Chapter 30 – Team Test II
"Talk"
'Think'
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei. So…yeah.
A/N: Wow...over 4000 views. I'm honored. Thank you very much
Tenzō
Once Kakashi's kage bunshin went off, Tenzō looked around and saw a pouch. 'Too obvious' he thought.
He formed hand seals and pressed his palm against the ground; wood emerged under the pouch and carried it to him.
Once the pouch was secured, Tenzō focused his chakra and began to trace his sōshinki. He had thrown them on the grown when they arrived at the Training Ground 44 and a couple of them had stuck under Naruto and Noriko's sandals.
He noticed that Noriko began to move to the edge of the forest while Naruto has not made his move yet.
'The first two eh?' Tenzō thought, remembering Kakashi's instruction with a bit of sadness 'I guess Naruto will pair up with Noriko. They are siblings after all'
He looked at the sky. He remembered being the only survivor in that tank, watching one by one of Orochimaru's experiment subjects succumbed to death.
When Danzō-sama took him under Root, he was separated from the other recruits and was trained alone under Danzō-sama's guidance.
When Danzō-sama died, he and Sai were the only two of the same age. Sandaime-sama had considered placing him and Sai in the same apartment, but Sai had his older brother, Shin, and they opted to live in the same apartment albeit next to his studio apartment.
Tenzō then heard a low rumbled approaching him. Wary, he turned with his kunai out and saw a humongous white tiger crouching few meters in front of him. Tenzō cussed himself for wallowing in self-pity that he had failed to pay attention to his surroundings.
Naruto was walking towards the edge of the forest when he heard "Naruto!".
He turned and saw Noriko approaching him "Hey Noriko! Where's Tenzō?"
"I don't know. He was out of my range when I saw you. Wait" Noriko scanned her surrounding and "Oh no! There's a tiger approaching Tenzō. He didn't notice it. Hurry, Naruto!" cried Noriko as she began tree-jumping.
Through her byakugan, she saw that the tiger was approaching Tenzō very carefully, then Tenzō seemed to notice the tiger. They appeared to have a stand-off for a while before-
"Look out, Noriko!" yelled Naruto
THUD!
Noriko felt sharp pain on her head, she began to lose her footing before she felt Naruto swooped in and carried her to the ground.
"You okay? Geez…I know you are worried but didn't Shisui-ojisan tell you to be more alert on your surrounding" lectured Naruto with a worried look.
Still in pain, Noriko was angry at her carelessness. "I-I guess so. Come let's go. We need to help Tenzō" she tried to stand but the pain got to her. She almost felt down again when she felt Naruto put her arm over his shoulder and said "Come".
Tenzō has just finished trapping the big cat using his Mokuton when Naruto and Noriko jumped down. Naruto then let Noriko go.
Seeing Noriko being assisted by Naruto, Tenzō asked "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Tree" answered Noriko "How about you? What happened to the tiger?" she asked when Naruto also asked "Did you do this?" while looking at the trapped tiger.
Noriko saw that the tiger was immobilized by wood "Wow…you do this? How?"
Both Naruto and Noriko saw an uncomfortable look on Tenzō. Then they looked at each other. Naruto shrugged then Noriko nodded.
"So, are we ready to complete the test?" asked Noriko.
"Yeah!" said Naruto spiritedly.
"…"
"Tenzō?" asked Noriko.
"Why did you two come? Kakashi-sensei said that he'll accept the first two right? You guys are siblings. It makes more sense if you both are in the same team" said Tenzō.
"Yeah. But Iruka-sensei put us in the same team. That means we are teammates right? Teammates help each other" said Naruto.
"But-"
"He just said the first two to arrive, if we all arrived together, Kakashi-sensei had no choice but to accept us all" said Noriko with a grin.
"How's that possible?" asked Tenzō.
"Hehe, I've got an idea" said Naruto with a wide grin. They huddled and Naruto explained his plan.
"Is that possible?" asked Tenzō.
"Yeah, I've seen him doing it many times" assured Noriko.
"Well then, come on, let's go!" cried Naruto
"Wait!" yelled Noriko.
"What?" asked Naruto and Tenzō.
"Are you going to leave it like that?" asked Noriko while gesturing at the tiger.
"What else should I do?" asked Tenzō.
"If you aren't going to kill it, why don't you just let it go?" suggested Noriko.
"What?! Are you crazy? It's a big big tiger!" yelled Naruto.
"I don't know. I mean it is the king of the jungle, for it to be a sitting duck, kind of, ummm…pathetic for the king of the jungle"
"I thought lion is the king of the jungle" said Naruto.
"No. Lion is the king of the beasts. They don't live in the jungle. Why would they be the king of the jungle?" replied Noriko.
"But I saw a picture of lion with the label king of the jungle" argued Naruto.
'Really? You guys are discussing lion in the middle of the test?' thought Tenzō incredulously.
"Does it matter? Tenzō, if you are not going to kill it, why don't both of you stand over there-" she pointed at a direction "with a wood, if anything happen, I'll kawarimi, then we run like hell"
"If you are really determined, I can untie it" offered Tenzō.
"Can you do it from afar?" asked Noriko.
"Not too far" answered Tenzō truthfully
"Ok, but ready to run away" cautious Noriko.
Tenzō did hand seals, pressed his palm on the ground and freed the tiger from his bindings.
Alerted, Noriko noted that the tiger shook itself before looked at the three of them.
"Thank you human, for your kindness"
…
…
…
'Did the tiger just talk?' the three of them thought in unison.
End Chapter 30
Kage Bunshin – Shadow Clone
Kawarimi no Jutsu – Replacement Technique
Kenjutsu – Sword Technique
Mokuton – Wood Release
Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique
Sōshinki – Signal seeds