Another chapter down, more to come soon. For now, let me announce a few changes of things in the main series just for the purposes of this fic. The changes are:
-Kidomaru of the Sound Four/Sound Five was originally from the Hidden Web Village and is a Half-Human from the Spider Tribe (therefore, you can use his appearance as a template for other Spider Tribe characters that might come)
-Kisame Hoshigake of the Akatsuki was born in the Hidden Wave Village and is a Half-Human from the Shark Tribe (again, you can use his appearance as a template for other Shark Tribe members that might come)
That's all, nothing major. They still ended up where the ended up, but I've just changed their backstories a bit.
"Where'd he go?"
Kohaku scanned the forest for any sign of his sensei, but found none.
"Hey Koma," Aisu walked over to where Koma was sniffing the forest air, "can you find him?"
"Not like this." He replied with a sigh.
"What do you mean, 'not like this?'" Kohaku had wandered over.
"Well," he looked at his two teammates, "you remember those Wolf Tribe techniques I was talking about earlier?" Aisu and Kohaku nodded. "There's one of them that we used to use for hunting that allowed us to track our prey by linking our senses of sight and smell."
"It's worth a shot." Aisu shrugged. "Go for it." Koma nodded and formed a short series of hand seals.
"Ninja Art: Smellsight Jutsu!" Koma took a deep breath through his nose and opened his eyes. The world now appeared to him in streams of color, each color representing a different scent. His eyes searched around for a scent that stuck out among the rest, and they came to rest on a faint red trail.
"Got him," Koma smirked and motioned for his partners to follow, "this way."
Aisu and Kohaku smiled and followed Koma and his wolves deeper into the forest. They leaped from branch to branch following the scent trail as Ikichi watched them from a short distance away.
"So they fell for it." He grinned. "Good thing my clones carry the same scent that I do, or else Koma might have sniffed me out. Now let's see how they handle a little surprise." He quickly created two more clones that dashed off to head off his students, as the original sneaked a bit closer. When he was in range, he formed several hand seals.
"Fire Style: Fireball Cascade!" He raised a hand to his mouth and quickly blew several breaths of air, each of which turned into burning fireballs that ascended above the trees and arced downward on the three genin.
"Look out!" Aisu was the first to spot the attack and warned her teammates. Koma was quick to act.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" He opened his mouth and water poured out of it and quickly swirled around him and rose upwards, intersecting and quenching the fireballs that were plunging down on them. Kohaku cheered and Aisu gave Koma a pat on the back. Nearby, Ikichi smiled. Nice move, Koma. When you said you'd mastered some Water Style techniques, I never thought you were on the level of producing your own water. But let's see how you three respond to this. He gave a birdcall signal to his clones and they all moved in on the genin.
"I've got him!" Kohaku pointed in one direction.
"No," Aisu replied, "he's this way."
"You're both wrong," Koma shouted, "he's over here."
Without thinking, the three genin each followed the Ikichi that they had seen. The real Ikichi put a hand to his forehead and sighed.
"That's not what I wanted to see you all do."
…...
Kohaku pursued the Ikichi he had followed near effortlessly through the tree branches. This is a bit too easy. He stopped and started examining his surroundings.
"What's wrong?" Kohaku glanced up at the Ikichi clone. "Giving up already?"
"Not at all!" Kohaku said as he formed a hand seal. "Feather Illusion Jutsu!"
Feathers began to rain down around the Ikichi clone. He chuckled and formed a few hand seals and released the genjutsu. Just then, a tree exploded from the ground and wrapped itself around the Ikichi clone. Kohaku appeared out of the trunk of the tree and snatched the bells from Ikichi's waist.
"I'll take these!"
The grin stayed on his face until the clone dispersed.
"Aw man," he said as his shoulders slumped, "it was just a clone. But then, what were these?"
Kohaku looked at the "bells" he held in his hand...
…...
Aisu pursued her own Ikichi through the branches. She threw the occasional shuriken to try and knock one of the bells off of his waist, but the clone easily dodged. It suddenly stopped and turned to aim a shuriken of it's own at her. She ducked under it and began forming hand seals.
"Ice Style: Frozen Cloud!"
She raised a hand to her mouth and exhaled a long breath of air that formed into a cloud of tiny ice particles that instantly began moving toward the clone. As it moved, anything that it passed over was frozen solid. The clone jumped backwards and landed on a branch a few meters away. Aisu grimaced. My cloud moves too slowly, if only I could get it to move faster. Wait, that's it! She formed a few hand seals.
"Ice Syle: Icicle Spears!" She waved her hands in front of her and several icicle's formed in the air. She then slammed her hands together and they shot off after the Ikichi clone, who began dodging.
"You'll have to do better than that," it teased, "unless you plan on being sent back!"
"That was just a distraction!" As she spoke, the clone noticed another cloud moving toward him. He laughed and was preparing to tell her that that technique wouldn't work, but then he caught her smirking and forming another series of hand seals.
"Wind Style: Divine Down Current!" She thrust her hands forward and a vortex of wind shot out of her palm. When the wind made contact with the cloud, it pushed it forward at a high speed. The Ikichi clone swore and tried to dodge, but the cloud was too quick and froze it's legs to the tree. Before it could react, Aisu caught up to it and snatched the bells from it's waist. The clone dispersed itself shortly afterwards.
"A clone? Then these must not be the real—what the—!"
…...
Koma pursued the third Ikichi clone through the forest, Ikichi and Juuro hot on his heels.
"Alright," he told the two wolves, "we're going to use the pincer technique."
"Would you like me to summon the rest of the pack?" Juuro asked.
"No, the three of us should be able to handle it. Just increase the angle of our separation and it should be fine. In ten seconds, I'm going in, so make sure you're in position." The two wolves nodded and took of in different directions. Koma knew there was no need for worry, the wolves would be ready in time. After ten seconds, Koma increased his speed and closed in on the Ikichi clone. At the same time, Ichiro and Juuro attacked from two other directions. The clone let out a small gasp, but managed to escape by vaulting over the wolves.
"I'm not letting you get away!" Koma formed a few hand seals. "Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu!" A whip of water formed in Koma's hand, and he quickly whipped it toward the clone.
"Is that all?" It taunted as it dodged.
"You weren't the target!" Koma wrapped the whip around the bells and pulled backwards, catching them in his hand. The clone smirked before dispersing.
"I thought something was off about his scent. Then these aren't the real bells." Koma looked at the bells in his hand. "Wait! These are—!"
…...
Ikichi sat on a branch a short distance away and patiently waited for the information his clones had gathered to come back. All at once, all the data the clones had picked up from their scuffles came back, and he chuckled.
"Well, well," he said to himself, "I've got myself a pretty skilled group of kids, here. Unfortunately, they still haven't figured out the point of this exercise." A few moments later, three simultaneous explosions ripped through the serenity of the forest. "I suppose I should give them one last chance to try to get it, I just hope they figure it out in time." He stood a took off in the direction of the explosions.
Meanwhile, Koma picked himself up off the ground from where the explosion had left him. He glanced around and found that the explosion had blown him and the two wolves to the bank of the lake that sat in the middle of the training ground. He turned to Ichiro and Juuro.
"Are you both alright?"
"Yeah," Juuro replied, "I've been through worse than a little exploding tag."
"I'll be fine," Ichiro chimed in, "don't worry about it!"
Koma nodded and glanced further down the bank of the lake and spotted Aisu and Kohaku. He jogged over to where Aisu was picking herself up, and Kohaku soon joined them.
"Clones with exploding tags?" Kohaku asked. Aisu and Koma nodded. "That was a pretty slick move."
"Yeah," Koma replied, "are you both okay?" Kohaku nodded.
"You idiot," Aisu said, "you shouldn't be so concerned about me. Only two of us at most can pass, remember. If you don't want to be sent back, then you need to worry about yourself, not us."
"I don't care." Koma knelt down next to her. "You and Kohaku are my teammates, my partners, and because of that, I'm going to worry about your well-being. If that gets me sent back to the Academy, then so be it. I consider you both friends, and I've lost enough to learn to value my friends over my own skin." Kohaku and Aisu just stared at the boy. The silence continued for a moment before Kohaku spoke.
"So...we've all tried taking him down individually...do you guys want to try doing it together?"
"Yeah," Koma nodded, "sounds good."
"It's worth a shot." Aisu said, "What did you have in mind?"
"Well," Kohaku thought for a moment, "tell me what you two can do and the tools you've got."
After a few moments, Ikichi landed just outside of the forest and took a few steps towards the group.
"Well, well," he told them, "look what I've found. You know, if you really want to pass this test, you're going to have to try a bit harder than you have been."
The three students looked at each other and nodded before charging at their sensei. They quickly closed the distance between them and began attacking with taijutsu. Ichiro and Juuro joined in on the attack, snapping at Ikichi with their fangs. The Jonin easily began dodging and evading their strikes, paying careful attention to the wolves and their teeth. As Kohaku came in for a strike, Ikichi flipped the boy up and over his head. Kohaku landed and rolled a short distance away before bringing his hands up.
"Misty Followers Jutsu!" Several solid black copies of the three students and two wolves rose from the rocks and trees and began to converge on Ikichi. The real group backed off and let the illusions work. Kohaku ran around and rejoined them.
"You all know what to do?" Koma asked. Aisu, Kohaku, and the wolves nodded. "Alright, I'll go get set up. Good luck." Koma ducked down into the genjutsu and left his teammates.
"Alright," Aisu said, "go ahead and start things off." Kohaku grinned and formed a hand seal.
"Feather Illusion Jutsu!" Feathers began to rain down around Ikichi. He quickly released the jutsu, but Kohaku was ready as he finished another series of seals.
"Genjutsu: Sylvan Fetters!" A tree erupted from the ground beneath Ikichi and wrapped itself around the man.
"It seems we're finally starting to improve, but this isn't going to be enough!" Ikichi released the first genjutsu and the tree disappeared. He quickly released the second and all the copies that had been formed by Kohaku's Misty Followers Jutsu also disappeared.
"What!" Ikichi was stunned. As the copies vanished, he found himself staring into one of Aisu's frozen clouds. He also found Ichiro crouched behind him and Juuro standing to his right. Impressive, he thought as he dodge left, the only direction he could go, nice teamwork you two. He landed a few feet away, and Aisu quickly formed a group of icicles and sent them flying towards him. He dodged backwards and landed on the ground, but somehow it felt different. He glanced down.
"A scroll?" Ikichi's eyes widened and he followed the scroll to it's end, where Koma sat. "Damn!"
"Gotcha!" Koma placed his hand on the scroll and water exploded from the scroll and quickly began forming a dome around Ikichi. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!"
Soon Ikichi found himself unable to move and encased in a dome of water. Well, well, he thought, very good, you three, very good. Koma, Kohaku, and Aisu hurried over to where Ikichi was trapped. They nodded to each other and reached into the water dome. Koma grabbed the bells, Aisu placed her hand on his, and Kohaku placed his hand on hers. They pulled their hands out of the dome and Koma released the jutsu. Ikichi fell to his knees and took a few breaths of air.
"So," he turned to them, "which two of you are going to get the bells and who's going back to the Academy?"
"Actually," Kohaku said, "we've all got the bells."
"We're not going to accept that someone has to go back," Aisu added, "not after the work we've all done."
"So," Koma asked, "what are you gonna do now, Ikichi-sensei?"
The man regarded his students for a moment before bursting into laughter. The three genin stared at him for a moment, confused.
"I knew you three were smart," he said at last, "but I never expected this." He climbed to his feet as all three of his students began to open their mouths. Ikichi held up a hand. "Let me explain. The point of this exercise was never to get the bells. That was just a ruse. The real point was to see how well the three of you could work together to try and get the bells. And I also lied when I said only one or two of you could pass. You were either going to pass or fail as a team."
"What...what an underhanded little trick." Koma laughed.
"Well we had to do it this way." Ikichi shrugged. "Do you think everyone would have shown up for the test had we told the whole truth? Anyway, now down to your performance. I have to say, when you all went chasing after separate clones without thinking about which might be the real one, I was worried that I'd have to fail you. But you did finally come around in the end. That was a very impressive display of teamwork you used to get those bells. Not only that, but you refused to sacrifice one man so that the rest of you could pass. I'm proud to say that you three have passed the test. I'm looking forward to leading you on your missions."
"Alright!" Kohaku cheered. "We did it!"
"Well that's a relief," Aisu sighed, "I was worried there for a minute."
"I...I can't believe..." Koma was speechless.
"Congratulations, pup." Juuro walked over and seated himself near Koma. "You've earned it."
"Yeah!" Ichiro jumped up and tackled Koma to the ground and began licking his face. "Good...job...Koma." He said between licks. Koma laughed and finally managed to push Ichiro off of him long enough to stand.
"Come on." Ikichi began leading his team back towards the village. "Let's get you all cleaned up, then I'll treat you to a nice dinner."
Aisu, Koma, and Kohaku followed their sensei out of the training ground, all three looking forward to the missions they would soon be undertaking.
Let me explain a few concepts introduced in this chapter:
Smellsight Jutsu-This is a special jutsu known to the Wolf Tribe. It allows the user to use their chakra to link their senses of sight and smell. Once this is done, the world appears to them in a myriad of colors, which each scent having its own shade and color. The user can then single out a scent and follow it, allowing for easier tracking.
Frozen Cloud-A simple jutsu that forms a cloud made of ice crystals that freezes everything it touches. The cloud is slow moving, so it can be easily avoided. However, as Aisu demonstrated, Wind Style jutsu can be used to increase the cloud's speed.
Icicle Spears-self-explanatory, I think
the 'Pincer Technique'-this is a formation used by Koma and the wolf pack. When the entire pack is summoned, they surround the enemy and attack from all sides, with three wolves attacking from the left, right, and behind, while Koma and Juuro attack the enemy head on.
Another chapter coming soon!
La lune du sang-a.k.a. La Volpe