After our mission we quickly took to training and improving for awhile, occassional D ranked missions to fill the week up. On days when Hinata and Shino were doing training with their families Kurenai-sensei would help me improve my genjutsu while speaking to me about things I would like to do to help the team. It had started with talk of using kenjutsu, while Hinata would utilise gentle fist taijutsu, Shino using many clan jutsu, I would fill the distance with a sword using speed to assist either of my teamates. However a one-trick-pony doesn't last long. Kurenai was planning on having Hinata learn some ranged jutsu or making the most of her dojutsu and help her take up shurikenjutsu, while Shino would get help in his taijutsu and potentially expand his own jutsu range. Leaving me to make up for any other weaknesses, my apptitude for genjutsu and my small desire for fuinjutsu being some strong points to branch from.
While talking about having Shino and Hinata use more jutsu Kurenai-sensei decided to confirm her thoughts as many clans have a specific elemental chakra nature that is most common in the clan members. With both being prodominantly earth style users, she expected both Shino and Hinata to have that, yet only shino displayed having that chakra nature when we were given chakra paper, Hinata on the other hand showed a fire type chakra which was the next most likely chakra nature to have due to being a long standing resident of Konoha or more generally the land of fire.
My chakra nature was a surprise to me: I pressed my chakra into the paper and watched as it cut in half. Wind. the least common type in the land of fire, meaning that there would be little help to learn many jutsu. Hope was not lost entirely though, there were plenty of books and scrolls to help with learning the chakra manipulation and applications of the chakra nature. Though that would have to wait, Kurenai-sensei made it clear that even she took a few months of training her chakra to be able to use fire jutsu. Taking time to become proficient in using as little chakra as possible while also molding it correctly. This is when we were taught the surface climbing technique, using chakra to climb surfaces such as trees or walls. This would allow us to build up chakra while also helping us to use the smallest amount.
One day when it was just me and Kurenai we found ourselves in a weapon store looking for an appropriate weapon to start practicing with. Having a look at the different choices and styles of them. For my growing height we discussed the avaliable weapons, "A katana would be too long, chain and sickle wouldn't be what we're looking for... Ah of course! Here Zuko, have a feel for this tanto." I was following Kurenai-sensei as she observed the weapons mumbling to herself. Responding to her request I held the tanto by the hilt waving it around; it was light but had weight to it. I swiped it around gaining a small smile before looking back to my sensei, to see a smirk lining her face. "I take it that'll do?" I coughed lightly before nodding.
"It fits well, almost natural. Domo arigato Sensei." I was estatic for this gift. It would go a long way, for this I was greatful.
Training to use the tanto was frequent I had wanted to kill two birds with one kunai so I tried to do my kenjutsu training while tree walking. It was hard at first but a few weeks and it was little to no bother. We had all increased drastically, gaining great team synergy and covering our weaknesses while expanding our personal skills. Kurenai-sensei decided it was time for us to learn the water walking technique, similar but more advanced to the previous technique. Despite this higher difficulty we took roughly the same time to become proficent in the jutsu. Proud with out progress in such a short time we were allowed to ask for something as a reward: Hinata requested us all go for a meal together, which was typical of her, Hinata was a very caring comrade, always wanting to bring us closer together whenever possible, even at her own expense. The chance to get something for herself cast-away for the team. Shino had asked if Kurenai would consider more C ranked missions so we can gain experience and flesh out our training, I agreed with this whole-heartedly which happens a lot with Shino and I, wanting to better the team through what was nessesary, but Shino wouldn't demand it. When it came to me I asked Kurenai to teach us the body flicker technique, utilising chakra you would be able to move across distances very rapidly, almost seeming like you don't physically move the distance but instead teleport. While the technique is hard to use in combat due to the concentration needed so you don't hit something it is a useful jutsu regardless, one that I believe would help the team tremendiously.
Kurenai-sensei complied with our requests, teaching us the shunshin while giving a warning that the further the distances traveled the more chakra would be required. Then deciding that we would go out to eat as a team two times a week. The following day we had a new C-rank mission. True to her word Kurenai was proud of us.
The C rank mission was to deliever a scroll (the contents of which were not disclosed to us) to the border of the land of fire and the land of wind: which was mostly a aird desert that hosted the village hidden in the sands somewhere within it's bowels. The mission allowed us to try and perfect our use of the shunshin to some extent though Kurenai-sensei would not allow us to use much chakra as there was still a risk of attack, however low that may be.
The trip would take a grand total of three days, crossing through the land of rivers to get to the land of wind's border and drop off the scroll to then return. The travel was quiet for the most part, we had encountered a small group of bandits who were overconfidant in their abilities, shortly after arriving in the land of rivers they had accosted us, demanding money and valuables. They sadly didn't even see Shino, Hinata and I use the clone jutsu to flank them and knock three unconcious before the last two turned to face us, leaving their backs open for Kurenai to do the same as we had. The interuption wasn't even long enough for the duration of the trip to be extended.
When we had eventually reached the outpost for our border patrol Kurenai had a short conversation with the posted konoha shinobi, asking if there was anything that needed to be reported to lord third when we returned. I could slightly hear the conversation as we stood not too far away, they had said that there wasn't anything to report however there seemed to be a change in behaviour in the Wind country's border patrol: they seemed to be somewhat more distant and there was a lack of soldiers that they had seen, meaning that either they had other priorities which was more likely as they were allies with Konoha and by extension the land of fire, or they have plans that would involve more military personnel which is more worrying.
The trip back was even less eventful and before we knew it team 8 was back to training and every other week we would do a C-rank that never took more than four days, always giving us more field experience and steadily gaining confidence in battle and mission etiquette.
With each of our training progressing and occasional sparring between Hinata, Shino, myself and sometimes Kurenai herself. Each time would be under different conditions or scenarios: Team 8 working on combat team-effectiveness against Kurenai-sensei; Shino against Hinata and myself, and each variations of this; working to overcome situations where you are disadvantaged. These continued training sessions and missions had left little time for social interactions, though that didn't ever bother me at all, so it came as a surprise when the location of our usual training ground was occupied by the other two graduating teams, both team 7 and 10 talking ambiently with all three sensei taking a quick glance over to the newest arrivals.
Team 8 joined in the group of shinobi as the others noticed them and greetings became directed at us, though before anything became too overwhelming another voice spoke up. "Great, now that we're all here we can get started." As Kakashi started to speak, before he could fully explain anything a voice bursted up interrupting instantly.
"Hey Kaka-sensei! What are we doing anyways?" Naruto voiced loudly earning a bored sigh from said sensei before he carried on talking.
"As I was about to explain Naruto, we are all here to do something different. After these few months that you have all been genin, you have not had much of a chance to get together since and we have decided that you should fight eachother; see who has the strongest team." This explanation was given with some hidden mirth in his voice. The tall Jounin looked over to his side with his lone eye expecting his student to speak up.
"Troublesome... Is this why we had to come out here this early?" This lackluster drone came from the least expected person, Shikamaru was seemingly fighting off the urge to fall asleep especially after expending that much energy speaking aloud. The reaction from Kakashi, as he realised his boisturous student wasn't the first to remark, was quickly reinged in and only after that his prediction came to fruition.
"Hehe I'm gonna win this thing no problem!" Almost seemingly naruto had been hit on the head by Sakura whilst Sasuke snorted as he felt that the words were empty. The natural events of it all made it seem almost practiced, though I new better than that.
The outburst caused kakashi to speak up to correct the audatious claim, somewhat. "Well you guys aren't doing this a little differently. We've got your names in this convinient little pouch, conveniently provided by my little Naru-chan" a certain naruto was frantically looking for his now gone wallet. "and we'll be temporarily re-aranging your teams for the day. Now who'd like to go first?" Other than the resident orange/blond practically vibrating in anticipation no one seem to be particually willing to be first. Though it seems that today was supposed to be all about out of our depth.
"Zuko, you first." Thanks sensei... Why did she pick me to go first? Yet why did it matter moreso. I suppose because this moment, all of the people from the academy being together it felt more akin to being childeren and there's an unspoken pressure around. But to a shinobi? That should be trivial. With only a moment of hesitation I walk over to the awaiting pouch, pulling out a name.
"Sasuke." I look over to the stoic uchiha and he was almost disinterested in the entire thing barely glancing when I called his name. They then had Sasuke come over and pick the next one, calling out Choji's name. When he joined us he looked slightly uncomfortable between the disgruntled rookie of the year and myself, completely average and neutral, just with a weapon strapped on my back. Afterwords Choji had called out Naruto's name and he jumped over exclaming his excitment as he then pulled from his wallet. The next name was Hinata, taking her time picking a name and making her way beside Naruto. Their last team member being Shikamaru, practically dragging himself over to his location. The last three people being Ino, Sakura and Shino. While the latter was perfectly fine the former two felt more like they had the short end of the stick.
"Now that's all settled you have fifteen minuets to prepare for the fight but you can't leave this training ground." Asuma took the stage with our last words before competition started. Sasuke quickly turned and moved out of the eye of the other combatants, retaliating to this I call Choji to follow in swift persuit making it deep enough into the foliage that we'd caught up to sasuke, who was sitting in the tree. Looking up to the last loyal Uchiha I decided to speak up about battle strategy.
"So, Sasuke, are you willing to command this unit so we can effectively win today?" He looked slightly down from his position before responding.
"Who else would? I had planned to deal with them all myself but if you two can take out the less threatening members while I focus their stongest it will all be less annoying." Nodding in agreement I continued.
"I would say Shino was the stongest of his team... However I am not sure about the last team, all their members are good. Any ideas Taichou?" While the talking was going on Choji was somewhat anxiously looking around yet Sasuke seemed unbothered.
Though not unbothered by calling him captain as his eye twitched slightly "I would say that Naruto is the strongest. But You'd probably say Hinata is while Choji would say Shikamaru. In that case I'll fight Naruto and Zuko will fight Shikamaru, leaving Hinata to you Choji." It was sound logic, Sasuke knew what Naruto was like the most, while Choji was a friend of Shikamaru's so they'd not fight normally. While Hinata would best me easily in combat. With that all sorted I had one last question to ask.
"Sasuke-Taichou, are we going to be aggressive? With both you and Choji being heavy hitters it might work in our advantage, though Shino or Shikamaru may use that against us by fortifying their positions." In response I got a smirk and a nod.
"They can fortify all they want I'll run through them anyways, Shino is the first target." With that we set off with about a minuet spare before the activity started.
Trying to sneak up on Shino was hard. He used his clan's techniques to put a perimiter around any area he was in and could basically be told of any disturbances that occured, this in turn made it hard to sneak up on his two team-members in addition. Though we weren't exactly sneaking... That's what we wanted them to believe; running straight at them with the bushin jutsu to alert Shino, allowing us to get past his insect sensors and prepare an assault on them. There wasn't much time that this would give us however, because the normal clone jutsu isn't solid in much of anyway (almost a genjutsu some could debate) the moment they were engaged or disturbed the veil would be lifted and we would have to strike then while shock was assisting us. The moment the clones got in sight of Shino, Sakura and Ino, a torrent of bugs that looked like a wave of black mass completely smothered them: the signal. Springing into action as a result Choji and I tried to colide into our opponents, Ino being my enemy in this instance had dodged backwards before seeing who attacked properly. In retrospect having Sasuke fight these two on his own while Choji and I dealt with Shino may have been better, Sakura and Ino wouldn't be able to fight Sasuke in anyway, essensially making it a three on one. But alas It was Ino vs myself and I was not going to let her have her bearings.
The young Yamanaka landed on her feet after the initial dodge, only to trust reflexes as I barrelled on with a flurry of attacks which was wearing her down quickly, obviously never having to dodge this much before. The slip-up was inevitable as a rookie gennin but eventually Ino found a fist in direct correlation with her cheek and subsequently her chest getting acquainted with my foot. Leaving her heavily out of breath and a huffing mess on the floor. Putting a kunai to her neck she weakly gave her surrender.
Making certain that I had won before I surveyed the fight, Choji had barreled through Sakura leaving her unconscious and unable to fight; Sasuke was trying to get the upper hand on Shino getting solid hits in wasn't too much of a problem, however everytime he did Shino would be able to place more insects on his body. Fighting Shino first was a double edged sword. If we fought the others first, we may have had less chakra making it easier to drain what was left. But fighting first made it so he could take our chakra before fighting the others. Either way Sasuke could use some assistance but getting close would interfere with his fighting. With that in mind I call for Choji and myself to offer fire support.
Shino only had one real option to keep in the fight at this point. Sending his jutsu our way leaving taijutsu combat with Sasuke. Though evading them was easier for me than Choji it left enough for Sasuke to connect a perfect uppercut to Shino's chin putting him into a little sleep.
This leaves only one group. "This is going well so far." Speaking up while trying to intercept the last team. Recieving a nod and Choji's small cheer.
Tree hopping across the area to find our targets didn't take long, in fact they were in the open. Shikamaru stood in the middle, Naruto to his right and Hinata on the left. That would be easy enough. However a rough count of 50 Naruto's stood their as well. Coming to a stop just before the tree line Sasuke spoke up "Choji. You're taking out all those clones. They're not regular bushin, these have physical impact. Zuko you and I will take Hinata and Shikamaru. Naruto, he's unpredictable, if he goes to help his clones then he's yours Choji... If he comes at us Zuko, you take him out." With that said he looked at us both and in turn we give an affirmative.
The three of us bombard the field with smoke bombs as cover for Choji's human bolder technique. Making his movements unknown to everyone. Since Choji has so many targets but couldn't control his direction in his bolder form this makes the best tactic. Sasuke and I skirt around the clearing before darting towards the middle, into the smoke.
Our first attacks were concealed. Shikamaru taking a fist from me and Hinata taking a hit from Sasuke. By now we could see eachother, Hinata tried running towards me as Shikamaru tried to create distance from us. Naruto started going towards Sasuke. Before Hinata got to me she was intercepted by Sasuke and forced into combat with him while I leapt at Naruto.
The surprise by this was short lived and his smile was wide as his eyes set themselves on me. "Zuko! This is gonna be fun. But I'm not going easy on you." Without another word punches flew at me with speed I wasn't prepared for. Unable to dodge the first barrage I resorted to blocking most of the attacks, they had serious force behind them but I could take it. Seeing a change in his stance I decide to flick out a kunai and side swipe as I move away, the close encounter caused the blade to grace Naruto's forearm slicing the clothes leaving a fine red scratch.
With a new position I step into Naruto causing his punch to go over my body, eyes narrowing as I spin the kunai to point up at the sky with the lunge following after it. My opponent bends backwards in reflex before countering with a kick to the head which makes me bounce away. Landing crudely on the floor. Getting up before further harm could occur.
A quick glance at Sasuke shows that his fight is going fairly evenly. His taijutsu keeping Hinata from dominating and reflexes from Shikamaru's many ranged attacks.
By now Naruto had regained his senses and carried on running at me. Collecting myself into a stance to start exchanging blows. Naruto had more power but I had the reflexes to deflect most attacks. Though his speed meant that I couldn't properly counter offensive to his onslaught. Barely five minutes of exchanging like this caused me to slip up and a punch to the side of the head knocked me out cold.
(Authors note: Hey! I have found writing this in first person annoying and harder than needed. Thus from now on It'll be in the Third Person. Hopefully with this I can make everything better. Thank you.)