Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I own the plot and my characters. If I owned Naruto, Shino would be MINE! Anyways:
ENJOY!
Back to the Academy?
After the meeting with our new sensei, we said goodbye and went home. I would've waited for Chouji, but I had no idea where he was at. That night I made dinner and ate, then went outside to feed the sick birds in our little bird keep behind the house. There were only three, so it wasn't hard to do by myself. I went to bed early, eager for the next day to come. Why did we have to get up so early? I set my alarm clock for four thirty. I would have just enough time to eat, get dressed, and get there in time.
I got a good night's sleep, and woke up on time. I got dressed in my usual outfit, and put my weapons pouch on too. I ran a brush through my long hair, and put it in a ponytail. But my bangs hung in my face, and I just tucked them behind my ear. I ate a hurried breakfast, and whistled for Jun once I was outside. A few seconds later I saw him flying above me. I smiled and took off at a run towards the training field.
When I got there, I saw Kaito was the first one there. I waved at him as I got closer. He waved back, but didn't say anything. So we waited and were soon joined by Roka. Not long after we saw Hiroshi walk up.
"Well hello there my genin friends!" Hiroshi said loudly and we all winced.
"How can you be so excited this early?" Kaito grumbled. Hiroshi just laughed.
"Yosh! I'm now going to test your ninja skills!" He told us as we sat down on the ground. He sat down across from us, grinning. He pulled something out of his bag and showed it to us. They were Shuriken. Each one was a different color, and there were five. We stared at them confusedly.
"Do you see these?" He asked, and we all nodded. "I have hidden these all around this training field. It is your job to find as many as you can. But there will be several things in your way. Ninjutsu's, Genjutsu's, Traps, ambushes, and I might even attack you. It gets harder and harder to find the net one after you find one. But look. There are three of you and five of these. If you find two, you're safe. If you only find one, you have to go back to the academy." He told us seriously. We all looked at each other, a little frightened, but determined.
"You'll have to use everything you have to find them. You have until noon. Its six now. Good luck." And then he was gone in a puff of smoke. I stood up.
"Good luck then, I guess." I told them as they stood up too. Kaito nodded and was about to take off when Roka started to say something.
"Don't you think we should stick together?" He asked timidly. Kaito snorted.
"What would be the point of that? We're supposed to find them by ourselves." He said, crossing his arms.
"What do you mean Roka?" I asked, confused.
"Well, he never said we had to do it on our own. We're a team, remember? He should already know us individually; he's testing us as a team. To see how we work together. Besides, we'll be worn out by the second one if we're on our own. Together we can save energy." He told us logically. I nodded.
"That makes sense. I agree, let's stay together." I said, looking at Kaito. He rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. You two go together. I'm doing it by myself." He said, annoyed.
"Wait. With the two of us we'll find them a lot faster than you will by yourself. That means we'll win, especially since I have Jun who will be able to see the shuriken from high up. Do you want to lose?" I asked him, a little harshly. He sighed and shook his head.
"Alright, but I get to pick where we look first." He said and was about to take off.
"Wait one second." I said. They both stopped as I called Jun down. The owl landed on my arm, and looked at me questioningly. I explained things to him, and he gave a soft hoot.
"I'll look from above and come find you if I see one." He told me. I nodded and he took off.
"Let's go." I said. They nodded and Kaito led the way, opposite of the direction Hiroshi had gone.
It didn't take long to find the first one. It was orange all that was blocking it was a large pit that was covered with branches and leaves. We just jumped over it and grabbed the shuriken from where it was lodged in a tree.
The next one was purple and had a minor Genjutsu on it. We saw it and walked towards it, but we kept walking towards it, but we didn't get closer. Roka realized it was a Genjutsu when we had been walking for ten minutes, and we released it. Kaito was holding onto them, and we were wondering which way to go when Jun flew in and landed on a branch above us.
"There's a green one in the stream to your left. I don't know what's hiding around it." Jun told me, flapping his wings. I smiled.
"Thanks Jun, you're a great help. Keep looking please." Jun hooted and took off. The boys looked at me curiously.
"There's one in the river over there." I told them, and we ran towards it. We saw it, but it was stuck to river floor, and there were several wires crisscrossing everywhere, which would more than likely trigger explosions if they were pulled. We all looked at each other.
"I can't do it. I don't know how to swim." I told them. They nodded.
"I get too clumsy under pressure. I'd blow us to bits." Roka admitted, shuffling his feet. We both looked at Kaito. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Alright fine, but you two will have to give me directions. I won't be able to see the wires that well." We nodded and he stripped down to his boxers and kicked off his shoes. I blushed and Roka looked away. Kaito doe in though, and started swimming after he had shivered from the cold. We steered him the right way, and before long he was back. He put his clothes back on after he climbed onto the shore. I couldn't help but notice he was kind of cute without a shirt on. But I shook that from my head.
"Where to next?" I asked.
"Well, I think we should head deeper into the forest. Haven't you noticed how much thicker the woods get each time we find one?" Kaito asked as we walked. I nodded, but then saw something shine at his foot.
"Kaito watch out!" I pulled him back and we fell back onto the ground.
"What was that for?" He yelled from beside me. I pointed at the wire in front of us. Roka had been behind us, so he was safe. Kaito looked at it and his angry expression fell away.
"Oh. Thanks." He muttered and stood up. I followed his lead and brushed the dirt off of my clothes. We kept walking. It was about nine now, and I couldn't believe it had taken us that long to find the first three. I heard a screech from above and glance up. Jun was circling. He wanted us to follow.
"Follow Jun." I commanded, and took off as my owl sped forwards. We chased him for what seemed like forever, I was starting to think it was another Genjutsu, before we came to a clearing. It was a circle with trees all around. There was an identical yellow one hanging from each branch.
"Well this is just great." Kaito grumbled, glancing around. Roka went to reach for one, but I stopped him.
"They might be clones, or they could pull you into a Genjutsu if you touch them. Just throw kunai at them." I told them. They nodded, and we all threw kunai at three of them. It did nothing.
"I guess we're gonna have to touch them." Roka said quietly, looking at the shuriken uneasily. We nodded and stepped forward and touched one. I tried to pull mine down but screamed when it transformed into Hiroshi. I heard a yelp to my right and looked over, Roka's had exploded, and Kaito had passed out after he had touched it. I looked at Hiroshi.
"I have to fight you don't I?" He nodded and attacked with a kunai. I deflected and whistled. Jun swooped down and swiped his talons at Hiroshi's face. He was gone in a puff of smoke.
"Shadow clone." I murmured, and ran over to Roka. The explosion turned out to be just itching powder. He was scratching all over, but he was fine. We went over to Kaito. He was awake.
"Made me think I was at the academy in one of our old classes." He said grumpily. "What did I miss?" He asked. We shrugged and explained it to him. We inspected the shuriken after that. There were six left. Two had explosion tags on them, identical to what had been on Roka's. Two kept wiggling. Those were the ones Hiroshi's clones had transformed into. One was a Genjutsu one, and I had touched it. It made me think it was snowing and I was getting buried under all of the snow. I freed it easily. The last one was the right one.
"One left." I said tiredly. They nodded, and we ran off, searching for the next one. We were suddenly attacked from all sides, by clones. I yelped as one attacked me, but I punched it and it exploded. We stayed and fought them off, but they weren't diminishing.
"Is it a Genjutsu?" I screamed at Roka when we got close.
"No! I tried to dispel it already. It didn't work." I was getting pissed off. It was time to use that. I jumped up onto a branch above me when I got a chance. I signaled Jun and he came and perched on the branch beside me. He had been helping too. I made a few hand signals with my hands, and then placed my right one on Jun's back.
"A thousand deadly feathers Jutsu!"(1) I screamed, and Jun sped up into the sky. Suddenly, his feathers all fell off of him, but grew back just as quick. The feathers that had fallen off turned hard and pointed, and fell towards the clones quickly.
"Kaito! Roka! Get out of the way!" I yelled, and they jumped to another tree just in time. My ninjutsu took care of the clones, but we were all exhausted, and we only had an hour left.
"Are you alright?" Roka asked as he jumped onto my branch. I nodded.
"Just takes a lot of chakra is all." I told him as I stood up. "Let's keep going." They nodded and we started running again. Suddenly I tripped and everything was black.
I was in a room, it was dark and dirty. I was sitting in a chair, it was the only piece of furniture in the room, and there wasn't even a door or window that I could see at least. There was a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly everything got cold. I started to shiver but stood up.
"Release!" I shouted and made the hand signal. Nothing happened. It was a strong one.
Do you really think you're good enough? Do you think you could make your father proud? You can't. You won't become a Jounin. You'll go back to the academy before the day is up. You're nothing like you're mother. She was a powerful Kunoichi, who was smart and beautiful. You'll never be like her. It was a dark emotionless voice that said that. I snarled.
"You know nothing of my mother! Back the fuck off creep!" I yelled, and backed up to the wall. I ran full force at the opposite wall, angling my left arm at it. I connected and felt a searing pain in my shoulder. But I opened my eyes and saw I was out of the Genjutsu. But the boys weren't. I stumbled over. I actually had crashed into the tree and my shoulder hurt like nothing I had felt before. I placed my good hand on Kaito's back.
"Release." I mumbled. I did the same for Roka, and they both woke up looking confused and frightened. They both looked at me a gasped.
"You're bleeding…" Kaito mumbled, staring at my arm. I looked at it. It was bleeding.
"I'm fine, let's go." I told them. They nodded, and yet again we started running. Next we ran into another crisscrossing pattern of wires. We had to be careful, stepping through and jumping at the right places. When we were out, we came into another clearing.
"Oh god not again." Kaito moaned. I frowned and pulled out a kunai when we saw Hiroshi step out from behind a tree. He smiled and held up his hands in a friendly way.
"Well! You surprised me! You've made it this far. But now, you have to get the last one from me. I will give you five minutes to strategize a plan. Begin." We huddled together, eyeing the blue one tied to his wrist. We talked, whispering, and then we stood up when we were ready. Roka handed me what I needed and I nodded. The two boys flew off to the trees on either side of me, leaving me, Hiroshi, and Jun all alone.
"Are you ready? Well then. Attack!" He yelled, smiling. I ran towards him, and threw the little ball at the ground. We were engulfed by smoke, and I did a backflip to get away from him. Jun swooped into the smoke and disappeared. I followed. I saw Jun suddenly appear in front of Hiroshi, which made our sensei jump into the air. I jumped too, and kicked his chest at an angle.
He was sent flying. Kaito and Roka appeared, and punched and kicked our sensei in mid-air. They launched themselves away, and I jumped off of Jun's back until I was above Hiroshi, and flung a Kunai with an explosion tag at him. It exploded, and I crashed to the ground and gasped as I landed on my hurt shoulder.
Jolts of pain radiated through my body, but I looked to see if we got him. He stood leaning against a tree while panting, and Roka and Kaito were collapsed on the ground, but I saw a glint of blue in Roka's hand. I grinned, and looked at my watch. Ten minutes to spare.
"You all did much better than I expected. Great job. You all pass." He said smiling at us.
"Aren't you gonna ask if we got the other shuriken?" Kaito asked. Hiroshi shook his head.
"You accomplished what this was about. Team work. Even if you had gotten them all by yourselves, each of you would've failed because you're supposed to work as a team. You have Roka to thank for your passing grade." We all smiled and sat up. I groaned and clutched my shoulder.
"Kiko, are you all right? I think you need to go to the hospital." Roka said anxiously as he crouched down next to me. I shook my head.
"It's just a little blood. No big deal." I told him and stood up, wincing. Hiroshi frowned and walked over.
"Let me see." He said, and gently held my shoulder. "Nope, off to the hospital. You've sprained it, and there's a chunk of wood sticking out of your shoulder. You'll get an infection. I'll take you there. And here I was planning on taking you all out to eat in celebration! Oh well, we'll do it tomorrow. Roka and Kaito, you can go home. Well, you guys look pretty cut up too. We'll all go! It'll be a fieldtrip!" He said happily, and started skipping towards Konoha hospital. We groaned but followed him.
"Sorry guys, if I ruined your fun." I said quietly as we followed Hiroshi. Roka smiled at me.
"We would've had to go anyways. Don't worry about it. I bet they have a remedy for this itching powder. I'm glad we're going." He admitted, scratching his head, and then tried to get one on his back. I reached my right hand over and scratched it for him. He blushed and thanked me.
"Yeah, we're a team now. One of us gets injured; we stick together and help each other out. Like what you did with the heavy genjutsu." Kaito said with a smirk. I laughed and nodded.
"We're gonna make a great team." I told them with a happy smile.
"Of course we are, because I'm your leader. Without me y'all would be lost and pathetic." Hiroshi said obnoxiously back to us.
"You're the one who caused us to get hurt." Kaito pointed out, and we all laughed when Hiroshi looked crestfallen.
"I'll make it up to you, lunch is on me tomorrow. They probably won't let you out of the hospital tonight." Hiroshi said grinning while we groaned. I could already tell I was gonna have a lot to deal with until I became a Chuunin. But I didn't mind.
(1)- I came up with it when I saw Itachi use the genjutsu to became a ton of birds.
Soooo…. Didja like it? I know the action scenes aren't that great, but only because I haven't written many before. If you see any problems with it, tell me so I can fix them. Thanks a bunch for reading!