Shinobi Leaves: What Lies Beneath
Ami Inuzuka isn't quite sure how she feels about her first Genin team. Her fellow Jounin make it seem easy, but dealing with three twelve-year-olds fresh from the Academy is driving her crazy! One of her students is color blind, another one uses hand puppets to communicate and the third is deathly afraid of dogs, including Ami's pet, Ryu. After a close call with the children, Ami's feeling the pressure of past mistakes. Ready to give up, she gives the kids one last, simple mission. Unbeknownst to the Inuzuka, there's someone out there who desperately wants to get their hands on one of her kids. And they're willing to do anything. Will Team 6 manage to pull themselves together in time to prevent disaster? Find out in the first of the Shinobi Leaves series, What Lies Beneath, updating every Tuesday and Thursday!
Rating: PG-13 (Some Violence and Sexually-Themed Humor)
Pairings: Vary
Shinobi Leaves, Characters © wolfram18, angeloflight123
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
What Lies Beneath
1
The room was filled to capacity; perhaps even with twice the recommended amount of people. Jounin of various ages were shoulder-to-shoulder, eagerly waiting to learn of their assignments. There were also whispers of some incident involving another shinobi, Mizuki, and the hated nine-tails child, but Ami found the rumor surprisingly uninteresting. People were always treating the boy terribly. Either that or ignoring him completely, much like Ami did. If it was important, Anko would fill her in at the bar later that night. If Ami let her get a word in… She had had her own adventures she hadn't had time to share with her best friend just yet. She had only just entered the village gates from her last mission when Asuma had told her she was expected to be at the Jounin's morning meeting by the Third Hokage.
She stifled a yawn as the aging leader of their village finally entered the room. The people around her seemed to step in closer as silence fell. It was then Ami noticed who was standing beside her. She was suddenly on edge and looking for a way to escape.
Izumo Kamizuki hadn't spoken a word to her since he had left her more than a year ago but that didn't stop Ami's heart from serving her a single stab of pain. After she and Tenzō had drifted and eventually separated, she'd befriended the Chuunin and fallen head over heels for him. A year and a half into their relationship she had gotten pregnant, a fact she only learned after suffering through a miscarriage due to injuries she had received while on an ANBU mission. Izumo had refused to believe she'd been ignorant to the conception and ended the relationship before she'd even been discharged from the hospital.
She'd left the ANBU after that. Three years after she should have.
She shifted away from her ex-lover and was almost equally upset when she bumped into Izumo's best friend and Anko's ex, Kotetsu Hagane. Cursing her bad luck, she turned her attention to the giant man in front of her, Asuma Sarutobi. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she tapped him on the back. He glanced over his shoulder and she jabbed her head toward Izumo. He raised his eyebrows, understanding the situation she was in. Asuma took a step back and Ami slipped through the opening he had made for her.
"Thank you," she mouth as she suddenly found herself with a perfect view of the Third and a chalk board of names on the wall.
"Yesterday the appropriate academy students were selected for graduation. As we speak, they're lining up for their profile pictures. Today you will learn if you have been assigned a team and if so, who. Tomorrow they will learn who their Squad leaders will be and it is your job to meet them at the academy or give Iruka directions to relate to them where you would like to be met. Understood?" The Third's cloaked figure showed none of the excitement that shone in his eyes.
Ami felt a nervous tingle tickle her stomach as the Third stared at the paper in front of him.
"Why isn't this damn thing in alphabetical order?" He cursed, shaking his head. He cleared his throat.
"Asuma Sarutobi."
"Present," Asuma answered his father.
"You have been selected to lead Team 10 consisting of—now there's some order—Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka." The Third looked up and gave a rare smile. It was tradition for a Sarutobi to teach children from those specific clans although the Hokage had not been in that line. Instead, the Third had had the Great Sannin as his students.
"Yes sir." Asuma accepted.
"You may leave," he was told. And so he did as the Third announced the next few names that had not been selected. More shinobi left.
"Izumo Kamizuki." The Third called and dismissed the Chuunin. In rare cases, the Hokage had promoted Chuunins to take on Genin teams. It seemed this year, it wouldn't be needed. More names were called and students were assigned. Ami tittered back and forth on her toes nervously as Kotetsu was dismissed. Soon there were only a handful of Jounin left.
A woman Ami had never met, Noriko Tanaka, was assigned the Kimura twins, Mai and Mei and the only son of the Head of the Tsukino clan, Ichiro. As far as she knew, Ichiro had shown no signs of the clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Tsukino Gaze. Ami wondered if the woman was a skilled Genjutsu user prepared for the possibility of Ichiro's power.
"Kurenai Yuhi," the Third looked up.
"Present," a dark-haired woman called. Ami had known her briefly in childhood, but they'd never struck a lasting friendship. She was aware though that Kurenai had never had a team before while many of the other assigned shinobi had had other students.
"You have been selected to lead Team 8 consisting of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka." Ami took another look at the woman. Kiba happened to be her nephew and now the Yuhi woman was a person of importance. A Team leader often had lasting effects on a student's life. She could only hope Kurenai was up for the job.
"Yes sir," Kurenai smiled proudly. Ami felt herself smiling.
"Ami Inuzuka," the Third called. Ami's heart stopped.
"Huh?" She heard herself say before she could get the proper words out. "I mean, present." She swallowed hard.
"You have been selected to lead Team 6 consisting of Uru Kedamono, Kaito Migame and Haru Saito-Hyuga." The Third met her eyes, waiting for her to accept the position.
"Yes sir," she squeaked. Was she ready for this?
"You may leave," he told her before looking for the next shinobi's name. Ami turned and walked away, in a bit of a daze. Before she'd gotten to the door, she heard the next name called.
"Kakashi Hatake."
Interested, Ami waited. Kakashi had yet to pass a team. Was he going to be handed another bunch to fail?
"Present." She heard the familiar voice announce and quickly found him at the other end of the room.
"You have been selected to lead Team 7 consisting of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki." The Third watched Kakashi carefully, just as the rest of the shinobi trained their curious eyes on the Copy-Cat ninja. Ami crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn't been aware that the nine-tails kid had graduated. Maybe that was what had happened last night during her absence?
"Yes sir." Kakashi accepted the challenge. He turned away and made his way to the door then. Ami followed him out. "Congratulations," he told her over his shoulder.
"Thanks, I think. I don't know if I'm ready." She confessed as they walked down the hall.
"You'll do fine." He pulled out a bright orange book from his back pocket. Ami felt a blush creep into her cheeks. He was always reading such dirty books.
"So, the nine-tails huh?" Ami fell into stride beside him. He peeked at her over the top of the book.
"Naruto Uzumaki, yes." He looked away again.
"Sorry," she apologized not really knowing why. They went through double doors and were outside. Ryu, Ami's wolf-dog companion, got to his feet and stretched. Ami waited for him and Kakashi waited for her. It looked like it would be a typical free-afternoon despite that Ami would be handed a trio of sniffling children to look after tomorrow. Since meeting each other at the Memorial Stone one evening not long after the death of Ami's best friend and former teammate, Kai Miyamoto, she and Kakashi would meet at the Memorial Stone where they would sit in the shade and read their preferred material in neutral companionship. Some days they would talk and some days Ami would lie in the grass and let the world pass her by.
Today felt like one of those days.