Chapter 16
Team 7 arrived at the familiar gates of Konoha. The mission was finally over, but before they could get their deserved rest, Kakashi called them together. He gave them each a piece of paper that looked like a survey form.
"They're chuunin exam entrance forms. I'm gonna sign you up. Fill them out for tomorrow." After Kakashi gave them that short explanation, he disappeared in a signature burst of smoke. The team just stood for a while, regarding the forms intently.
"…Do you think we're good enough?" Hinata voiced everyone's thoughts sullenly.
"Of course Hinata-chan! You saw us beat the team from sand." Naruto pumped his fist drastically.
"Hinata-chan! You didn't blush!" Kitsumi hugged her tightly, bringing the crimson shade to her face.
"Um… Kitsumi-chan…" She never finished saying anything and simply submitted. After the hug ended, Hinata began again, "Um… it's late… father will be worried… Bye!" The last word was uncharacteristically loud, and made the twins paused, giving her time to rush towards the safety of her family's estate.
"Bye Hinata-chan." The pair called in unison after she had left. Afterwards, they turned to move back towards their own apartment. On the way, Kitsumi told Naruto everything she had left out about Gaara. She owed him the explanation, especially after what happened that day. Nevertheless, Naruto still felt apprehensive, he still didn't feel right around that guy.
The next morning, they met again at the bridge. Kakashi arrived on time, which scared his students slightly: in the time that they had known him, he had never been on time once (except the test for gennin, but Naruto doesn't know that).
"Yo." Kakashi responded to their odd stares in the usual manner, almost as if nothing was odd about the encounter, "Got your forms?"
They handed him the forms, which disappeared from his grasp once he collected them, "Now that that's taken care of, on to training." This statement also earned him some dubious looks. The only training they had done so far was the tree climbing exercise. While it was indeed good training, Kakashi explained it in ten minutes, and left them to their own devices, favoring his book.
"What kind of training Kakashi-sensei?" Kitsumi asked before Naruto could make a smart remark about the other training.
"The gennin exam tests teamwork, but the chuunin exam tests you all as individuals. So, I'm going to have you train with another team until exams start in order to improve individually." Kakashi finished his statement to Naruto falling over, and the others looking slightly annoyed.
He added hastily at the sight of them, "I'm also going to teach each of you a technique that my sensei taught me." He suddenly wished that his sensei had spent less time on seal-less techniques, and more time on normal techniques. He could teach them stuff he copied with the sharingan, but the way he did those techniques was different from the way they would have to. It was better to just teach them his sensei's crazy techniques.
"So which teams are we going to train with?" Kit asked, wanting to get to the real training.
"You will train with Guy's team. They meet at five in the morning on training ground twelve. Meet me here on Monday at eight and I'll teach you your technique. Naruto you will train with Asuma's team. They meet in the center of training ground twenty-three at eight. Meet me next Friday and I'll teach you your technique. Hinata, you will train with Kurenai's team. They meet at the west gate at eight. I'll teach you now." The twins bounded off to seek out their new teams.
Kitsumi bounded off in the direction of training ground twelve. She thought it unlikely that they were still there, but she didn't have a better place to look. When she arrived, she began to wish that maybe they had left. At least then she wouldn't be training with the spandex duo. Before she could sneak away to look for her team elsewhere, she was spotted.
"It is cruel fate that you are the one Kakashi has sent to our team." The other Hyuuga didn't even turn from his exercises as he blew her cover, "Lee-san will be pleased." A slight smirk graced his face.
"Kitsumi-san, my eternal rival, it is fortunate that Kakashi has sent you to train with us. I am finished with my training for the moment, so let us have a rematch. This time, let us have a Taijutsu battle, that I may show you that hard work will defeat the genius of Kakashi's student. If I lose, I will do five hundred kick practices." Kitsumi's forehead furrowed slightly, but she figured she had the edge here. After all, she was the best in her class at Taijutsu.
"Alright, let's have this…rematch." She said slowly so as not to arouse another speech from her opponent, "Go." She sprang foreword quickly, hoping to find a hole in his guard. However he dodged out of the way, and swept his foot low to break her stance. She hopped over it, swinging up with her hand to strike his chin. He interposed his own arm, and used the momentum to push her back.
She landed gracefully, but did not rush forward again. He didn't wait, and rushed forward with a hooked punch. She tried to block, but his strike was too heavy, and it pushed her to the side. He took advantage of her stumble and swept her feet again. She tried to jump over, but her footing wasn't steady enough, and she fell.
"I am victorious. The fires of my youth burn more brightly than yours." Lee helped her back up, and she quickly went over to where the other spandex was being worn.
"Guy-sensei, what should I do?" She asked quietly, unsure if she wanted to suffer under the weird training regimen Lee had.
"Kakashi told me that you need help with chakra control. Try doing a lap or two around the wall of Konoha." He finished with a thumbs up sign and creepily wide smile. Lee suddenly appeared and joined him.
"Guy-sensei, that is a great idea for training, I think I will do it as well." Guy's eyebrows furrowed, but Lee had already run off, dragging Kitsumi behind him.
Elsewhere, Naruto encountered his foster team. Asuma was having them do the same tree-climbing exercise that Kakashi already taught his team. Instead of reading, Asuma seemed to actually pay attention to his students, and to give them advice. Naruto decided to give it a shot, and jumped down to join them.
"Hey Asuma-sensei, Kakashi-sensei sent me to train with you guys." Everyone turned to look at Naruto as he spoke, and Ino fell off the tree when she saw him.
"Why you! I was beating big forehead at tree climbing to make Sasuke like me more!" Ino charged the unfortunate blond, who took refuge by walking up a nearby tree. While he couldn't do it for as long as Hinata or his sister, he could stay in the tree longer than Ino, at least he hoped. Unfortunately, his plan did not take into account the fact that Ino could climb the tree by jumping, which she did. Perching on his head, she repeatedly applied her fist to his face, causing some nice bruises, and him to lose his concentration. They came tumbling to the ground, and Naruto rolled away swiftly and returned to his feet.
"What's the big idea? I didn't do anything!" Naruto pouted slightly.
"So, Naruto, you can already do the tree climbing exercise then?" Asuma interrupted any reply.
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei already taught us that one." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He looked over to see a tuft of raven hair in front of him, belonging to a certain rival from the academy.
"Then get up here and fight me, Naruto-baka." He was standing on a fairly large wooden platform, leaned at an angle against the tree trunk. He moved to a starting line, and waited for Naruto to join him. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Naruto jumped up after, sticking to the surface of the board easily.
"Ready? Go." Asuma watched the fight carefully, attempting to gauge the progress of his student, and the ability of the unknown. Naruto was the first to move, running easily up the plank to his opponent. He went straight for Sasuke's feet, hoping to finish the match with a
single blow. Unfortunately, Sasuke let his chakra drop, falling into Naruto's attack. Naruto barely managed to dodge out of the way, but Sasuke managed to catch himself below. They faced each other again, this time with slightly more distance between them. Sasuke broke away first this time, leaping away from the board onto a nearby tree, and back to above Naruto. However, Naruto saw the movement, and grabbed Sasuke's foot before he could arrive. Sasuke used his other foot to kick Naruto in the face, and to free himself.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu." Three additional Naruto appeared, and two leapt at the Uchiha while the other stayed back, only to miss entirely, as the target punched them in mid-air. When the smoke cleared, the black haired youth now sported scarlet eyes with black slivers.
"It's the sharingan. You like it?" Sasuke mocked softly. Naruto charged quickly, only to have his every strike blocked or dodged. Even when his clone joined in, neither could land a hit on Sasuke. Finally, he retaliated, knocking the clone into a cloud of smoke, and Naruto to the ground.
"Alright, that's the end of practice for today." Asuma called out, even though it was only noon, "See you all tomorrow."
"Bye Asuma-sensei." The four of them called out in unison. Naruto headed home to await his sister's arrival. Little did he know, Guy's team practiced until the a few hours before they start again. It was to be a long wait.
Sometime later, Hinata finally finished practicing her new technique with Kakashi, and went to find her team. She found them where they met, and it appeared that they were practicing stamina. Well, one was rolling around a track as a ball, and the other was sweating and focusing. Wait, she couldn't see a third member of the team. She found him covered in bugs, although different than from before. These new bugs seemed to be sucking chakra out of him.
"Um… Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata walked the rest of the distance to the group, causing everyone to stop and look up.
"Oh, Hinata-chan. I remember hearing from Kakashi about you. We're currently practicing keeping ninja techniques active for long periods of time. Do you have a personal ninja technique that you can practice with?" Kurenai walked over and smiled, 'why couldn't I have her on my team instead of these guys. She's so cute.'
"Um… I can do the bunshin…" Hinata mumbled.
"No, that won't take enough chakra. I'll teach you a technique ok?" Kurenai glared daggers at her team for a moment, daring them to say anything.
"Um… Alright Kurenai-sensei…" Hinata noticed the look, and decided not to get on her new sensei's bad side.
"Ok, here is the technique. It's called Kirigakure no Jutsu, and will allow you to create mist from thin air. It'll be a good technique for this exercise, as you can put in as much chakra as you need to. To perform it, you use these hand seals, and focus chakra out into the air through your hands." Kurenai demonstrated the appropriate seals. Hinata copied them, and released a small mist from her hands. It slowly billowed around her, obscuring the training ground.
"Um… Like this..?" Hinata mumbled through the mist.
"Yes, that's good. Now hold it for as long as you can." Kurenai sat down and began to wait for her team to run out of stamina. She was also mildly surprised that Hinata had completed the technique so flawlessly the first try. She didn't really think about it, and took a short nap during her break: being a Jounin sensei was a lot of work.