Chapter 5: Test, plotting and Ramen?
"So, are there any among you that feel your genin aren't up to the tasks that their special duties will ask of them?" asked the calm and collected Hokage.
"I think that Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru were made for this. Shino's bugs are perfect for intelligence where Shikamaru can plan out many different scenarios and Chouji with his combat skills are a great back up if thing were to go wrong, so I pass team 10," Asuma said.
"Very good. Now Kakashi, what about you?" Sarutobi asked
"I pass team 8. Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Kiba are all built for assault. Give me a week and we can do B ranked missions with ease," Kakashi said smugly.
"I appreciate your sentiment but I think the D ranked will suffice," Sarutobi said with a cold voice. "Now, has any one seen Anko?"
"She probably realized what she got herself into, and quit," Kakashi said.
"Actually, Anko said she couldn't deliver a verdict on her team until their test is done."
All eyes turned to the door and saw Hana leaning agents the frame. "Ok then; did she say how much longer it will take?" The third raised an eyebrow at the look he was getting from the young Inuzuka.
"Well, it all depends on them, but she said it would take at least six more days."
The news the occupants in the room just learned made them all more than just a little confused. "Before you ask what kind of test can possibly last a week, she threw them in the forest of death for a survival exercise."
To say the Hokage was upset would be a tremendous understatement. He was down right pissed but at the same time he was curios what Anko saw in those kids that no one else did.
Asuma was shocked far beyond constructive thoughts, for he knew first hand how dangerous the forest can be. "What? Is she mad? There are Chuunin that have problems in there!"
Chuckling Kakashi added in his opinion. "It would seem that Anko is up to her old tricks again. I always knew just because a snake sheds its skin doesn't mean its motives change. She probably has them half way to Oroch..."
"Hatake if you even so much as think of finishing that sentence I'll…"
"You'll do what?" Kakashi cut off a very pissed Hana.
"That will be enough!" yelled a now irate Hokage, as the two stepped away from each other. "You two are Ninja of the leaf and you will act like it or I will strip you both of rank, am I clear?!"
"Yes sir," Hana said quietly as Kakashi just left the room.
"Now, what is Anko doing?"
"We are testing their team work and skills in a real life or death situation. Their goal is to collect two items that Anko has placed within the forest. We do know of the dangers and will intervene if their lives are in real danger, that is why she is not here now she's watching them," Hana explained. What she didn't say is that Anko was going to keep them in there the whole time, no ifs, ands or buts.
"Very well, but I would like to speak to Anko when this is said and done." The tone he used told Hana that her girl friend was in for a chewing out.
"Yes lord-Hokage," she replied before leaving the room.
"How can you still do this job?" Asuma asked his father.
"Some times I have no clue."
Somewhere near the forest of death Anko was leaning against some camping supplies trying not to laugh at her students.
Flash Back.
"Any questions? No? Good. Now, get going, your time started two and a half hours ago!" Anko yelled. With that the three Genin took off like a shot only to be stopped by Anko who was now standing right in front of them. "Before you go, I'm going to go through your supplies and take out what ever I fell is unnecessary, this is a test after all," Anko said leaving the three genin with three different thoughts.
'Damn It, I spent 4 hours trying to figure out every thing I would need for this test and another 3 trying to pack it all! Now she's going to take it, what the hell?' Sakura thought in frustration.
'I hope she'll let me keep my scroll, I was hoping to read it so I can show mom and dad they don't need to worry about me," Ino thought with determination.
'Shit!!!'
'What are you yelling about now?'
'What, are you stupid? You know damn well I have number seven with me, and I know you want to read it just as much if not more than I do.'
'Kit, if you lose that book you can forget any peace and quiet that you may have gotten on this little test,' Kyuubi said in a dead serious tone.
'Screw peace and quiet! If Sakura and Ino see it I'm a dead man, and god knows what that crazy woman will do!'
Naruto and Kyuubi would have kept arguing but Anko had other ideas.
"Ok so hand over all bags and pouches." Once Anko had their belongings she vanished in a dark green puff of smoke. 5 minuets later she came back but without their stuff.
"Anko Sensei, where are our bags?" Ino asked, wondering what she had taken out of her bag.
Anko answered by throwing a scroll to her student. "In that scroll is your remaining gear and supplies; you are not to open it until you're ready to set up camp for the night. And after that, you are to carry your supplies."
"What about water and food? It is only eleven am," Naruto asked.
"I said not until you make camp! Now talk back again and I will feed you to my snakes!"
With a loud gulp the Genin were all silent. "Now get going!"
Flash Back End.
Anko sat there chuckling when she saw Hana drop from a tree. "So, how'd it go?"
"The Hokage is pissed, and after I kill Hatake I'm going to kill you," Hana answered sweetly.
"That bad huh?' Anko asked rubbing the back of her head.
"Which part? The Part where I had to tell him about the forest or the part where that one eyed bastard said you were taking them to Orochimaru?" Hana spat.
"He said what!" Anko was on her feet now, and she was pissed. "God damn it! How many times do I have to prove that I'm not with that fucker?!"
"Look Anko, I know you are not and the Hokage knows as well, and that's all that maters any way," Hana said wrapping her arms around Anko's waist.
Anko returned the jester in kind. "I know, but I would like to walk down the street, or sit down somewhere without being called traitor, snake whore or anything else. Hell we can't even go out because of the damned villagers."
"You are one that seems to think I need protecting. I have no problem being seen with you and I don't care what they say, you are my snake whore."
"And you are my slutty bitch." Anko leaned in kissing Hana, who happily received it.
Hana pulled back, and saw the supplies and raised an eyebrow. "Anko…… what is that behind you…" Hana asked flatly.
Anko put a sheepish smile on. "What are you taking about Hana-chan?"
"Now I know you did something. You only call me chan when you are in the mood, when you feel bad, or did something, so spill it," Hana said with a stern look
"Well what good is a test if you are too well prepared?" Anko asked sweetly.
"Anko, you took three Genin fresh out of the Academy, put them in the forest of death, and took away half of their supplies?" Hana asked as calmly as she could.
"Well, I actually took over half from them," Anko said in a matter of fact kind of way.
Hana simply started to walk away. "Hey don't you want to go camping with me? I have everything we need!" Anko called out but Hana ignored her.
With Naruto Sakura and Ino
"Hey it is starting to get dark. Don't you think we should find somewhere to set up camp? I mean this is a new area to us, right? We don't know what to expect from this place at night and I'm hungry," Naruto suggested. Sakura and Ino just nodded in agreement as they were getting tired and hungry as well though they would never admit it. So the three of them jumped down from the tree they just landed on.
Once on the ground they started to search for a good spot to set up camp. They searched for about 13 minutes before Ino found the perfect place. It was a clearing with a small stream running west and the grass was nice and thick without any trace of moisture.
"Wow this is a great spot Ino," Sakura said while looking around and by the setting sun she knew it what about 7 o'clock. "Why don't we see what Anko-Sensei left us with?" Sakura suggested
"Well, now is as good a time as any." Ino took out the scroll and opened it, only to be met with a cloud of white smoke. "Damn it," Ino coughed out. Once the smoke cleared there were three dark green back packs and one bundle.
"Hey, those aren't our bags," Ino said slightly panicked.
Sakura grabbed one of the bags. The first thing she noticed was the weight of the bag. It was really light. That's when she opened her backpack. "What the hell, all I have are 2 kunai, 5 servings of rations, and 6 cups of ramen?" Sakura said in a bit of shock.
At this point Ino and Naruto were scared and each picked up a bag.
Ino then opened hers slowly. "Damn it, hey Sakura, you are not the only one with only 2 kunai." She then dumped her backpack to find a mass of orange, purple and red. Then she realized what she had. "It looks like I got some clothes here but only two pairs of each," she said out loud.
Now Ino and Sakura were getting worried. Not only did they not have any shelter or enough clothes they also had very little food between the 3 of them.
"Well, Naruto, what about you?" Sakura asked as she and Ino turned around to see that Naruto had just opened his scroll. Naruto's bag was packed full.
'Yes my book is still here! Anko-sensei I love you,' Thought Naruto and he quickly pocketed the small orange book. "Ok lets see I have a zip up sleeping bag, a first aid kit that is very poorly stocked and it looks like that's it… oh, wait, did either of you pack some scroll's? Naruto asked look back to the girls.
They both gave Naruto a yes for and answer, as it turns out Anko let them keep the scroll that they brought with them. Sakura, Naruto and Ino were now sitting in the center of the camp sight trying to think what to do with their "NEW" supplies.
"Well, it looks like we are going to have to do a lot more hunting than I first thought," Sakura said with an angry voice.
"And with only 6 kunai between us that won't be easy," Ino added as she looked to the bundle still lying on the ground. "And only one tent."
"We can always set some traps to catch something," Naruto though out loud. "Um, did either of you pay attention to the trapping part of class?" Naruto asked with shame in his voice.
Sakura and Ino gave each other a small glance before shaking in their heads and answered with a simultaneous no.
'Damn it! What the hell was I thinking? All that time I was trying to get Sasuke to notice me or fight with Sakura was wasted. I should have been paying closer attention in class,' Ino thought looking sad.
'I'm so pathetic. First I lost my best friend, now it looks like I threw away my ninja career too. Why did I have to go after Sasuke?' thought a deep looking Sakura.
Then, out of nowhere, Naruto burst into a fit of laughter which caught Ino and Sakura off guard.
"Hey, Naruto, what's so funny?" Sakura asked the laughing blond.
After another minute or two of laughing, Naruto managed to speak. "We are the lowest of our class." This made Ino and Sakura hang their heads in shame. "And look at us now: we are in a special ops team, we are in this forest, and if what I heard about this place is true, we should not be here. But we are, and I will be damned if I'm going to run away now," Naruto stood up, holding up his fist. "I don't care if I am the dead last; this is where I start on my path to become the greatest Hokage ever!"
This brought both Ino and Sakura out of their little funk and now both were staring at the scrolls they had brought with them.
"You are right, Naruto. This is our chance to show that we are better than they all think!" Sakura said while standing next to Naruto
"By the time we are done training, we'll have both that Uchiha bastard and that Hyuuga bitch begging to lick the dirt from our shoes!" Ino added in with as much enthusiasm as possible.
"Ok! Well, it is starting to get dark, so I'm going to go find some fire wood. I'll be back soon," Naruto said walking away.
"Ok, we'll set up the camp then. Hey, Sakura, give me a hand with the tent?" Ino asked getting a nod out of Sakura.
' You got your self some strong willed team-"MATE'S" Kit: I don't think even I can find better human team-"MATE'S", they have every thing and more a guy can ask for in his team-"MATE'S".
'Will you shut up? For the last time they are not my mate's! They are my friends.'
'I don't think your "FRIENDS" will like that temper of yours.'
'I hate you'.
"Wow, it is hard to believe that something so deep can come out of Naruto's mouth," Sakura said while putting up the tent.
"I know what you mean. He's a lot smarter than he looks; I mean if he would have tried in class he may have claimed the top spot," Ino added as she was building the fire pit.
After some time went by Naruto had come back with the fire wood and started a fire. After dinner that was put together by mostly rations, Sakura was about to pull out her scrolls to read when she saw Naruto make 13 shadow clones. He had them start running up the trees and she saw Naruto ready to do the same when she stopped him. "Hey Naruto, why are you having your clones do that?"
"Yeah, isn't that just a waste of chakra?" Ino added.
The real Naruto stopped and looked over to the girls, who were both sitting next to the camp fire and gave off the one of a kind foxy smile that only he can do. "Can you two keep a secret?" The question caught Sakura off guard but Ino on the other hand loved secrets even more than gossip.
"Of course we can keep a secret, right Sakura?" Ino all but yelled.
"Ok well the thing that makes the shadow clone jutsu so special, other than them being solid, is if they run out of chakra or I dismiss them, I retain all their knowledge. So, if they learn how to walk up trees, when I dismiss them I know how to as well. I gain all the training benefits, but I also get all the sore muscles as well," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.
The same thought was going through the minds of Ino and Sakura.
"Um, Naruto? Do you think that maybe…" Ino started.
"You can teach us your shadow clone technique?" Sakura finished.
"You know, I think I can, but it takes a lot of chakra to perform so be careful." Naruto spent the next hour and a half explaining what they needed to do to learn the shadow clone and by the end of the day they had learned the basics and could each make one perfect clone.
"Wow! You guys did great. And you learned it so fast; it took me 4 hours," Naruto said in awe.
"Huff… huff thanks Naruto, but you weren't kidding when you said it takes a lot chakra," Sakura said lying on her back.
"You can say that again. I'm exhausted all I want to do is go to sleep," Ino said crawling her way towards the tent.
"That sounds like a plan," Sakura agreed with Ino as she got up off the ground and that's when it hit them. There was only one tent. Ino and Sakura looked at each other, then to Naruto but said blond had no idea what was going on until the sleeping bags hit him on the head.
"Good night Naruto." Sakura called out from the tent.
"Yeah, and watch out for any wild animals," Ino added.
"…..Crap," was all Naruto could say as he tried to tone out Kyuubi's laughter.
"Hey, why can't I sleep in the tent too?" The only answer Naruto got was a twin death glare from his teammates in the tents opening. "Now that I think about it, it is such a nice night out that I think I'll ruff it tonight."
Later that night, Naruto was looking up at the night sky when he heard sounds that sounded like someone was walking through the bush. He got up and dashed straight for the sound, and, as luck would have it, Naruto lost his footing and tumbled head over heels right in to the person he sensed.
Anko looked down to see what just hit her when she saw Naruto with his face firmly in her breasts again. "Well it looks like you've decided to take me up on that offer, ne Naruto-kun?"
It was after that statement that he knew something was wrong, and soon found where he was. Naruto jumped up and was about to yell when Anko covered his mouth. "Oh would you give it a rest. You do know the loud ninjas don't live very long, don't you?"
'She's right you know,' Kyuubi added in his two cents.
'Shut up fuzz butt, you are not helping!' Naruto yelled at the giant fox.
"Well it is a good thing you are here. I needed to talk with you and now you've given me a good idea," Anko said.
"What do you need to talk to me about in the middle of the damn night?" Naruto shot out.
Anko's face went from her normal careless one to one of seriousness. "Do you plan on telling Sakura and Ino about your guest?" Naruto's face froze in fear and before he could get a word in edge wise Anko spoke again. "Don't think of me as a fool; I know about the Kyuubi. Hell I am one the few that knows what really happened and that he's not evil, it was your father who told me that," Anko paused for a sad smile. "He was like a big brother to me and one of the few that did not treat me as a traitor but we are getting off track, do you plan on telling them?"
"Would you tell the only two people that you ever had any sort of connection with about the thing that you are despised for?" Naruto asked with a dark tone.
"I never got the chance kid, someone else did it for me and I nearly lost them; but I was lucky that I still had a spot in their hearts. In your case, however, I would highly suggest you tell them before someone else can," Anko said with a tone that almost sounded like she was pleading with him.
"Just think about it. You three will be stuck with each other till one of you dies: there are no transfers. You three are training to be assassins. You will be teammates for life so just remember that." Before Naruto could speak again he felt a great pain in his left foot. He looked down to see a senbon lodged in it. He then looked to Anko to see that her serious expression was gone and her evil smirk was back.
"Why the bloody fuck did you do that?" he yelled as he fell back and pulled out the senbon.
"Oh, that? I'm just adding to your test. You still need to go to the far ends of the forest, but now you have some scenarios I put in place, k?" Anko said with a grin as Naruto passed out. 'I guess I should drag him back into his sleeping bag.'
Little did Naruto know his misfortune was only getting started.
Somewhere in Konoha Mrs. Haruno was walking around, looking a little lost until she found the address she was looking for. She walked up to the door and knocked a few times. She waited there on the dark porch until the door opened to reveal none other than Sasuke Uchiha with Hinata Hyuuga at his side.
"Uchiha-sama I have a proposition for you," she said with a low bow.
XXX.
Yes I know this is really short and I am sorry, I will make it up to you in the next chapter.
Some of you have asked some questions and I'm going to take this time to answer them.
All of the rooky 9 are 16, except Sasuke who is 17. I made them older because I feel that it would take longer to learn the skills needed to be a ninja, killing, stealth, jutsu. I just think being older makes more sense.
Hinata is a bitch. She is just like all the other Hyuuga and she was never a nice shy girl in this fic. If you think that's not right, please send me a Privet message.
The old OC Rob will not be in this fic, I found him hard to use.
Ok now, please leave a review. It is not hard and it is FUN!!!
There is a poll up in my profile. So if you have time please go and vote
Bow to the blueberry king. What can I say about one so blue, other than he is not green. Thanks for the Beta!
Also go read the story Resonance, by Dragon Legend of Drake. Profile Id: 1240797. It is a great read with a lot of adventure, romance and humor. You can find it under the Ino Y. & Sakura H. section.