The Bell Test Part 1
Minato and his Genin team taking the bell test from Jiraiya
Minato, Fugaku, and Taja are 10, Jiraiya is 24. (Fugaku's age is a bit different from canon)
Kaori is Hatake Sakumo's wife
(FUGAKU)
"Team six will be Uchiha Fugaku, Namikaze Minato, and Nara Taja under the Jōnin sensei Jiraiya," the Chuunin teacher rattled off.
"What? I was only supposed to be apprenticed to Jiraiya-san until the teams were formed!" Minato exclaimed indignantly, leaping to his feet.
"Speaking out of turn is unlike you, Namikaze. If you have a problem, you can bring your appeal the head Jōnin who allotted the senseis. You should be honored to have one of the Legendary Sannin to teach you."
Minato sat down heavily.
"Why am I stuck on a team with the two worst students in the class?" Fugaku demanded, his words dignified and clear as he rose to his feet, slow and deliberate.
The Chuunin took a deep breath before responding, "Uchiha-san, teams are made based on graduation test scores. If you have a problem with your teammates, bring your appeal to the head Jōnin. Nara-san, do you have a complaint also?" The Chuunin glanced at the third teammate with exasperation.
"No, sir!" She breathed as the room's attention turned to her.
"Team seven will be Hyuuga Tarou, Inuzuka Kurou, and Uzumaki Kushina under Jōnin sensei Sarutobi Biwako," the Chuunin continued, only pausing for a second as Kushina leapt into the air with a cheer and continuing the list.
Fugaku glared at Minato sitting stiffly on the edge of his seat, eyes unfocused. The Chuunin droned in the background. He did not mind being on a team with the Nara girl, everyone knew her IQ to be on par with the rest of her clan, but he hated the thought of working with the Namikaze. He only began attending class regularly a few months before, his test scores could not be worse if he tried, and rumors implied he did not know any Ninjutsu nor the basic Academy Taijutsu. In the class rankings, his name hung on the bottom of the list.
"Your Jōnin senseis will come and pick you up from the classroom. Remain here until that time," the Chuunin finished and left the room. Immediately, the room erupted into conversation as teammates grouped together.
"This is going to be the most epic team ever!" The loudmouth Uzumaki announced. "Here's what we're gonna do," Her voice lowered as she started to plot with her teammates. Fugaku made his way down to the front row where the Nara girl tipped her chair back and stared absently at the ceiling. Sitting heavily in the chair beside the girl, Fugaku waited impatiently. Minato pulled out a book from a well-worn satchel, dropping it heavily on the desk and swinging underneath it to sit comfortably and read.
Fugaku glared at him.
"Listen," Minato grumbled, meeting Fugaku's glare evenly, "Jiraiya-san is currently two streets away at the public baths. He has some sort of weird obsession with sitting outside of public bath houses. Frankly, I don't want to know what it's all about."
Fugaku's eyes narrowed further as he noticed Minato's slight accent to be clearly foreign. "How could you possibly know that? Do you have some sort of tracker on him?" Fugaku snatched the blond's book and riffled through the pages.
"No, I'm a sensor, now please give that back," Minato held out his hand expectantly for the book. "I suggest you find something to do for the next hour, I'll tell you when he's coming."
"Why should I listen you?"
"If you don't believe me, fine. No one ever does, but you can ask him where he's been when you get here and he's going to say 'researching' then change the subject. Until then, can I have my book back please?"
Fugaku glared down at Minato. "Sit in a chair and wait like a normal person."
"Fine," Minato sighed and twitched his fingers. The book flew out of Fugaku's hand and into Minato's on the page he left off on.
"How did you do that?" The Nara girl asked curiously as the first Jōnin sensei called out his team.
"Figure it out," Minato shrugged and grabbed the leg of her chair to pull himself to his feet, walking to the other side of the desk and sitting down on the floor, out of sight of his two teammates.
The Nara shrugged and went back to contemplating the ceiling while Fugaku fought to keep the indignant anger off his face.
An hour later, only a handful of teams remained. "Sensei's headed this way, E.T.A. one minute," Minato said suddenly, snapping his book closed, standing to stuff it into his bag, which he swung over his shoulder.
"You better be right," Fugaku snapped, standing up alongside the Nara.
A minute later, Jiraiya poked his head through the door and pointed at his Genin team. "You three, meet me on the academy training ground in ten minutes. Last one there has ten laps around the village." A breath later, he was gone.
"He means it, so you guys better race," Minato advised, swinging his satchel over his shoulder and turning his back to his teammates.
"You're not going to?" The Nara girl asked.
Minato turned around and continued walking away, backwards. "I may not know most of the stuff I'm supposed to know to graduate the Academy, but I'm as fast as most Chuunin. You don't have a chance at catching me." He spun around and slipped through the doorway.
Fugaku forced down the growl rising in his throat before racing after the blond. The Nara raced after the two, hopelessly outrun.
When Fugaku raced around the last building before the training ground, only to find a kunai hurtling directly at his face. He ducked, knocking himself off balance and tumbling into the dirt. As he regained his senses, he saw Minato standing over him, holding a hand out to help him up.
"You okay?" He asked, appearing genuinely worried.
"What do you want?" Fugaku slapped Minato's hand away and stood up himself.
"I was going to help you up—"
"Go eat your lunch, gaki," Jiraiya interrupted, grabbing Minato by his hood and shoving him towards the training ground. "Now, boy, what were the five things you just did wrong?" Jiraiya grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to his feet.
Fugaku glared at the man, "I lost my balance."
"Wrong, try again. If you can guess two before the other girl gets here, I won't make you run the ten laps with her."
"I fell?"
"Nope," Jiraiya smirked down at him. "You're supposed to be a genius, kid."
"I came around the corner too fast?"
"Closer, but no. You have thirty seconds before the girl gets here."
"I did not make any mistakes," Fugaku snapped.
"Wrong again." Jiraiya turned away from him and sent a fireball towards the corner Fugaku just rounded. The Nara girl squealed and rolled underneath the fireball then back to her feet with a kunai in hand. "Good girl, but you made three mistakes, you have ninety seconds to tell me what they were or you get an extra five laps around the village."
"I was going too fast," she responded after ten seconds of catching her breath.
"Correct, and the other mistakes?"
"I don't know," she gasped out.
"Good answer; you only have two extra laps around the village. Both of you, come get a lunch." Jiraiya waved them forward to where Minato sat poking at the rice in the bento box with his chopsticks. "Eat it, gaki, or I'll make you run double the laps the other two have." Jiraiya handed the two other Genin a bento box before digging into his own and talking between bites. "You," Jiraiya pointed at Fugaku, "Made five mistakes total, first, you ran around the corner without checking. Second, you were running too fast. Race or not, you always need to be in perfect control of your body. Third, you ducked to avoid the kunai, knocking yourself off balance and cutting off your sight from possible enemies. You should have leaned to the side. Those were your original mistakes. Afterwards, you made two more. You didn't check for any other enemies and you made contact with Minato before checking if he was the real deal." He pointed towards the Nara. "You made three mistakes total. The first you got right, you were running too fast. The second is the same as the boy, you didn't check around the corner. The third is that you squealed." Jiraiya pointed at Minato. "You are an annoying little brat who can run twenty laps around the village for ruining my first test."
Minato scowled.
"Don't give me that look. Now that's out of the way, let's start to get to know each other. Tell your name, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, and your biggest weakness. You first," Jiraiya pointed at Fugaku.
"You go first. You are the one bossing us around, show us how it is done."
"Fine, I'm Jiraiya. I like—well that's a little to mature for you kids. I dislike—I'll come back to that one. My dream for the future is a world of peace and my biggest weakness is something you three can try and figure out. Your turn."
Fugaku crossed his arms. "I am Uchiha Fugaku. I like training and I dislike idiots who interfere with said training. I do not have any dreams for the future, but eventually I will end up as Clan head. A shinobi never reveals his weaknesses."
"And you, girl?"
"I'm Nara Taja. I like stargazing and the dark because it's quiet. I dislike loud noises. I don't have any dreams for the future and like Fugaku-san said, ninja don't reveal their weaknesses."
"Gaki, you're last."
"I'm Namikaze Minato. I like reading and I dislike fighting and darkness. My dream is to be Hokage so everyone will listen to me and believe what I say. My biggest weakness is gone now so I see no need to share."
"Well, you didn't do exactly what I asked, but it'll be good enough for now." Jiraiya pulled out two bells. "I'm a busy man and I don't have time to train all three of you, so one of you is going back to the academy for another year. Whoever fails this test and doesn't get a bell from me before sunset loses their spot on this team. Whether you pass or not, you three will still have to run your laps. Any questions?"
"You're a Jōnin, one of the Sannin also. We're barely out of the Academy. There's no way for us to get the bells from you!" Taja stated.
"I will be limited to Taijutsu only and be going easy on you. You can use whatever jutsus you want. If you come at me with the intent to kill, you might have a chance."
"And what if we accidentally kill you?" Fugaku asked, more curious than worried.
"If you manage to scratch me, I'll run your laps for you. Time starts now. Enjoy losing."
The Genin scattered, sliding into the trees and brush around the clearing. Jingling the bells in his right hand, Jiraiya pulled out three kunai and threw them towards each of the Genin's hiding places.
"All three of you should be able to do better than that, pathetic," Jiraiya taunted. A second later Fugaku raced out of his hiding spot, furious, throwing a handful of shuriken as cover and attacking behind them with two kunai. The Jōnin ducked underneath the projectiles and grabbed Fugaku's ankle, throwing him against the ground. While Jiraiya was distracted, Taja jumped forward and attempted her clan's signature shadow jutsu. Jiraiya danced out of range as the jutsu entrapped Fugaku instead. As he flew out of the way, Minato threw three kunai, which wobbled in the air, at Jiraiya's exposed back and stepped forward to take the bells as the Jōnin leaned to avoid the kunai. Taja dove out of the way to keep the kunai from hitting Fugaku instead.
"What Genin cannot even throw a kunai straight?" Fugaku demanded before rushing forward to engage Jiraiya, who dodged them easily, even when Taja joined the melee.
Twenty minutes later, Fugaku and Taja disengaged to catch their breath while Minato continued to attempt to slip through Jiraiya's defense. Fugaku studied their movements carefully, attempting to reason out a pattern in Jiraiya's movements, noting with annoyance how Minato lived up to his claim of moving as fast as a Chuunin. A minute later, Minato disengaged, red-faced but not breathing hard. Minato studied Jiraiya, who appeared perfectly unruffled. After a few seconds of contemplation, he rushed towards his teammates and dragged them into the forest.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" Fugaku demanded, swinging a fist forward to punch Minato's face.
Deftly, Minato avoided the hit and danced out of reach. "Think about it, Nara-san was right, he's one of the best Jōnin in the village. There's this old children's story in my clan about a group of ants who worked together and took down a rat that kept ruining their home. Jiraiya-sensei's that rat and we're the ants. If we want to beat him and get those bells, we have to work together."
"There is only two bells. If we do not want to go back to the academy we have to get one and one of us is not going to."
"If we can't get the bells by sunset we're all going to go back to the academy. Let's get the bells and worry about who gets them later, deal?"
"That sounds good," Taja clasped her hands together. "Now for a plan. Uchiha-san, you're strong and heavier than both of us. You charge forward and distract sensei, grab him and slow him down it you can. I'll use my shadow jutsu to make him stand still, and Minato, you rush in and grab the bells if he avoids my jutsu."
"He is a Jōnin, he is not going to fall for something as simple as that," Fugaku responded scathingly.
"You don't need to be mean about it!" Minato defended her. "All three of us are ranked as geniuses, I'm almost certain he knows that, so he's going to expect something much more complicated. It needs to be simple, but we need more. Instead of just attacking him with Taijutsu, throw as many weapons at him as you can before engaging. Throw this kunai towards the bells and I'll make it cut the strings—"
"How are you going to do that?" Fugaku snapped.
Minato held up the plain kunai. His chakra flared and two prongs appeared while the kunai changed color and became harder to see.
Fugaku's hands came together in the hand seal to release a Genjutsu. "Kai!" he shouted but nothing changed.
"I can't even do normal Ninjutsu, what makes you think I can perform a Genjutsu?" Minato grumbled, patience wearing thin. "It's solid, here," Handing him the kunai, Minato continued with his plan. "It might cut the strings on the bells and make them fall. While he's trying to avoid my kunai, Nara-san will use her shadow jutsu to try and immobilize him. Don't try too hard to catch him, it's not going to work. If my kunai works and Nara-san's jutsu manages to entrap him, Uchiha-san will grab the bells and we'll figure out who gets them, if it doesn't then we'll transition onto plan B, which will be Nara-san's original plan. Anything else?"
"We are going to settle this now, who gets the bells?" Fugaku demanded. The three settled into a thoughtful silence
"What if we hide the bells?"
"Are you as stupid as you look?" Fugaku growled. "Then none of us will have the bells and we will all go back to the Academy."
"He won't have the bells and we will but he won't be able to tell which one of us has the bells, even if he searches us and we can demand that he train us all in exchange for who has the bells."
"He's a Jōnin; he'll know we hid the bells. Besides, how are we going to hide them?" Taja asked.
After a minute of though, Minato responded, "Drop them on the ground and I'll bury them in a way he won't be able to find them without churning up the entire training ground. In order for this to work, we have to all commit to it even if he threatens to send us all back to the Academy."
"I am not—" Fugaku protested.
"You have to," Taja snapped. "For this to work with have to risk all or nothing."
"Fine!" Fugaku threw his hands into the air, "We'll all be headed back to the Academy tomorrow, but if this this is how you want to do it, I'm going to hold it over your heads forever."
"Likewise, now let's go," Minato sighed and started to run back towards the clearing.
As soon as they arrived, the three split up and circled around Jiraiya who stood in the center of the clearing flipping a kunai in the air absently. Fugaku threw a hail of shuriken at Jiraiya followed by two handfuls of kunai, mixed among them was the kunai Minato handed him, which had gone back to looking like a normal kunai. As it raced through the air, the two other prongs formed on it and it began to spin. Jiraiya pulled the bells out of the way and the kunai followed his motion. The Jōnin's lips twitched upwards as he caught the handle of the tricky kunai and launched it towards Minato, following it with a flip backwards to escape Taja's jutsu. A heartbeat later, Fugaku leapt towards him, forcing him to take a step back towards Taja's jutsu. While Fugaku's body blocked Jiraiya's view of Minato, he threw the pronged kunai back towards the bells in Jiraiya's hand. With a surprising amount of awareness and dexterity, Fugaku swung his leg at Jiraiya's head, further hiding the kunai's adjusted flight towards the bells. Jiraiya's grin only spread wider. The bells fell towards the ground without a sound. Fugaku twisted his body to land on top of them, feeling them press into his back before disappearing into the ground and Taja's jutsu piggybacked off Fugaku's shadow to imprison Jiraiya.
"We win." Fugaku stated, rolling to his feet and tossing three more kunai at his arm to scratch the skin.
"A scratch from each of us so you have to run our laps." Minato ran forward, smiling widely as Taja released the jutsu and met the two boys. All three stood shoulder-to-shoulder.
"Ah, good job all three of you, but only two of you can have the bells so who is going to go back to the Academy?"
"You have to promise to train all three of us before we tell you who has the bells," Fugaku bargained.
"I only have time to train two of you."
"You cannot make us tell you until you promise to train all three of us," Fugaku maintained.
Jiraiya reached forward so quickly neither Fugaku nor Taja could see and Minato only had time to flinch before Jiraiya pulled him away by the hair from the other two, pressing a hand over the blond's eyes. Immediately, Minato began to struggle violently, clawing at Jiraiya's hand. "I could always burn his eyes out if you don't tell me."
Fugaku's eyes flickered between Minato, whose lip bled from biting back screams, and Jiraiya, who appeared perfectly serious. Taja grabbed Fugaku's arm and hid her face behind his shoulder. Jiraiya's hand started to glow red and Minato whimpered. "Stop!" Fugaku screamed, trembling as hard as Minato and holding onto Taja's arm for support.
"Why should I?"
"Because, if you hurt him and ruin his career, we will never tell you who has the bells even if you send us back to the Academy!"
"Good job, you all pass. Welcome to Team Jiraiya." The Jōnin released Minato and pushed him towards his teammates. Minato stumbled forward, falling to his knees in front of Fugaku, who immediately grabbed the blond's face to make sure he was unharmed. "The test was about teamwork and to see how much you would risk for your teammates. Considering how you're all glaring at me, I guess I might have taken it a bit too far, but you were doing too well for me to stop. Now I really am curious, which one of you has the bells?"
Fugaku only glared at him as he ducked under Minato's arm and pulled him to his feet, motioning for Taja to answer instead.
"None of us have the bells. Namikaze-san hid them so you couldn't make us tell you who had them."
"Clever. Taja-chan, will you make sure Minato-kun goes home? He lives at the Hatake compound. We'll meet at Training Ground Fifteen tomorrow at seven in the morning. Fugaku-kun, stay here, I still need to talk to you."
Taja picked up Minato's bag and put his still-trembling arm around her shoulders, guiding him off the training ground. As soon as they were out of earshot, Fugaku turned on Jiraiya. "What did you do to him? Someone does not freak out because their eyes are covered."
Jiraiya crossed his arms before responding, "You're right. Few people would. I don't want you to go home complaining to your parents that the Academy allowed that gaki to graduate. I'm not going to deny Minato is very far behind you and Taja-chan in terms of normal Genin skills. This is not because he's stupid, in fact, he's probably twice as intelligent as you and Taja-chan, even if he's naïve and his book learning is quite a few years behind."
"That is quite a claim."
"Had Minato attended class more, he probably wouldn't be so far behind; however, he spent most of his Academy years blinded by a botched assassination attempt on his father and before he regained his sight, he fought and killed in his clan's civil war only to be disowned in all but name."
Fugaku frowned. "Is that why he was never in class?"
"Yes. His parents didn't make him go to class and deal with all the pity and attention blindness would incite. For obvious reasons, he did not attend the Academy for a while after the war. I'm not telling you this so you can pity him, but so you will be patient and explain things to him when he doesn't understand."
"Is that all?"
"No. I don't want to get involved in your team dynamics. You're the one disrupting everything, so fix it."
"Fine," Fugaku snapped.
"Enjoy the rest of your afternoon." Jiraiya vanished in a swirl of leaves.