Deidara stretched, yawning in the sun that blanketed him. It had been only yesterday that he had made the cut to Genin. From what he heard, no one else from his class had passed. He frowned at that. He had hoped that he would be paired with someone he knew from class…but mother had always said that making new friends was just part of life.
"Well, you guys. I guess it's time to go meet our leader, un!" He quickly grabbed a shirt and some pants, throwing them on haphazardly. He was already late…well; in his mind he was late. He was told to meet his new team at about eight. It was six o'clock, but one could hardly sleep with the amount of excitement that he felt. He grabbed a muffin from his refrigerator, taking a quick bite of it before leaving the room, shutting and locking the door behind him. Then, he rushed off, eager to start the day…as a Genin!
The sun had begun to warm the ground as he made it to the designated area. A large, grassy field, blanketed with clover, with a large tree in the very middle. He looked around and sighed, allowing the wind to blow his hair. Then, he got up in the tree, climbing from branch to branch until he couldn't climb anymore due to his height. So, he sat, waiting. The sun was still rising, so he nodded off for a bit, letting his leg dangle loosely off the branch.
It was an hour later before he heard someone at the base of the tree. He looked down to see a mop of brown and red hair underneath him. The person, definitely feminine, sat down, hunched under the tree. Deidara smiled, looking at his hands.
"Let's meet one of our teammates, un!" He began going down the tree, slowly so he didn't lose his balance.
"I wonder where everyone is?" The girl, taller than him, sat with her back leaning against the tree. She sighed. Suddenly, a yellow-haired child stuck his face in hers, hanging upside down from the tree.
"Hello," Deidara said. The girl screamed, jumping up and away to stare as Deidara jumped from the tree, giggling.
"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you, un," he said. The girl regained her composure and looked the newcomer up and down.
"What are you doing here? I am supposed to be meeting my team here, so you should run back to the Academy. Besides, you're late!" She slowly shook her head, as if that statement should have been obvious.
"Actually, I'm meeting my team here to, un!" Deidara turned, jumping back in the tree. "However, you're more than welcome to share the tree. It's big enough I suppose, un." He got back to his position, resting his eyes. The girl, unsure, began walking around the tree, tapping her foot impatiently. Slowly, she resigned herself, grabbing a branch and hauling herself up. When she had reached Deidara's level, she sat down, her legs dangling over the side of the branch.
"So, what's your name squirt?" She was openly contemptuous, but Deidara had been called names before, so it wasn't anything new.
"Deidara. What's yours?" He opened an eye, his grin still on his face. The girl grunted, and looked away.
"Yoko, Yoko Tazanuchi," she said, as if it weren't really his business. Deidara shook his head, but left it at that. She turned back to him, her eyes closed to slits.
"Hey…just how old are you?" She folded her arms against her chest, leaning slightly back. Deidara opened one eye.
"I'm nine, un," he said. The girl gawked, and then laughed raucously.
"Nine! You're too young to be a Genin! Nine, that's a good one, ha-ha!" She laughed, almost losing her balance on the tree limb. Deidara was still grinning.
"How old are you?" He asked the question in the same way she had asked hers, without as much contempt. The girl snorted again, whipping her head to one side. Deidara swore that if she had been a pig, she would have wrinkled her nose in disgust at him.
"I'm thirteen, thank you very much, and I don't belong in a group with a nine year old!" She turned on the limb, jumping down the tree until she hit the ground. Deidara looked down at her, and rolled his eyes. This could be exciting, he thought. He looked at his hands, and they panted at him.
"Don't you guys ever do anything useful…like tell me information, un?" He knew they wouldn't answer, but it was always fun to ask them things.
"Who are you talking to up there? The birds?" The girl was on the ground, tapping her foot impatiently at him. Deidara looked down.
"I was just talking to my hands, un," he called down. The girl stared at him, incredulous, but rolled her eyes and sat back at the base of the tree. Deidara smiled, laying back down. He may as well get some sleep before the other student arrived.
It was nearly fifteen minutes later before the other arrived. It was a boy, about the same age as the girl, with brown hair and a dark blue jacket covering a white shirt. He walked with his hands in his pockets, his head looking at the ground.
"Hey! Bushio-kun! Hey!" The girl got up, running to the boy who was walking across the field. "Bushio-kun! You're in my squad? Great! Isn't that wonderful!" Deidara looked down, taking in the boy's appearance. The boy said something that Deidara couldn't pick up, and then went to sit under the tree as well.
"So…where's our other teammate?" The boy inquired, staring impassively at the girl. She sighed, and then grunted again.
"He's up in the tree, the lazy good-for-nothing," she said. He looked up, noticing Deidara lying on a branch. Jumping up, he swung himself up the tree until he was standing on Deidara's branch.
"Hey, what's your name?" He squatted down, keeping his balance as the branch swayed slightly. Deidara opened his eye, staring at the boy.
"Deidara." The boy nodded, getting up and going to a higher branch.
"So, Deidara. How did you become a Genin? You're pretty young, aren't you?" He was walking on the branch, raining leafs down at the younger nin. Deidara shook his hair, watching leafs fall out of it.
"Yeah, I'm young. So what of it, un?" He was beginning to tire of the whole you're young thing. The boy snickered, jumping down to his level.
"You're just going to slow me down. Just…just stay out of my way, and you'll live…for a while," the boy said. Deidara was still grinning as the boy jumped out of the tree, landing on his feet.
"That was so cool, Bushio-kun!" The girl was jumping up and down. The boy smirked, and then looked around.
"Where is our sensai?" He walked the periphery of the tree, and shrugged. He lay down on the grass, the girl getting as near as he would allow and sitting down. Deidara chuckled.
"What are you laughing about, half-pint?" The boy asked, looking up into the trees.
"Well, it's about ten minutes past the time we were supposed to meet, so that means our leader is late…bad form I'd say, un," he said. The boy had to grudgingly agree. Suddenly, the stone began to rise in front of the two on the ground, slowly taking shape. They jumped up, the boy grabbing his kunai…and the girl jumping behind him. The shape was still forming as a shinobi walked out of the mound, his hand held up in greeting.
"Hey guys! I'm your leader! This is group 3…actually, no, wait, and cancel that. This is group 4," he said. The boy rolled his eyes, and said something out of the side of his mouth. The girl nodded.
"Ok, let's get down to business. First, I want you to tell me your hopes, dreams, and other stuff that is, well…you!" He sat down on the grass, and the two in front of him looked at each other. "Why don't we start with you," he said, pointing at the boy. He nodded, standing tall.
"I am Bushio Mesakumi. I believe…" he said, but the leader waved him off.
"Ok, great. That'll do. How about you," he said, pointing to the girl. She smiled, standing forward.
"I am Yoko Tazanuchi, and I…" she started, but he waved her off to.
"Fine, fine. Ok…where is the third member?" he said, looking around. Both Genin pointed to the tree. The leader of the group looked up, sighting the yellow-hair before anything else.
"Ok, come on down and tell us you're name and stuff," he said. Deidara glanced down. He got up, stretching. He jumped from the branch he was on, catching the next one down and swinging up and over it, and so on until he hit the bottom. Once there, he walked over to his group, sitting down in the grass.
"So, who are you again?" The teacher, his eyebrow raised, glanced at the other two before returning his gaze to Deidara.
"I'm Deidara, un," he said. The teacher waited for more, but nothing else came. He nodded.
"Great. Ok, so we have Deidara, Yoko, and Bushio. Wonderful!" Then, he began to walk away.
"But sensai, we don't know your name…and we didn't tell you anything about us!" Bushio stood, his voice raising with earnest. The Jounin stopped, turning back to the three.
"I don't care about who you are, and frankly, you shouldn't care about who I am. Something no one told you…until now. There's another part of the test. If you don't pass it, you go back to the Academy for another year!" The three Genin watched him. The two boys kept their peace, but the girl fumed.
"Another year! But sensai, we passed the Genin exams…we're Genin now!" She didn't understand.
"Let me break it down for you. The exam is to see if you qualify to even be called a Genin…the test I am about to give you will prove it," he said. Deidara, though he followed, didn't quite understand.
"But I thought…" the girl began again, but a raised hand silenced her.
"Now you understand why I don't care about your past, your future, or any of it…you three will never pass this test," he said. The three stood there, transfixed. The Jounin looked up at them, a grin on his face. "Now…let's begin, shall we?"