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CHAPTER 5

Aizen stood at the edge of training ground 4 with Jet, counting down the seconds before he had to bring down the hammer onto his almost late but still unofficial team.

'5, 4, 3, 2-' thud! Boom! 'Right on time,' before him lay his appointed team in a heap of limbs; he assumed they had somehow come crashing down from the sky. He strode over purposefully and looked down at them as they blinked up at him nervously, he lightly kicked-tapped with foot-Minisaki's tangled leg and the whole mess of limbs abruptly separated and threw them away from each other, "a second longer and you would have failed even before you became a team,"

Jo shot to his feet and stood at attention, even adding a sharp salute, "permission to speak freely Aizen-sensei,"

Said man chuckled at the boys act and from what he read in his academy file he was doing exactly what his parents told him to do but with a bit more…fire. He patted the boys head, laughing when the silver haired Hyuuga shook under his hand, "relax kid, no need to be so formal. For now just call me Aizen; we aren't a team yet," the boy silently looked at him, "and you can speak freely,"

"Uhm with all due respect, Tonbo-sensei said you were to be our teams sensei. Why are you saying we aren't a team yet?"

Naruto struggled to his feet and helped Minisaki up as well, he too looked at the man curiously, "yeah, how come?"

"It may seem unofficial but it's a tradition for the team's sensei to test his or her genin before he could decide if they were ready for him or her to take them on." He paused to look over their surprised faces, or the Aburame girls raised eyebrows, "but before I give you my genin test sit down and introduce yourselves," He first took the initiative by sitting down and his ninken followed suit. The three genin sat down too and quietly looked at him, the young jounin sighed, "you go first Miss dark and ominous. Tell us your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, ambition. You know, things like that."

Minisaki hummed disapprovingly and cleared her throat, "my name is Aburame Minisaki. I like my clan, poetry, training with my hive and…" she looked away and coughed out, "Naruto," said boy raised an eyebrow at how shy she was being, not easily seen but he knew the minute signs on her body, like the way her nose twitched every half minute, "my dislikes are failing, illogical people, senseless logic, among other things," she fixed her blue framed glasses before she continued, "I like training with my hive, writing poems, hanging out with Naruto, among other things," she ignored the rib jab Naruto sent her and punched his gut when he waggled his eyebrows, "my ambition is to make my jiji proud and to help Naruto accomplish his goals," she smirked at the boy who was still writhing on the ground.

"Very informative, Minisaki." Jet barked too in agreement, "your turn Commander Hyuuga-Hatake,"

Jo's chest puffed out in pride when his future sensei acknowledged his connection with his mother's dying clan, "my name is Hyuuga Jo, though you can interchange 'Hyuuga' with 'Hatake' if you want. I like my parents, training with my Tou-san, learning and cooking. I greatly dislike people that discriminate. My hobbies are training and seeing how far and well my eyes can see. My ambition is to prove to everyone that I can be as good as any other ninja."

"very good, kid, don't let anyone push you around," Jo nodded with a wan smile, Aizen looked at the Yondaime's son and sweat dropped when he saw his trying to dodge another gut punch from his obvious crush, the blow met him and he was again reduced to a writhing pile on the ground, "whenever you're ready, Mr tall, pale and very mysterious, you can tell us about yourself,"

Naruto immediately sat up as if he had never seen any pain in his life and said, "My name is Namikaze Naruto. I like training with my sword, eating beef," he took his time to drool and was broken out of his cow meat induced stupor by a sharp punch to his shoulder. He coughed and continued, "I also like-or love-my younger brother and sister, and I really like Minisaki-chan," said girl remained stoic sans the now burning red hue her face turned into, steam escaped her ears when he took her hands, "My hobbies are training with my sword, playing with my sister and brother and hanging out with Minisaki-chan. My ambition is to be the best swordsman in the whole elemental nations and…" here the clouds seemed to darken slightly and Naruto's blue hair shadowed his eyes, he bared his teeth and spat out "I plan on killing my uncle, no matter how long it takes me,"

The Aburame girl took his hand non-verbally and squeezed the limb gently.

"I didn't know you used a sword, Naruto,"

"I do. I'll show you guys later if we pass,"

"Agreeable. I also didn't know you had an uncle you wanted to kill,"

"When I think you should know, I'll tell you,"

"You do know as your superior I could command you to tell me who you plan to kill, right?"

"You could try," Naruto leaned forward and smirked at the more experienced jounin, "go ahead, I dare you,"

In the blink of an eye Aizen flicked Naruto's forehead, sending the boy skidding a few feet away, "watch your tongue kid," (not a Tsunade grade flick but chakra can augment anything) he sat back and stroked Jets head to cool her down, "your test, if you choose to take it, is to locate me and keep me in the general area for 40 minutes. You have till noon which is in about 3 hours. Begin," the man and his ninken exploded in a cloud of thick smoke and when it had finally settled he was nowhere in sight.

"What you did was out of line, Naruto-san," Jo said quietly, he faced where he knew the blue haired boy was dusting himself off and frowned fractionally, "it was a blatant show of disrespect to our superior in rank and in age."

"he's right, Naruto-kun, you were way out of line," the lone Aburame pointed out and Naruto's shoulders lowered, "there are better ways to answer a question and you know that,"

"I know. But let's forget about that for now and track that guy down,"

"Agreed," Jo stood up and activated his byakugan without the hand seals, "I can't get a trace on his chakra trail; he must be a very good tracker to know how to hide his presence."

"The bugs I place on him are dead,"

The wrapped bundle on Naruto's back shook, "my sword has a lock on his chakra but can't trace it," the Hyuuga restrained himself looking into the bundle,

"he said that we should track him down and restrain him in the general area for 40 minutes so that means he is a less popular and maybe known place," Minisaki summarized smartly, "training ground or forest,"

"That's true; he's an Inuzuka so he needs some space before he can perform his clans famed jutsu; all the forests in and around Konoha are too dense for one of their attack jutsu. So I think he's in a training ground,"

"he's also very fast because he used a smoke bomb to escape, not a shadow clone," Naruto jumped into the analysis, "I can keep up if he tries running again and distract him until you two show up, Saki-chan is wicked awesome with ranged attacks so you stay back until you think you should jump in and Jo since you're a Hyuuga you can help me beat him up," both his team mates nodded in agreement, "first we run through all the training grounds till Samehada can sniff him out. Still keep your eyes active, Jo-san,"

The trio sped out of the training ground they were on and skimmed stealthily through the training grounds until they got to training ground 34. Their future sensei was idly sitting on the branch of a tree, swinging his legs while his ninken chased around some butterflies. The man stretched and smoothed down his gelled down brown hair before he jumped down and waved to where the three genin were hiding out, "are you going to come out or are you going to stay there?" his eyes briefly trailed to the timer on a tree stump at the centre of the clearing.

A tall blue blur shot out of the underbrush. It made to tackle the man but Aizen easily stepped aside and tripped Naruto, he tutted and bent back from a fully powered jyuuken strike to his left arm. Naruto spun on his hands and used his legs to continually strike Aizen's raised arms; the strikes didn't hurt too much since his guard was up but it was hard protecting himself from the spinning kicks and also dodge the gentle fist strikes at the same time. The tables would have been unfairly turned if Jet had joined in but he told her to just observe them.

He flicked his right leg which removed Naruto's hands from the ground and slide away smoothly from Jo's persistent attacks before he grabbed the boys collar and chucked him back into his hiding place. The shark boy flipped to his feet and went straight for the figurative kill. He threw a chakra powered punch at the jounins chest which was easily slapped away but the boys quick thinking saved him because he used the momentum to slam his knees into the jounins stomach. Though it was more like a brush, he'd take what he could get.

Aizen eyed the knee as it wafted past his stomach, "nice taijutsu, kid," he caught the rising kick from Jo and caught the chest jab from Naruto, "you too, but you have to give me your all if you want to even dream of matching me," the man pushed them away and swore quietly when he had just remembered that there was a female in the genin team. He felt his chakra fluctuate heavily by the second and he switched places with a log to save himself from any further onslaught on his chakra from the chakra draining kakaichu.

Jo silently pointed out where the man was and Naruto blurred over with the Hyuuga following not too long later. There were great advantages that came from being born from the fastest man on the planet and a former Uzumaki jinchuriki. The ultimate combination made him near hyper active and very fast.

The blue blur burst into the forest and was summarily tripped by the jounin, "kid, it's one thing to be fast and it's another to be good," The boy grunted and stood up just as his two other team mates came into the clearing, "three on one isn't too fair," he folded his arms and stood to his full height, "you guys really planned this out huh?"

"We just need 15 more minutes," the Aburame said in her usual wistful voice,

"Oh, you're actually keeping track of the time," he buffed his nails on his flak jacket nonchalantly, "I've completely forgotten."

The jounin was about to leap out of the clearing but he stumbled on his feet when he noticed that the faint buzzing sound was coming from the chakra draining beetles that formed a tight dome around them, Jo took the opportunity to run in and jab any visible tenketsu but the man wasn't a former hunter ninja for nothing; he slapped the strikes away expertly and lightly palm struck the Hyuugas chest just in time to kick Naruto away and roll back from some bug fists.

He threw a kunai at an incoming bug fist and detonated it immediately after. Aizen bent back from a round house kick but Naruto's follow up kick nicked his jaw. Naruto fumbled when he realized that he had finally landed a blow and Aizen capitalized by tripping him and throwing him into Minisaki. He lightly punched Jo's shoulder and chopped his hand into the other, the limb slumped as if it had fallen asleep, "wh-what d-did you do to my shoulder!?"

"Well hidden pressure points," he chopped Jo's other shoulder and watched with amused satisfaction as he began panicking. Jo started hyper ventilating and wobbling on his feet, "oh relax kid, it'll wear out in an hour," his arm shot out and grabbed Naruto's neck in a choke hold without the choke, "and you. You run in without a well thought out plan," he lifted the boy high up and poked a pressure point on his legs before he threw him down, "then there was one," he levelled his gaze on the Aburame girl, "I've got nothing; your pretty chill."

Minisaki ran at him at the same time the alarm sounded.

The jounin caught her head which stopped her in her tracks, "congratulations. You are the last mobile genin I am to take up. There is this last minute thing we jounin-sensei's do; you have to pick only one person to be your team mate while the other has to go back to the academy for another year. Who do you choose?"

The girl pulled back and nervously-for an Aburame-eyed the other genin who couldn't meet her gaze. Naruto coughed away from her, "I don't want to put you in this position, Saki-chan, so you can pick Jo-san, I can always kill my uncle whenever I get out of the academy,"

"no…no…I see how close you two are, you two would make a great team. Pick Naruto-san; its more logical to choose who you know most,"

"How can you prove to us that you're a great ninja if you have to go back to the academy for another year? I insist you pick him," Naruto said as he faced the Hyuuga and frowned, "that's the most logical thing to do,"

"no the most logical thing to do is to pick who you are familiar with; you two didn't know me before today so I insist you pick Naruto-san," Jo too faced Naruto and frowned,

Naruto grit his teeth to hold back the growl, "no, I insist,"

"No, I insist,"

Both were now butting heads and yipping at each other incoherently. Aizen rubbed his forehead and looked at the indecisive Aburame, "what do you think? Who do you think would make this team strong?"

"I-I-I don't know," she gulped, "you know what? I'll go back to the academy. These two are stronger than me anyways."

Jet boomed out a bark that quietened the two fighters and the fidgeting Aburame, "that's enough! You all pass, ok?" the effect was instantaneous, Naruto and Jo broke apart from their arm-less, leg-less tussle and Minisaki glared at him from behind her glasses, "I'm not a team player, well anyone besides with Jet, but I know as a fact that if a team mate sacrifices himself so his other team mate could go on, its admirable. You all did noble things today; a wise, old man's old student once told me that: those who abandon the mission are trash, but those that abandon their team mates are worse than trash. I think that's how he said it. Whatever… In summary you all pass, go back to training ground 4 tomorrow 6am sharp for your first official day of training. Dismissed." A smoke bomb later and the new sensei and his dog partner were gone.

The clearing was quiet.

Then like a burst of fire, Naruto and Minisaki dived at each other into a strong hug. The girl allowed herself a wide smile as she and her friend jumped around the clearing. The duo blocked everything that was happening around them as they smashed their lips together.

Well…the girl forgot that she had on her nose long coat so it was more like he kissed her coat but after a flustered separation she fumbled with the zipper and when it was down to her neck their mouths connected in a short, chaste kiss. Jo raised an eyebrow as the two separated and back away so that he wouldn't spoil the two couple's moment. Besides it reminded him of the times his parents got too romantic in front of him, the results were sleepless nights and paranoia (AN: I hear you dude).

Back to our new couple, Naruto and Minisaki were red faced and for some reason couldn't keep their eyes away from each other, well the Aburame was still wearing her glasses but you know what I mean. Naruto pulled her to him and pecked her again, "I found this great place at the edge of the marketing district yesterday that served food and entertained guests with poetry. I can take you there tonight if you want,"

She lightly gnawed her black lipstick covered lower lip in anticipation, "would it be cool?"

"The foods good and the people there are nice enough,"

She kissed him lightly and her smile stretched a bit more, "then I guess I could go," she hesitated before she continued, "would an 'us' be cool?"

He leaned down a bit so their foreheads could touch, "I'm good with there being an 'us'; I actually thought we were an 'us' a week after we met," she giggled airily,

"me too," her pale index finger trailed over a grey streak on his black and grey sleeveless shirt before she idly stroked his bandaged arms, his eyebrows furrowed at that; it was a nervous habit he knew when she wanted to tell him something but found it hard to get it out of her mouth. He gently took her hands,

"What's wrong?"

"how-how-how," she cleared her throat and began again, "how are we going to tell jiji?"

'…oh yeah,'

Samehada's unrestrained giggles filled the forest not long after his thought.

Authors note

I'm not one for sappy romance but I think this was ok. Not too sappy I hope? I don't like over sappy romance; it drips all over my floor and I don't like that.

Anyways, Naruto's development is gradual so it's understandable how he would be the best genin in taijutsu but he wouldn't be able to match a jounin hunter ninja. He used his superior speed to get the job done and all Aizen told him was that it wasn't all about speed. Jo's taijutsu is limited to only his clan and you can't tell me that Aizen hadn't sparred with any Hyuugas to know the general way of not getting his tenketsu plugged up. Minisaki is a bit below Naruto and Jo in taijutsu but as Naruto said she was better in long distance because of her hive control, so far it was only her that kept him in the general area the most.

What do you think? Was the read worth it? I sure hope so. Tell me what you think,

Review!

B.j.