Disclaimer: I don't own this.
Ch. 10
The Sandaime was positive this was not a conversation he would enjoy. In fact, he'd been putting off naming a sensei for Team 12 as long as possible just so he could avoid this very thing. Jiraiya stood in his office practically fuming at the Sandaime's actions. It should have been impossible for Jiraiya to even know by now; Sarutobi thought sadly. Yet, somehow even before Sarutobi had named their new sensei Jiraiya had known. He'd known team 12 had been moved into the elites. Well, he wasn't Konoha's spy master for nothing, but it was slightly annoying and even worrying to realize exactly how much Jiraiya actually knew.
"I told you, old man! Why would you do something like this?" the irate toad sage asked. Sarutobi, for his part, sighed unhappily as he smoked his pipe. The only thing to do was to wait the rant out and hope he could make Jiraiya see that it had been for the best. The rant continued on for some minutes but the third merely tuned in and out. He idly wondered if the voice that had just screamed was Konohomaru's. Was he going to be sneak attacked again? Really, Ebisu needed to keep a better eye on the boy.
Bored with that old train of thought, he glanced out the window. The sight of the mountain greeted him. He squinted. Was someone climbing on the mountain? Kami he hoped not. He could already imagine the paperwork if the poor idiot fell. Wait was that Maito Gai? What did he think he was doing? Hopefully, it wasn't some new training exercise he'd thought up. Well, at the very least there wouldn't be any paperwork to be done. Gai wouldn't be stupid enough to fall. Of course, if he tried to climb the mountain while he was exhausted, it'd be a different story. Hmm, it could be Gai's little prodigy, instead. It was quite hard to tell the difference between the two especially from far away. He shuddered at the image of the bowl cut, shining teeth, and gigantic eyebrows. Ugh, new thought. He glanced around his office for inspiration.
Instead, he was brought out of his musings by Jiraiya's irate yell, "Are you even listening? If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to get the kid killed!"
The Sandaime's eyes narrowed. His student had officially crossed the line. Jiraiya seemed to realize his mistake, as well, because he quickly attempted to back track.
"Ahh. That's not what I meant! Of course you don't wanna get the kid killed. It's just with the threat of akatsuki, well… didn't we agree it'd be best to keep the kid in the background? If he's an elite that's never going to happen. They'll know about him within a heartbeat," Jiraiya argued.
The Sandaime shook his head lightly before saying, "Even in the elites it'll take them years to realize that Sasuke's the container and in that time he'll get some of the best training. At least, this way when they come he'll be able to defend himself."
Jiraiya didn't look convinced, "Why the sudden change in heart, huh old man? You agreed with me fine just a couple of weeks ago. The kid's a disaster waiting to happen. Even with some of the best training, in a couple years he still won't stand a chance against an S-ranked missing nin much less two of them."
"Which is where you come in, Jiraiya, I want you to train team twelve," Sarutobi matter of factly told him. Jiraiya stared at him dumbfounded.
For a moment there was dead silence before an angry, "No."
The Sandaime shrugged. He honestly hadn't expected his student to say yes, anyways. It would have been nice, sure, if he had and removed a burden from him, but wasn't really expected. The only person Jiraiya would deem to train now a days was Naruto and only because he was Minato's son. Jiraiya had mentioned something about a child of prophecy that he would train, so he was unlikely to risk training anyone else he couldn't completely trust. It was annoying, true, but it had been asked as more of a spur of the moment thing, so Sarutobi didn't care that much. Unfortunately, he had no sensei in mind for the terrible trio, as the jounin had begun to dub them.
The team was rather famous around town and not just for setting Kushina on an innocent, although that had helped. Instead, they'd gained a reputation of being not just efficient, but ruthless. They had set the record for most D-rank missions committed in both a day and a week. Yet, at the same time they had begun an all out attack on the chunin, jounin, and anbu of Konoha. Everything from eggs to ramen had been used in their variety of vicious pranks. It was interesting to note that the ninjas who were attacked were also the one's Kanden had set on the team to "help them improve". It was a clear warning not to mess with them. And yet at the same time, even more ninja kept volunteering to help Kanden get revenge on the brats for embarrassing him and their friends. Thus, a vicious circle had developed. The team pranked those who made their training hell, so more people joined to make their training hell to get revenge for the pranks.
Besides that the civilians were absolutely terrified of the team. It probably didn't help that they walked around like the living dead looking more like zombies than ninja. And the rumors about what the kunoichi did to those who crossed her didn't help at all. Really it was high time he gave them a new sensei, hopefully, before they antagonized everyone in Konoha.
He glanced at his perverted student before saying tiredly, "Please send Tsunade to my office Jiraiya, preferably before you head to the hot springs."
XXX XXX XXX
Being called to the Hokage's office, Sasuke had to admit, was a bit of a relief. Hopefully, the Hokage had a new sensei for them. Serving under Kanden had not been fun. Boy, the guy could hold a grudge.
It had been Fuki's idea to turn to pranks to get revenge, which had spectacularly backfired, but by then they were too far in to stop. Ever since Fuki had poured water on their sensei to wake him up a new ruthless streak had developed. Sasuke was pretty sure Kota was genuinely terrified of her. In fact, he shuddered whenever she appeared out of nowhere. She had then made it a point to sneak up on him as often as possible. The only reason their team was known as ruthless had to be Fuki. Kota couldn't hurt a fly even if he really wanted to. What was he doing being a ninja, really? And Sasuke, well, Sasuke was just way too tired to actually plot vengeance like Fuki did. Their sensei had decided that his embarrassment was mainly Sasuke's fault and so Sasuke had been the one to pay the most.
In an odd sort of way, though, Naruto had been right. There was nothing like running from an enraged jounin trying to murder you that caused you to get faster, stronger, and smarter. Still Sasuke couldn't really appreciate these changes as he was far too tired to really care and it was not like Kanden had really taught them any new jutsu anyways. Kota seemed to agree. For the first time since they had officially become genin his signature bounce was back in his step.
"Who do you think it'll be?" the brown haired boy happily questioned. Sasuke was too tired to answer and didn't even look up from staring at the ground. A nasty smirk developed on Fuki's face, though.
With what sounded like perfect innocence to an outside observer, but not to Sasuke she answered, "Well… I'm not really sure. You know, we are known as the most ruthless genin team in all of Konoha, so I guess they'd put us with the most ruthless jounin, too."
Before she could continue Kota interrupted her. His eyes had widened in fear and he had frozen in place. He asked desperately, "Don't you'd think they'd give us the kindest nicest most nonruthless jounin to balance it out?"
Kota was practically begging and Fuki's lips twitched upwards in amusement at his desperation. Even Sasuke had to admit Kota's gullibility was a little amusing.
"Well…. I don't think so," Fuki chirped happily before continuing, "They wouldn't want us turning their nicest jounin evil, would they? They'll probably give us… uhhhh… what was her name again? Sasuke, do you remember?"
Sasuke glanced at her. To play along or not to play along? That was the question. Fuki probably didn't really need any more encouragement, but then again Sasuke hadn't done anything fun in days. Serving under Kanden sucked.
"Snake lady or crazy lady," he answered in a deadpan. Kota started hyperventilating. They'd been heading towards the Hokage's office, but now he began backing up. His eyes had widened even more if that were possible and his nails were digging into his hand. Sasuke couldn't be sure, but it looked like they were drawing blood.
Fuki burst into laughter. Sasuke couldn't help it himself. The stress of the past days had taken their toll and it was so nice to know that finally the ordeal was over. He burst into laughter, too.
"You guys suck," Kota said after a moment, "I really thought you were serious. I was seeing my death. Oh kami, if we actually have the snake lady I'm totally blaming you guys. Believe it!"
Both Fuki and Sasuke shared a look. If they had the crazy lady somebody would die. They just wanted a nice normal well adjusted jounin sensei, who wouldn't make their lives hell. As they continued walking towards the Hokage's office, Sasuke idly wondered if such people even existed.
XXX XXX XXX
The young blond lady with the gigantic boobs had been a welcome relief to see upon entering the Hokage's office. As the team had gotten closer and closer to the building their fear of their new sensei had grown and grown. What if they really had the crazy lady? What if they had someone worse? Did someone worse even exist? That had been answered when they'd nearly run into a man wearing a green spandex suit. He'd been screaming something about a flower of youth. It'd been fairly scarring and they'd quickly hurried away. Sasuke vaguely recalled what Ami and Naruto had claimed about their jounin sensei. Were they all insane?
It seemed so. Their new jounin instructor had turned her eyes on them and asked in a completely annoyed voice, "These are the brats you expect me to train? I doubt they could find their way out of a paper bag!"
All three of their eyes had narrowed at the lady in anger. But the Sandaime had seemed unbothered. Instead, he'd merely nodded and waved them on their way. It had not been an auspicious beginning.
The blond lady had taken them to a clearing with three logs in it and a memorial. The whole time going there she had mumbled about perverted old men who didn't understand the intricacies of medicine. Sasuke idly wondered about her mental health. With a huff she sat down and claimed, "I'm Tsunade of the sannin."
Sasuke had stared at her. There was no way she was a sannin. The sannin were old, and well, she wasn't. He and his teammates looked at each other in disbelief, but none of them voiced their clear skepticism. They'd seen enough insane jounin to decide it wasn't worth the risk. If she was insane enough to think she was Tsunade then they'd let her think that. It didn't really hurt them in the long run anyway. Kami save them, though, for when they ran into the real Tsunade. Sasuke doubted she'd take too happily to an impersonator.
The blond lady "Tsunade" continued, "I don't really care about your names brats. Just tell me why you became ninja. Got it?"
Sasuke's eyebrows rose. That was kind of a personal question. Did she really expect them to just answer it for her? Since she sat there just glaring at them waiting for an answer, he had to assume so. He glared back. Fuki picked the grass and refused to look at their new sensei. Kota looked around and noting that neither of his teammates was going to speak decided to start.
"I'm a ninja because my mom told me to be!" Kota claimed with a thumbs up and glittering eyes. Fuka snorted and Tsunade turned to look at her.
Her gaze was icy when she asked, "If you think his reason is stupid then what's yours?"
Kota shivered and Sasuke groaned; another scary female for Fuki to act like. He made a note to never ever allow his new sensei and Ami to meet. That would be a disaster. Fuki, though, wasn't intimidated at all. For the first time that day she made eye contact with their sensei. They seemed to be having some sort of stare down. The tension was unbearable. After about a minute of the two just staring at each other, Sasuke had had enough. He irritably coughed hoping to get at least one of their attention. Instead, he found himself the recipient of two icy stares. Well, that had been a bad idea. Fuki looked him up and down before finally making a decision.
"I'm a ninja because ninjas have power. They can shape and change the world for the better or the worse in a way a civilian never could," she claimed with passion. She gave Tsunade a look that dared her to contradict. Tsunade stared at her for a moment with a slight frown on her face. It was hard to tell if she liked Fuki's reason or not. Instead, she turned to Sasuke for his response.
Kota frowned slightly before interjecting, "Hey wait! You didn't say if you wanted to change the world for the better or worse. You just said you wanted to change it!"
A pout had appeared on his face as he asked. Sasuke noted that even the fake sannin looked interested in Fuki's answer. In response, Fuki's eyebrows raised before she condescendingly sniffed.
"I'll have to wait and see if I like the world, won't I, before I decide if I want to change it for the better or worse. Why bother helping a world that can never be saved? You might, as well, just take what you want, if that's the case," she claimed angrily. Sasuke stared at her. Was she serious? Tsunade looked very uneasy with the answer and Kota looked horrified. The two looked away eventually, but Sasuke was still staring. Fuki slowly smirked at him before winking.
Oh thank the kami. She was just kidding. Power probably wasn't her reason for being a ninja, after all. She just hadn't wanted to tell the sensei her real reason. But why would she hide her real reason? Maybe it was really personal? Unless, of course she had merely winked because she'd thought Sasuke was the only one who'd understood why she'd want the power to do whatever she wanted. Oh crap. Maybe Fuki really was power hungry. But then again when she'd winked it had seemed like she was laughing at a joke. Had she winked just to mess with Sasuke?
He was thrown out of his worries about if Fuki was actually evil or not or simply messing with him by Tsunade's exclamation of, "So? What's your reason, Uchiha?"
Sasuke blinked. Uchiha? Wow, their jounin sensei really was confused. First, she thought she was Tsunade and then she thought Sasuke was an Uchiha. He would have been extremely angry if anyone else had accidentally called him an Uchiha, but it was pretty clear their jounin sensei wasn't all there. Maybe he should go talk to the Hokage about this? Was she really fit to be a jounin instructor?
He knew his reason well enough. He'd become a ninja to gain acknowledgement, but saying that out loud would be kind of embarrassing. His jounin sensei had lied about who she was, although maybe not quite intentionally, so Sasuke could lie as well.
"Power," he claimed. He didn't bother acknowledging the Uchiha part. She was just a little confused. No need to confuse her more by explaining. She looked truly horrified by his answer and Kota seemed to realize that both Fuka and he had lied. At least, they thought Fuka had lied. They weren't positive. In fact, Kota began banging his head on the ground in annoyance at the two of them. Sasuke smirked slightly at that before looking over at Fuki who looked amused. He winked. Two people could play at this game, after all.
It took awhile for Tsunade to regain her composure. Clearly she hadn't liked their answers at all.
Instead, she said, "There's no way I can take you guys on as a team,"
She looked pissed. Sasuke stared at her. Was she serious? He hadn't thought his answer would antagonize her so badly. Even Fuki looked a little panicked.
"The reason people are ninja is so they can protect those precious to them! Didn't they teach you about the will of fire in the academy? From what I see none of you have it! I can't possibly take you guys on," she angrily told them. Fuki deflated and Sasuke stared at the ground. She got up to leave.
Kota stared at her retreating back for a moment before yelling, "You asked us why we became ninja, and we had the wrong answer. I'm sure at one point you did, too. But people's answers change. Help us change ours!"
Tsunade froze. She didn't turn around, but she released the fist she had been clenching to her side.
"Meet me at training ground five tomorrow at eight," she said softly before walking away. Sasuke stared at her in shock. Fuki's mouth was gaping open before she turned to look at Koto.
"I think I love you," she told him. Koto blushed lightly, but he looked pleased with himself. Sasuke gave him a nod of acknowledgement before the three of them left the training ground. It was time to catch up on some much needed sleep.
XXX XXX XXX
"None of them had the will of fire," Tsunade told the Sandaime gravely. He looked at her for a moment before sighing tiredly. It was late at night and this was just one more bad thing to top off a too long day.
"So, I should find a different instructor?" he asked. Tsunade looked at him for a moment biting her lip in indecision.
Her brown eyes were deep in thought before she answered, "Probably, but not yet. One of the kids made a pretty good point. I'm going to teach those brats how to be proper Shinobi of the leaf. One day in the near future they're going to have the right answer. But I'm not going to teach them how to be medics. They don't deserve that nor would they make suitable medics. For Kami's sake the Uchiha said he became a ninja for power. Find a different sensei for them for later. For now, I'm going to drill the will of fire into them," She angrily told him. Sarutobi stared. There was no way Tsunade had picked up the wrong team. He'd seen them delivered to her. So, why would she think there was an Uchiha on her team?
"You didn't have an Uchiha on your team. Didn't you look over the files I gave you on them?" he asked in annoyance.
Tsunade gave a guilty start before muttering, "Uhhhhh….. no? Well… one of them looked like an Uchiha, so I assumed he was. He didn't correct me or anything."
"Was it Sasuke?" the old man asked.
Again Tsunade gave a guilty start before muttering, "Uhh….. I didn't learn their names?"
Sarutobi stared at her for a moment. Maybe it wasn't wise to give her a team. She already had the corps and Sakura. Of course she didn't want the team long term, just to drill the will of fire into them. Perhaps he'd give the team to Itachi. It was a prerequisite to be Hokage and perhaps the only thing standing between the boy and the Hokage's hat. He might as well fix that in case he came to an unexpected end. Jiraiya, Tsunade, or even Kakashi as Hokage was a scary thought. Also, he was starting to run out of options for Team 12. Why couldn't they have just gone to the corps like good little ninja?
Sasuke's answer was also disturbing. For Sasuke to be chasing power was worrying. Did he care about the people in this village, at all? Maybe it was a good thing Tsunade could knock some sense into him. And the fact that he didn't correct her on calling him an Uchiha was also strange. Normally Sasuke would take offense to that. Did he know the truth? What would that mean for the village? He hadn't felt this anguished about his decisions in Sasuke's life since four years ago when Namikaze Kushina had reported that the boy had accessed the fox's chakra. He had to trust in Minato's seal, but sometimes it was hard. There was the constant worry in the back of his mind that the fox would escape and Uchiha Sasuke would be the cause.
XXX XXX XXX
"I refuse," Itachi told him calmly. Sarutobi stared at the boy wordlessly. He had assumed Itachi would jump at the opportunity. Sometimes Itachi was so hard to predict. He supposed that trait would make him a Hokage to be feared in the other nations, but right now it was simply frustrating. Why would none of his ninja do what he wanted? First Jiraiya, then Tsunade, and now Itachi. He was running out of options. Anko kept dropping hints that she wouldn't mind the terrible trio, but that combination seemed likely to destroy the village.
He needed to relax. Anko would not be getting them. There were still plenty of options. He'd try to convince Itachi and if that didn't work there were always Shisui and god forbid Kushina. She'd at least be better than Anko, but not by much. No, he'd convince Itachi and that'd be that. But just in case that didn't work out, who else could possibly take on a genin team? Maybe Ibiki? But, no if he did that he might as well be giving them to Anko. Kami knew Ibiki would just dump them on her. Hmmm… He'd just have to find a way to make Itachi agree. It couldn't be that hard, right?
"So why exactly are you opposed to taking on a genin team?" Sarutobi began.
XXX XXX XXX
It was Sasuke's first time leaving the village and it was hard to keep his excitement in check. Yesterday, Tsunade had announced that they were taking a C-rank mission outside of the village. It was their first C-rank and all three of them had been rearing to go. They'd all arrived at the West gate of the village bright and early, but Tsunade had merely looked at them with amusement. Apparently she didn't see how it was a big deal to leave the village. But it was okay, Sasuke, wouldn't let her smug amusement ruin his day. This was awesome, damnit! Their mission consisted of delivering a message from the leaf village to sand concerning the upcoming chunnin exam that the leaf was hosting. Sasuke didn't understand why they couldn't just send a courier bird, but he wasn't complaining. They'd gotten their first big mission!
They'd been working with Tsunade for about a week or so since their first meeting. On the first day she'd made it clear that she was only their temporary sensei meant to teach them what it meant to be a leaf Shinobi. Yet, since then she'd never clarified what she was actually going to do to get them there. Sure, she might vaguely mention the will of fire or protecting precious people, but besides that she didn't say much. In fact, she was almost as bad as Kanden. Not quite, but almost. She also had a strange obsession with memorizing their names which Sasuke had thought was a little weird especially since she hadn't cared at all before.
They'd spent the whole week getting large balls chucked at them to work on their endurance or speed or some such bull shit. It probably had helped their teamwork a little as they'd gotten used to saving each other from Tsunade's huge punches and attacks. Sasuke would admit that much. But it didn't really help them understand why they were ninja or any such thing. The only improvements from Kanden's training to Tsunade's was they no longer had to do those annoying d-rank missions and they actually got a decent amount of sleep. They managed to look halfway presentable. Still, it wasn't quite as much sleep as Sasuke would've liked, but he could deal. Oh why couldn't Kakashi have been his sensei? Then he could've slept until noon every day.
Still, Sasuke was grateful for the little improvements in their training, which was why when a devilish look had started appearing in Tsunade's eyes whenever she looked at the three of them, Sasuke had begun to worry. It was clear she was planning something. But with each day that passed with Tsunade's plan not revealing itself, Sasuke began to let his guard down more and more. It was possible he was just imagining it.
Yet, as they walked out of the village she practically reeked of mischievous intent. Sasuke began to have a very bad feeling about this mission. He glanced at his teammates both who hadn't seemed to notice. Fuki was pointing out which plants where which to a humming Kota, who was only half listening. The other part of him was reaching out sensing the chakra all around him. He was fast turning into a great chakra sensor. So, Sasuke continued walking without saying anything now in a dark mood. He could feel Tsunade's evil smirk burning into his back as they continued along the path. It was only a matter of time before this mission went straight to hell, he was sure.
XXX XXX XXX
It was midday when they stopped walking. They hadn't made that much progress in reaching sand largely because you really couldn't go all that fast just walking on the trail and Tsunade had had enough.
"Ugh! This'll take forever if we just walk. Don't you brats know tree walking?" she asked in annoyance. Sasuke scowled at her. Of course they knew tree walking. Did she think they were idiots? They hadn't learned it from Kanden, though. It's not like Kanden had bothered to teach them anything. He'd more just tried to kill them. Who knew being forever dubbed a pervert could make someone go crazy? Instead, it had been one of the techniques in Sasuke's scroll. So, he had taught it to the summer class. Sure, Sasuke had never per say mastered it much like all the other chakra control exercises, but he could do it. Well… he could do it, sort of.
Fuki had looked up at Tsunade horrified before questioning, "You mean we could have been doing that the whole time?"
Tsunade face palmed.
"I really hate genin sometimes," she unhappily muttered. Kota didn't really seem affronted by her words instead looking up at the trees nervously.
His face was starting to pale before he asked mortified, "You really want us to jump from tree to tree?"
Tsunade gave him a look that could only be interpreted as yes.
"But… but I'm scared of heights," Kota wailed. Sasuke stared at him in shock while Fuki rolled her eyes. Tsunade simply went back to mumbling about how much she hated genin.
It had taken half an hour but they had finally gotten Kota up into the trees and over his fear of falling. It probably would have gone faster if Sasuke's chakra hadn't kept flaring at the most inopportune times causing him to fall from whatever tree branch he'd attached himself to. Fuki kept snickering at him and Tsunade merely rolled her eyes at his awkward falls. It wasn't very good for Kota's confidence, but it made Sasuke determined to master the skill. This was of course harder said than done. But, after two days of traveling by tree tops Sasuke was pretty sure he had it mastered. He'd been spurred on by the fact that halfway through the second day Kota had begun doing flips off of the trees and other crazy stunts like they were nothing. Clearly he had conquered his fear.
Tsunade had been leading the way the whole time and Sasuke was beginning to get a little confused. It was the third day, so shouldn't they have at least started to see some sand? Instead, they were still surrounded by trees. Fuki and Kota were just as confused. When they thought Tsunade couldn't hear they began discussing the strangeness.
"I'm not really sure, but whenever I've looked at a map I'm pretty sure sand is in the opposite direction," Fuki had whispered. Sasuke nodded in agreement. Due to his photographic memory he could remember the map in excruciating detail and he was pretty sure, as well, that they were heading in the completely wrong direction.
Kota frowned slightly too before suggesting, "Maybe she's just bad at directions? I think we've been going in circles."
"No one's that bad at directions," Fuka claimed with a snort. Sasuke wasn't so sure.
"I don't know. I mean she thinks she's one of the sannin. Clearly she's off her rocker. Is it that far of a stretch to think she has absolutely no sense of direction?" he questioned. For a moment the three of them shared a look before shrugging. Who knew what the crazy blonde lady was capable of?
"Hey brats! Enough of your diddle daddling. We're almost there!" Tsunade called to them. Again they shared a look. They totally weren't almost there. Sasuke had a bad feeling about this.
As they jumped through the trees the feeling of impending doom began to increase. Something bad was going to happen; he could feel it. He quickly sped up his jumps so he could be side to side with Tsunade. Something was terribly wrong and Sasuke needed to warn her. However, Tsunade dismissed his fears without thought.
"I'm one of the sannin Sasuke, no one's going to dare attack us!" she claimed which really didn't make Sasuke feel any better. Instead, Tsunade told him he should be pleased they had managed to get such a good first mission.
"I suppose we could be attacked to get the information we're transferring," She eventually conceded, "but with me around no one would dare."
Sasuke stared at her. It was official. They were going to be attacked.
XXX XXX XXX
For a while after that they continued hopping through the trees in silence. For some reason something felt seriously wrong, but Sasuke simply couldn't put his finger on it. Something was just off. Looking around his eyes narrowed. Hadn't they just passed that tree? Maybe it was just a coincidence that it had the same markings as a tree from earlier? Before he could ponder it any further he was interrupted by a pale, nervous looking Kota.
Kota worriedly claimed, "Hey you guys. There's a weird chakra sig-,"
He didn't finish as the quiet forest burst into noise. Fire erupted around them and shuriken darted from the trees with no warning. A masked figure leapt towards them, but Tsunade intercepted him with a fist. The shuriken which she had dodged in favor of assaulting their attacker flew past her, towards the three genin, who had been in mid tree jump. Unlike Tsunade they didn't have the time or even the skill to switch their momentum so swiftly. There was no way they could dodge. Instead, they were stuck flying through the air towards their looming deaths. Sasuke panicked and in a desperate move, he grabbed Fuki, who was closest to him, and kicked off of her much like one of the stunts they had used during Tsunade's insane training to quickly get out of the danger zone.
Sasuke flew hard into a tree and winced at the impact. It felt like one of his ribs had cracked. He hadn't planned that out too well. He'd only seen the shuriken and a paralyzing fear had overtaken him. He hadn't thought at all. Hopefully, Fuki had been propelled in the other direction and escaped the barrage. He quickly looked around to assess the situation. He wasn't sure exactly where Fuki was, but he could see Kota. His heart stopped.
Kota's leap had put him directly in the path of the projectiles with no way to escape. And he knew it, too. His eyes were filled with pure horror even as he desperately tried to do the hand signs for a kawarmi. He'd panicked upon facing his first life threatening situation and completely forgotten about the kawarmi until the last moment, much like Sasuke. In a life and death situation in which all he had was half a second or less, most of which he'd wasted before remembering the simple jutsu that could save his life, he simply wasn't fast enough. Fuki probably could have done it. She wouldn't have panicked in that situation. She was level headed and never let anything get to her; Sasuke realized. Why hadn't Sasuke performed the maneuver with Kota? Fuki could have saved herself. It was all Sasuke's fault. He should have realized. But he'd panicked. And he'd just grabbed the person closest to him, and not the person who needed it the most. Kota was going to die because of him.
In a last ditch attempt to save his friend Sasuke desperately leapt out of the tree to push Kota out of the way attempting to ignore the burning sensation in his chest. He was too late. His jump, which had been impeded by his cracked ribs, fell short, but it didn't matter anyway.
Even before Sasuke had jumped a shuriken had slashed right into Kota's neck. The boys' wide eyes were all Sasuke could see as blood splurted out of the wound. He made a strangled gurgling sound before falling deathly silent. Barely a moment later, the projectiles hit his legs and arms causing blood to splatter everywhere. He fell lifelessly towards the ground blood dripping freely from his wounds. He hit the ground with a dull thump and made no move to get back up.
Sasuke could only stare at Kota's body in shock from the tree he was perched on. He couldn't be…. could he? He'd just been alive one second ago. There was no way he was dead. Sasuke refused to believe it. Kota was his friend. Kota couldn't die. It just wasn't possible. At least not like that. There was supposed to be some warning. This couldn't happen! It wasn't allowed. Kota would get up and jump up into the tree any second now. Sasuke just had to wait. He'd come back. He knew it.
He was transfixed waiting for Kota's white pale body to get back up. It had to, right? Kota couldn't die. It wasn't right. It wasn't allowed! He didn't even notice as kunai flew out of the forest towards him or as Tsunade got sliced in two by a katana. Why wasn't Kota getting up? It wasn't until a body slammed into him and pushed him under the barrage of kunai that he snapped back into reality. Fuki was staring at him desperately her eyes wide in shock.
"Kota's not dead is he? He can't be. It's not allowed," Sasuke pleaded desperately. His only answer was Fuka's pale haunted face. This couldn't be happening. Fuka was staring past him at something on the ground. Sasuke turned to look. It was Kota, except it wasn't Kota. Sasuke stared at the body for a moment. It was twisted and broken from the landing and Sasuke felt the enormous need to heave.
Kota was dead. He could feel tears trailing down his face. He'd do anything to go back and undue this. He needed to save Kota. Kota wasn't supposed to be able to die. He was young and innocent and he was Sasuke's friend. And yet, someone had killed him. An unspeakable rage filled Sasuke. Kota was dead. Kota, who had had never done anything to deserve it. He'd been innocent and now he was dead. It wasn't allowed. It wasn't right. He'd kill them for what they'd done. They'd pay.
Red clouded Sasuke's vision and a deep hollow voice laughed in the back of his head. Sasuke didn't care. There he was. The masked figure, who had killed Kota, and now held a bloody katana. A katana covered in Tsunade's blood. Sasuke leapt. The figure never stood a chance. One moment he was alive and about to hunt his next victim and the next his head had been brutally ripped off by Sasuke's claws. Blood splurted everywhere, but still Sasuke wasn't appeased. He ripped the figure limb from limb until there was nothing left. Yet, the anger never faded.
He turned to find his next prey. He needed to kill, to tear, to destroy. There his prey was. She was hiding from him, cowering. Smart little prey. She realized what he could do, what he would do. He stalked forward menacingly delighting in the prey's fear. A maniacal laugh escaped him.
"Sasuke…?" the prey whispered her eyes wide with fear. For a moment Sasuke froze. Something was wrong here. He tried to shake the feeling off, but it wouldn't completely go away. Didn't he know this person? There was something vaguely familiar about the spiky auburn hair and terrified brown eyes. Who was it? What was going on?
"Fuki?" he questioned. She turned her head up sharply to look at him. Sasuke stared back at her in shock. What had he been doing? He'd been about to attack Fuki! Had he lost his mind? Slowly the red chakra faded from his body. The claws disappeared and his eyes turned back to their normal black color. He staggered a little from the exhaustion that overtook him.
But before he passed out he said, "I'm sorry."
XXX XXX XXX
When Sasuke came to it was in a hospital room. He ached everywhere and it felt like his body would never move again. He found himself looking into the stern gaze of Tsunade.
His eyes widened before he exclaimed, "But you're dead!"
She gave him a disappointed look but before she could say anything someone else burst into the room.
"Sasuke! You're awake! Thank the kami. It was really scary; I was dead! And then you got covered in that red chakra." Kota exclaimed. Sasuke could only stare at him in shock.
He started hyperventilating slightly before asking, "Am I dead?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course not. I put you three in a genjutsu so you'd come to understand the will of fire," Tsunade claimed. Sasuke stared at her blankly in astonishment before he processed exactly what she had just said.
His eyes flashed as he angrily asked, "You mean you put us through all that for some sick test? I thought Kota had died! Died! Why would you do something like that?"
Tsunade didn't look the least bit repentant. Instead, her eyes were icy cold. But before she could respond another voice interrupted.
"Sasuke, why are you a ninja?" Fuki asked. Her eyes were tired and haunted looking, but she met Sasuke's eyes with a fearless look. Kota nodded his agreement to Fuki's statement, but Sasuke could only look between the two of them in confusion. What did this have to do with anything? He was a ninja because he was a ninja, damnit.
"There's no way I'm ever letting any of you guys die again," he claimed angrily. Fuki's eyebrows raised and Kota smiled faintly.
Tsunade looked smug before saying, "Exactly. You guys have the will of fire now."
Sasuke stared at them in confusion. The will of fire, now? He didn't understand. Instead, he just felt angry and betrayed. What was going on?
"A leaf Shinobi is not a tool; he is a person. And a person is at their strongest when they are protecting their precious people. That is the will of fire. You are a ninja so you can always protect those precious to you." Tsunade explained. Sasuke continued to stare at her flabbergasted. She'd put them through hell just to try to teach them that? Wasn't there a better way? Whatever, Tsunade was insane anyway.
But before Tsunade left she remembered to tell him, "Oh by the way, we're in Suna. We're leaving in three days. Until then you can do whatever you want. Just don't make a political incident. Got it?"
As she left the room, she turned around and gave them a slight proud smile and her eyes softened, "When you guys get back to Konoha, you'll get your new sensei. You passed. You truly deserve to be Shinobi of the leaf, now."
Then she left with a jaunty wave and a whistle in her step. Sasuke just stared at her back in complete confusion. They were getting a new sensei already? Ahhh whatever. Good riddens to the crazy blond. One day, Sasuke vowed; he was going to find the real Tsunade and sick her on this evil imposter. She'd deserve it for all the crazy stuff she'd made them put up with.
Even after Tsunade had left Kota and Fuki remained standing around his bedside staring at him. It made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Fuki's eyes were hard as she looked at him and Kota seemed to be staring right through him almost at something else. Finally, Fuki broke the silence.
"That red chakra. What was it?" she asked.