakra string was attached to the kunai and was yanked out of the Sensei's hand. The man's head whipped towards Kuroko, and he recoiled.
"There is always a way out," Kuroko quoted what Shikaku had told him during a talk with Shikamaru and himself. They were talking about what kind of situations that could occur in the field of shinobi. That's when Shikaku, with his wise words, told them that as long as they had options and a sharp mind, there was always a way out, "Use what you have diversely." Kuroko blinked when the people in front of him stared at him, "O-or that's what I've been taught..." he finished sheepishly, nervous from the stares.
Kakashi got off Sasuke, "That's very true, but it's a situation that could very well happen. When on a mission, you're lives are on the line," he walked to a stone by the training posts. Kuroko recognised it. "Look at the marker..." his voice got quieter as he talked, "All the names carved in stone. Heroes of our village, ninja."
Naruto's ears perked at the word hero, "That's it! My name's going to go on there! I'm not going to throw my life away! I want to be like them! A Hero!"
Oh, the irony.
"Naruto..." Kuroko spoke, tone sad. He shook his head, "No. You don't."
"What? Why?"
"T-those heroes that you want to be like... t-they… they're—"
"The dead kind," Kakashi finished Kuroko's thought. "They died in the line of duty." Naruto's face changed immediately, sadness and guilt from the words he's said. "This is a memorial. It includes the names of my best friends."
"Now," Kakashi looked to his potential Genin, only glancing at the extra sitting by the shrubbery for a moment to confirm that he wouldn't interfere any further. "Pay attention! I'm giving you three one last chance. It'll be a much harder test. If you're prepared to continue, you may eat one of the bento boxes. No sharing with Naruto. He goes hungry—he's brought it upon himself. If either of you feeds him, you fail the test right then and there." He glared at the three intimidatingly, "My word is law. Do you understand?" When he got nods of confirmation, he vanished in a blur of speed.
Kuroko yawned and his eyes watered, the tears burning his eyes. Through the teacher's lesson, a wave of drowsiness hit him like a brick and started dosing off. He was too paranoid after the last assault that he couldn't fall asleep, and now that there was closure, sleep beckoned him. The three of them thought that he had left, but he moved in the shadow of an overhanging tree to stay out of the way. Kuroko didn't have much of a presence so he could vanish without people noticing quite easily.
Suddenly, he was jolted awake when there was an explosion of smoke and screams.
"You!" Kakashi shouted with a deathly glare pointed to the students, the killing intent dissipated when his tone did a one-eighty"... Pass!" he said happily, eye crinkling in a smile.
Naruto was coughing still. From the surprise, he started choking on his own saliva, "Wait, what?" he grouched out with his raw throat in disbelief.
"We... pass?" Sakura didn't believe it, they hadn't shown any skill, and they were being passed?
Kakashi gave his reasoning and advice he had gotten from an old friend. "Those who do not care and support their fellows... are even lower than that!" Kakashi let his students revel in his amazing speech and then snapped and gave them a thumbs up. "That concludes this exercise, you all pass!"
Naruto sighed in relief and slumped in his bounds, sliding to sit on the ground.
"U-um, excuse me?"
"Oh! Kuroko! I forgot you were here!" Naruto jerked his head to try and look behind him.
"Y-yeah."
"Why are you here anyway?" Sakura asked none too friendly. She had always thought that Kuroko was weird and avoided him. Just like that bug kid. She shivered at the thought of bugs, creepy crawlies were a big no-no.
"I-I finished my test and my Sensei left me, but I can't find my way back to the village with the snow c-covering the paths." He tilted his head to his shoulder, "I sort of n-need medical attention."
With him pointing it out, eyes were drawn over to his shoulder where they saw the point of a shuriken poking out. He'd recently bandaged it, but when he jerked in surprise with Kakashi's scare tactic, he moved and it started bleeding again. There were a few drops of blood on the snow.
"Kuroko! You're going to die with all of that blood!" Naruto shouted from his post, legs flailing in panic.
"Not now... I might pass out if it isn't treated properly though." He was feeling light-headed from the blood loss. "I-I left it in because i-if I took it out it would bleed more heavily."
"Follow me then," Kakashi blew warm air into his hands and stuffed them in his pockets, "I'll show you kids back." Sakura and Sasuke followed in step with Kakashi when he started walking away.
"H-hey! C'mon, don't leave me here!" Naruto thrashed around in his bindings. Kuroko took out a kunai and cut the ropes. "Thanks, Kuroko!" Naruto flashed a toothy grin.
Kuroko nodded his head with a little smile and caught up to Kakashi. He wasn't really comfortable walking beside anyone else. Naruto was nice, but he was a little too chatty and overwhelmed him.
Kakashi looked down to Kuroko. That wound is deep. Good thing he didn't remove it, it would have caused much more damage. "How long has it been like that?"
Kuroko didn't expect the Jounin to talk to him. He looked up to the man, "Since..." he had to think a moment, "around eight l-last night."
"Eight?!" Sakura couldn't believe that he put up with it for that long.
"What was your test?" Sasuke asked. It piqued his interest that he was actually injured in a Genin test.
"To survive," Kuroko quoted the very words. "I had to survive t-through the night with periodic ambushes," Kuroko paused in his steps and sneezed, it had come without any warning and pain radiated through his arm. The group was kind enough to wait while he recovered from the sneeze.
Something was on Sasuke's mind, Kuroko only said 'I', "Then what about your teammates?"
"My teammates d-ditched me... s-so I was alone."
"But did you pass?"
"I-I'm not sure, I-I was told that I would be contacted in a few days."
Before Naruto could question about his teammates, Kakashi asked a question, "Who was your Sensei?"
"I-I don't know... He never told us. His hair's black a-and curly and he has o-orange eyes." Kakashi only had one person pop to mind with that description. He would do a test like that.
The conversation promptly died off when Sakura asked Sasuke out on a date, and after being rejected, Naruto asked Sakura. Kakashi kept his eye on Kuroko as they left the training grounds.
"T-thank you," Kuroko bowed in thanks and started to walk towards the centre of the village where the hospital was. It would take about half an hour at his pace, but he couldn't aggravate his wound anymore that it already has.
"I can get you there faster."
Kuroko tilted his head, "How?"
Kakashi smirked under his mask, and Kuroko didn't have a good feeling, "Like this," Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder, and before Kuroko knew it, he was in front of the hospital feeling nauseous.
"P-please..." Kuroko held down the need to get sick, "D-don't do that without warning!" His voice cracked when it went up in volume.
Kakashi eye smiled, "Maa, maa, it was faster right?"
Kuroko couldn't deny that, but he didn't want to respond to the Jounin. It only took about a minute for the side effects of the jutsu wore off. He turned around to thank the shinobi but stopped when he saw that he wasn't there anymore. Kuroko sighed lightly and entered the hospital, approaching the receptionist's desk.
The receptionist was on autopilot as she greeted Kuroko like she would any other, "Hello, how may I..." the lady cut herself off when she saw the shuriken in his shoulder.
"I-Is Haruhi Kaminashi in?"
"I'm sorry to say that she isn't, but another doctor will be able to help you."
"Ah, n-no thank you," before she could stop him he turned on his heel and went to the Hokage tower. If Haruhi wasn't in, Hiruzen said that he could help him. Up a few flights of stairs, he came to the Hokage's secretary desk.
"Is Hokage-sama in?"
"Yes, just wait by the door. You will be called in." The lady saw the shuriken in his shoulder and thought he was a shinobi returning from a mission, so she let him right through without any fuss.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was a busy man with the mantle of Hokage to run. He sighed, it has been quite a hectic morning, and it was about time for lunch. After this, he thought as he pushed the finished paperwork to the corner of his desk.
"You may enter!" Hiruzen called from his desk and saw a familiar kid walk in, "Ah, Kuroko-kun. What has you here today?" Even before he answered, Sarutobi noticed the injury on his shoulder.
"Well... Uh, I went to the hospital, b-but Haruhi-san wasn't in," Kuroko gestured to his arm.
"She's on a mission I'm afraid," he took a breath of his pipe and set it down on his desk. "Rat!" With the sharp call, an Anbu appeared kneeling in front of the Hokage. "Please give Kuroko-kun treatment."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Rat here is an Iryo-nin, he'll be able to help you. Now, I have to leave for a meeting, alright Kuroko-kun? After being treated you may go."
Kuroko stared as Hiruzen smiled and left, the door slowly closing behind. "Ah." He took his poncho off and undid the wrappings on his injured arm, careful to not agitate the shuriken.
"How long has it been injured?" The Anbu asked with his monotone voice.
"Since a-around eight last night," he thought for a moment, "I put some petroleum jelly around it to keep it clean and covered."
The Rat Anbu nodded, his hand glowed with green chakra as he performed a diagnostic medical jutsu to get a picture of how his wound was. "I'm going to take it out now. This will hurt." Kuroko couldn't help but look with morbid curiosity while the shuriken was taken out in a swift motion. He flinched at the sharp pain and saw blood weld up in the hole. "The muscle will be fine, you're lucky that it doesn't need stitches."
"Will I-I be able to train?" He watched as the skin was knitted together. When the healing was done there was fresh pink skin where he used to be injured.
"As long as you don't bruise the skin and lift the arm over your head for a few days." Rat informed him.
"T-thank you Anbu-san." Kuroko nodded his head in thanks and rewrapped his arm after putting a thin layer of petroleum jelly over the tender newly grown skin. He looked back up from his task to see the office empty—or seemingly so. The Anbu in the shadows watched his every move as he left the room.
I'm surprised that he didn't scream. The Anbu in the office were impressed, a shuriken in that deep for that long would make even one of them groan in pain.
• • • • • •
The Jounin in the meeting room bowed as their Hokage entered the room.
"Sorry for the delay. I had an unexpected visitor." He reasoned and looked to the Jounin responsible—he also took some extra time for lunch, but they didn't need to know that. "Now, the team assessments. In order of team number please." The ninja took that as their cue to be ready to report. "Team one." Hiruzen wasn't that surprised that the first teams had failed as he wrote down the results. The Jounin giving him their reasoning of how they decided. He couldn't have any people failing teams just because they wanted to—a certain Jounin came to mind, but his reasoning was always the same, but very important. He paused in his writing and frowned when the report for the next team was delayed. Looking up he called, "Team four."
The Jounin frowned in thought for a second, "There's a bit of a complication Hokage-sama." Hiruzen raised an eyebrow and gestured for his subordinate to speak further. "Two out of the three students don't have a sliver of a chance to become shinobi," he scoffed. "However, the last one made an impression on me."
Sarutobi almost smiled, "Who would this be, Kurosawa?"
"Nekoma Kuroko Hokage-sama. He has what it takes. His strategical skills and creativity caught me off guard." He smirked, "The brat got my hand, leg, and foot."
Many of the Jounin in the room were in disbelief, Kurosawa hurt by an academy graduate? No way. One rose up to speak, Hatake Kakashi. "Hokage-sama, could we hear the details? I've had a run-in with him during my team's test and—" he stopped speaking when their leader rose a hand to halt him.
"If you wish, you may stay after to join the discussion." He wanted to get the results down on paper without any delays. Then he would be able to leave earlier—but he really did want to hear about Kurosawa's test. He was one of the rather... unorthodox shinobi under his ruling. Continuing, the results once again were not that surprising. Until... "Team seven." Hiruzen was looking forward to the result of this team.
There was a slight pause before the unexpected answer came. "Pass," Kakashi smirked at his fellow comrade's reactions. He'd never passed a team before, so they were at his verdict. Only two other teams passed, the teams that Hiruzen himself created to specialise in specific areas of skill.
Hiruzen wrote down the results and dismissed his subordinates. Only a few remained, curious to hear about Kurosawa's test. Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi.
"Now, Kuronuma. What is it that you need?"
"Well Hokage-sama, I wish to pass Nekoma Kuroko. I have a suggestion since there have to be three Genin in a squad. Kuroko would be under my tutelage, and he could do simple D ranks with other teams or by himself if I deem them acceptable."
"Hmm... I would like to hear about the test you put them through before a decision is made."
"What I really want to know is how the kid injured you, Arata." Asuma came in, not worried about formality at the moment. He was the Hokage's son, so he had some leeway. Not that Kakashi really cared either. It was only the five of them, no elders around to be stiff around. "Your hand looks like a mummy's."
"Shush you, I'll be getting to that," Arata said without a beat and tucked a stray curl behind his ear. "The test I administered was a survival test. I left them out in the training fields overnight and ambushed them periodically. The requirements to pass were to fend me off and survive throughout the night."
"So you wanted to see how they would combat an enemy that was tracking them through unfavourable conditions," Kurenai said thoughtfully, "The weather was terrible too."
Kurosawa smirked, "Exactly. I'll start from the beginning. When the test started the team split up, agreeing to scout the area and go back to meet up, but the two civilian students, Shouma and Shiki, left Kuroko by himself. I ambushed the two first, and they charged, falling into a trap I laid. It was a simple pitfall," he scoffed. "Kuroko came next. I found him in a cave for cover. I threw a flash tag into the cave, and he ran out and dove behind a tree. I threw shuriken, accidentally hit him in the shoulder. I felt pretty bad, but the kid didn't even voice anything that indicated him getting hurt. Afterwards, he went to check on his teammates," Arata used the infamous air quotes. He could see the frown under Kakashi's mask it was so prominent.
"He thought of a way to get them out since they were still stuck. Using kunai embedded in the walls as footholds, quite creative. I used a clone to separate them, and Kuroko went back to the clearing in the training field. I stayed and watched the other two. Even after being able to get back out they chose to stay in the hole. They played the "You just said to survive" card." He took a breath, all this talking was getting to him. He didn't usually talk much. "I went back to the village, made a snack and took a two-hour nap."
"So you just left them there?" Kurenai wasn't impressed. She didn't like his test methods.
Arata nodded and shrugged, "Hey, it's a test for them, not me—and I needed food. Moving on, here's where it gets interesting. If I wasn't able to track Kuroko's chakra, I doubt I would have even noticed him. The kid somehow got to the middle of the clearing without disturbing the four-foot snow and sat down in a little hole of snow. It was still hard to notice where he actually was because his mask is white." He still couldn't believe it took a full two minutes to find him even when he could tell his chakra was.
Kuronuma stretched, popping some joints before continuing, "When the wind picked up I jumped up onto a branch to get a better vantage point, and he heard me. Seems like he was focusing on what sounded natural or not. The kid waited until I attacked him. I threw kunai at his head and used the shunshin to get behind him. He avoided the kunai by tilting his head, and it almost hit me. The kid's used his mask to block projectiles on multiple occasions so I thought he would then too, but it turned on me, and I had to deflect my own attack. When he got into a defensive stance I noticed that I couldn't tell where his arms were under his poncho, and when he finally went to fight back, I was stupefied. He threw a snowball at me. A snowball."
There was some laughter from the others in the room as his tone went exuberant.
"Of course I didn't take it seriously. So when he threw the next one, I was unimpressed when it didn't come close to hitting me. With what he showed he was capable of earlier in the test, I really had higher hopes. When I asked how that's going to do anything, the brat stayed silent and threw another one. Once again, missing. It was starting to piss me off, and with the next one he threw, I caught it. In my anger I crushed it in my hand," he raised his bandaged hand, "and that's how this happened," he shook his head in disappointment towards himself. "I should have taken hold of my anger and try to think of why the kid was doing it because a shuriken was inside of it. I ended up cutting tendons on my hand with how deep in it went. Kuroko was obviously taking advantage of the fact I was holding back and underestimating him now that I think back on it.
"So, when he whipped a bunch of them out of his scarf, I couldn't tell if they had weapons in them or not, so I jumped to avoid the line of them—but that's what he was aiming for. Suddenly shuriken and kunai came up from under the snow and were heading right toward me. Chakra strings. While I was distracted by that, the snowballs that were thrown in a line came up from under me and impaled my foot and thigh." He paused and looked the Hokage straight in the eye, "This, is why I want to pass him. He has the creativity and unpredictability that ninja need these days. He has great potential. We had a small taijutsu bout before he retreated into the woods, and he doesn't have much constitution, but he knows how to fight. I have a deep bruise from where he grabbed my wrist and jabbed his thumb right in a pressure point."
"I'd like to throw in my own two Ryo." Kakashi looked up from his book. "After this test of yours, he couldn't find his way back to the village. He said that he followed the noise to our training ground and ended up interrupting us when I was teaching them a lesson. When I pinned Sasuke and threatened Sakura to kill Naruto or Sasuke dies he—" Kakashi sweatdropped when he got a withering glare from the Hokage, "Mah, mah, it was for the lesson of teamwork," he reasoned. "Kuroko used a chakra string to pull the kunai from my hand. Do you know what he said to them? He said that there is always a way out. Use what you have diversely." Kakashi chuckled, "Or that's what he was taught."
Hiruzen looked at Kurosawa, he was eager to teach Kuroko, and the boy did indeed have the qualities for a Genin. But would he be worth it to keep one of his Jounin off of missions while he was taught?
"This is my answer. You will be his sensei, but, you will still be on the mission's roster. You won't get them as often, but I can't afford to keep a Jounin like you off the roster to teach a single student."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kurosawa bowed and exited the office, happy with what he had gotten. He had a bunch of things in mind that he would teach the kid. "He's going to hate me," smirking evilly, the Chunin that he walked by paled in fear, their eyes following him as he walked through the hall.
What the hell's his problem?