Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
The three genin arrived at the training fields at around the same time. They all sat down in front of the three wooden training posts that stood in the middle of a wide field.
"So, how's everyone feeling?" Ichiraku asked. Ami responded by yawning widely. A lump in the chest of her gray, fur-lined jacket shifted for a second, and then a small puppy stuck its head out. The puppy had black fur and red eyes, and it yawned right after its owner.
"Kurenai and me are exhausted…" the kunoichi mumbled.
"What about you, Gai?"
"The flames of my youth have yet to fully ignite at this early hour," the boy stated, his eyes partially closed with exhaustion. "What about you, Ichiraku?"
"It's really not that early," the spiky-haired boy stated. "This is around when the academy started, right?"
"Yeah, but that was closer to our houses, so we didn't have to worry about getting up early in order to get there on time," Ami protested.
"That's true…" Ichiraku conceded.
"Geez…and I thought I was lazy…" they heard the voice of their sensei state as he slouched over to them.
"Ohayo, Shikamaru-sensei," the three genin chorused as they stood up.
"O-ohayo," he replied, stifling a yawn in the process. "Now, the reason I called you all here today is simple yet troublesome. Apparently too many people graduated this past year and Konoha is only allowed a certain number of new genin. Because of that, we have to administer a test in order to weed out those who aren't ready. So, ready to hear what you have to do?" The three of them nodded nervously. "Fine." He removed two bells from a pocket of his flak jacket and tied them to a hook on the waistline of the vest. "This is an older test that's proven very effective in the past. As you can see, there are two bells. The objective is for you to somehow get the bells from me. Whoever fails to get a bell will be sent back to the academy. Go." The three genin glanced at each other, then disappeared into the bushes.
"This test of yours had better not be too troublesome to administer, Kakashi," Shikamaru muttered to himself, then leaned back against the left-most post and began watching the clouds float by.
"This'll be tough…" Ichiraku muttered to himself. "We're just genin, there's no way we'll ever be able to take on a jounin on our own…maybe he has a weakness against tai-jutsu…a guy as lazy as him probably couldn't be bothered to train hard enough to get good in that field." He took off through the woods around the field in search of a certain fuzzy-eyebrowed tai-jutsu specialist. It wasn't long before he discovered a mass of glossy black hair crouched down on the branch of a medium-sized oak tree.
"Gai," he whispered. The other boy didn't hear him. Sighing to himself, Ichiraku leaped down and landed on the branch next to his teammate, the sound of sandal hitting bark scaring Gai and nearly making him fall off the branch.
"Ichiraku!" He exclaimed in an excited whisper as soon as he regained his balance. "How kind of you to seek me out!"
"No problem…listen, I have an idea. Is Ami near here?" They suddenly heard a small stream of water hitting the base of their tree. They looked down and saw Kurenai relieving herself on the tree trunk. They both stifled their laughter as Ami approached the puppy, clearly unaware of her teammates' presence right above her.
"All done, Kurenai? Good, now we should try and find the others…being all alone in this forest is giving me the chills." Kurenai barked once. "No, I didn't mean it like that! Of course I'm never alone when you're here; I just meant being with other people." The puppy barked again. "Don't worry, Kurenai, you'll be my best friend no matter what." She picked Kurenai up and hugged her tightly, then placed the puppy back inside of her jacket.
"Psst, Ami," Ichiraku whispered. Ami nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her name being called, then shot an angry glance upwards once she realized who it was.
"You scared me!" She whispered accusingly. Ichiraku shrugged, and Ami leaped up to the branch to join the two boys.
"So, what is this idea of yours, my youthful teammate?" Gai asked excitedly.
"Well, he's obviously really lazy, so I was thinking that you, Gai, should try to use tai-jutsu on him. A guy as lazy as him wouldn't be very good at something like tai-jutsu, right?" The other two pondered this for a moment.
"Makes sense, I guess…" Ami mused.
"Very well! Then I, Rock Gai, shall challenge our sensei to tai-jutsu!" Gai exclaimed, then immediately rushed out of the bushes and into the open fields. Ichiraku began focusing his chakra.
"I'm going to send a bit of chakra to my eyes, so maybe I'll be able to catch what's going on even though we're far away," he explained to Ami. The two of them watched as Gai approached Shikamaru.
"Prepare yourself, sensei!" Gai shouted, then began running at a high speed towards his opponent. He thrust a fist at Shikamaru, only to find that his hand passed right through what was apparently a clone. The fist instead made contact with the wooden post behind the clone as it vanished with a small pop.
"Sensei?" Gai asked, sounding confused as he looked first left, then right, then left again. Suddenly, he froze up.
"Nani?" He asked, now seriously bewildered. He watched as his left arm came up, then his hand patted the top of his head, then came back down to rest on his hip, all without his conscious control.
"A ninja must think many steps ahead and also be able to think on their feet." Shikamaru's voice came from directly behind Gai, but since he couldn't move on his own, he couldn't turn around to see his sensei. "After your initial attack failed, you simply stood around and made yourself a prime target for my kagemane no jutsu."
"What's going on?" Ami whispered to Ichiraku.
"I can't tell…a little more chakra…" he mumbled. He put just a bit more chakra into his eyes, when all of a sudden he reeled back in pain.
"What's wrong?" Ami asked, concerned.
"My eyes…" Ichiraku choked out, then turned to face her. She gasped. His irises had become larger than normal, and she could see an outline of the pupil right at the center. The veins around his eyes had become engorged and they practically popped out of the skin. However, less than ten seconds after the changes had occurred, they were gone.
"What just happened?" Ichiraku asked as he rubbed his eyes.
"Darned if I know…" Ami replied. The two of them snuck a little closer to the clearing in order to see.
"That's funny…it doesn't look as though Gai is moving…I should check it out. You stay here and back me up if necessary," Ichiraku instructed Ami. The kunoichi shook her head.
"No way. You aren't in the greatest condition to fight, with your eyes being the way they are. Besides, Kurenai and I can fight!" Kurenai barked assertively. Ichiraku sighed.
"Fine…" he mumbled.
"I wonder when the other two will surface…" Shikamaru mused to himself. He pointed up at a cloud and Gai, being forced to imitate everything he did, pointed up at it as well.
"Gai, what does that one look like to you?" He asked.
"That cloud formation appears to resemble a tiger, sensei," Gai replied smartly. "Why are you so inquisitive? Is this part of the test as well?" Shikamaru, and in turn Gai, shrugged.
"Nah, I was just curious as to what you thought…" just then, Ami and Kurenai ran out of the woods and began charging at him.
"I could do this all day," Shikamaru sighed, and cast part of his shadow out towards the two. However, just before the shadow came in contact with them, the two of them leaped out of the way. The projection of shadow split in two with one of the segments chasing after Ami and the other chasing after Kurenai. The two ran in circles, spirals, zig-zags…basically in every kind of pattern as the shadows chased them. The shadows finally caught up to the two of them and trapped them. Suddenly, the two stuck their tongues out at him.
"Sorry, sensei," the two said as they changed into copies of Ichiraku, then disappeared in puffs of smoke.
"Kage Bunshin combined with a henge…not bad, for a recent graduate. Nice try, by the way, Ichiraku." Shikamaru's shadow, which had just withdrawn from the recently-recalled clones, shot off to the left and caught Ichiraku. The genin had attempted to sneak up on Shikamaru from behind and steal the bells while his sensei was busy chasing the clones.
"This test is over," he called out to the woods. "So you can come out, Ami." The girl slowly walked out from behind a tree, looking depressed. Shikamaru recalled his shadow, allowing the two boys to regain the ability to move. The two of them wore similar facial expressions to their female teammate.
"Hey, why the long faces?"
"We failed, sensei," Ami said flatly.
"We couldn't get any bells, even when we tried as hard as we could…I guess it's back to the academy for us…" Ichiraku said dejectedly.
"The springtime of my youth clearly has yet to spring fully," Gai added. Shikamaru chuckled.
"Hey, whoever said that you failed?" The three of them looked up. "Yeah, you didn't get a bell, but you were able to formulate a strategy and work as a team even though you haven't even known each other well for a whole day yet. I can tell that your teamwork will only grow given time, and for that I pass you." The three of them stared at him, openmouthed.
"So, what did you think of this?" He asked.
"It was troublesome," the three of them chorused, and Shikamaru chuckled.
"I guess I'm starting to rub off on you…" he noted. Just then, Ami elbowed Ichiraku on the arm.
"What?" He asked, annoyed, as he rubbed his arm.
"Tell him about your eyes," she said.
"What about his eyes?" Shikamaru asked. Ichiraku sighed.
"Well, I was focusing some chakra into them so that I'd be able to see you and Gai fighting better, when all of a sudden they started hurting really badly."
"The veins around his eyes popped out, and you could see the pupils," Ami added. Shikamaru rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"You should go see Hyuuga Hanabi," he finally said.
"What? The head of the Hyuuga clan? How will that help me?" Ichiraku asked him, confused.
"Just do it. Hanabi will be able to help you." Ichiraku sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"Do it tonight, because Team 7 starts its first mission tomorrow," Shikamaru said. The three genin cheered and gave each other high-fives. Ichiraku headed off in the direction of the Hyuuga Complex, while the other two went back home, chatting animatedly. Shikamaru lay down in the grass in front of the post and returned to cloud-watching.
"That Gai was wrong…it's definitely a boar, not a tiger…kid's too hyperactive to relax and watch the clouds properly. Tch, troublesome…"