Hi! A massive Thank You to all of my reviewers who'd been amazingly awesome with their reviews! Sorry it's so long since I updated, but school, as you all probably know, is a big fat poo who feeds on your free time.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
I was waiting outside of the Hokage's office for the mysterious ANBU who had brought me here to come out. My head was still buzzing with what he told me about – Gennin graduates. He wanted me to graduate at the age of eight.
I was startled out of my musings as the door to the office opened and the ANBU came out. His mask was still on, but from the aura radiating off his body I could imagine the self-satisfied smirk which undoubtedly lay beneath it. I looked up at him expectantly.
"Come to the Academy at eight in a week's time. Room 103A. Oh, and here, I've got something for you." He held out his hand and I was sure my jaw had hit the floor when I saw the glistening Konoha insignia attached to the headband. "Welcome to the ninja world. You're officially a Gennin."
I was tempted to indulge in a victory dance, but something popped up in my mind; something which planted a small seed of doubt about the whole ordeal and made me retract my hand. "What about standard procedure? Isn't there some kind of test?" I asked carefully. The ANBU chuckled.
"This was part of the test." I felt my jaw drop slightly. That cunning, little, deceiving…! "And you passed it."
Oh.
"Now it's time for the practical part! Come with me." And he led me back to where he came from – mainly, the Hokage's office. I was still annoyed by the fact that he'd tricked me and I was nervous about whatever he was going to make me do. However, the moment I stepped into that room I saw that there were not only the Hokage and my ANBU overseeing this, but the Elders.
Immediately, my posture straightened and I set my expression into that of polite detachment, my resolve strengthened. There was no way I would fail, regardless of what it was they wanted me to do. Not when all of my Village's representatives were watching.
"Ah, Sakura-chan. I've been informed of your case, and frankly, it's quite peculiar." The Hokage spoke up. Though it was my first time seeing the man in flesh, I could tell there was something underneath his grandfatherly appearance. Something… sinister. "Your father was an incredible man and an exceptional ninja who always fought for a noble cause. I believe you can follow his footsteps, from what your file and ANBU-san here tell me. However, before we can proceed any further, in this case - making you a Konohagakure gennin - we have to go through with the standard Academy tests."
"There goes your 'standard procedure'." The ANBU muttered into my ear, and I almost jumped when I realised he was still next to me.
"The typical Academy practical tests for potential gennin graduates is fairly straightforward – it consists of the Clone Technique, Body Replacement Technique and Transformation Technique. I assume you're familiar with them?"
I lost all sort of composure the moment I heard that. "Beg your pardon, Hokage-sama, but is that it?" I burst out.
The Hokage looked surprised, but I saw one of the Elder's eyes, or, eye glint mysteriously. Like he knew what I meant, or even, expected me to say that. That unsettled me. I'd spent ages trying to make sure no one could predict what I was doing, or was going to do. And here he was, looking at me like he knew everything about me.
At the Hokage's command, I performed each of the techniques he requested, since all of them were in the scrolls I found in the box. The Hokage took notes on every jutsu I did, and for some reason it made me feel quite self-conscious. Soon, I was done, and waiting for what the Hokage had to say, when suddenly, a kunai came whizzing straight at my head. Only good reflexes and years of training with pointy weapons popping out at me saved my head from being permanently separated from my body as I quickly reached into my own pouch and deflected the weapon so it landed harmlessly on the floor, next to the ANBU's feet.
"Danzo!" the Hokage called, sounding shocked. "We'd finished the test!"
"A shinobi's life depends on their good reflexes." The man replied gruffly, like his reason justified everything. And, in a way, it did.
"Right. Sakura-chan, I am pleased to inform you that you have passed the test, meeting our expectations and even going beyond them. Here is your hitai-ate."
I took a cautious step in his direction, before I stopped to ask, "This isn't another test, is it?" this time the Hokage actually chuckled before he reassured me that no, it wasn't. Any doubts I might've had cleared, I carefully took my headband from him and bowed respectfully, and left the office.
The second I was out of that room and a safe distance away from the place, I stopped in a park to catch my breath. I stood there, shocked beyond belief, tentatively fingering the navy cloth still in my hands. A gennin… four years earlier than I expected. I was suddenly seized by the urge to dance around in joy, something I had not done for Kami knows how long. Instead, I settled for tying the headband loosely around my neck and running off to my favourite dango place for a lengthy celebration.
Meanwhile, the soon-to-be jounin senseis were all lined up and waiting for orders regarding their future teams.
All apart from one.
He sat in one of the chairs furthest from the group, still leafing through the files on his little fledglings, his hand occasionally reaching up to tug at his short black hair in frustration. He kept glaring at the paper, wishing it would burst into flames. The whole thing was just a nightmare to him… or the beginnings of one.
Name: Akane Satoshi
Age: 12
Acad. Graduation Age: 12
Height: 149
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Affiliation: Konoha.
Mother: (Out of Village)
Father: 39
Special Abilities: Ninjutsu type. Medical ninja.
Other: Loud and eccentric, acts before he thinks.
Name: Kaoru Yuhi
Age: 12
Acad. Graduation Age: 12
Height: 158
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Affiliation: Konoha, Yuhi Clan
Mother: 36
Father: (Deceased)
Special Abilities: Genjutsu type.
Other: Quiet and reserved, kind.
Name: Sakura Haruno
Age: 8
Acad. Graduation Age: 8
Height: 136
Hair: Pink
Eyes: Green
Affiliation: Konoha, Haruno Clan:
Mother: (Deceased)
Father: (Deceased)
Special Abilities: Taijutsu type.
Other: Intelligent, quiet, prefers to be left alone.
So, I have a hyper idiot, a quiet, reserved guy, and an anti-social genius. Bloody peachy.
"Izaya-kun, could you stop antagonizing over your team and come over here?" the Hokage's voice rang in his ears and he heard the other senseis chuckle at the words.
Wordlessly, he rose of his chair and grabbed the files as made his way to his position in the ranks of soon-to-be senseis.
"Gomen, Hokage-sama. I just thought the Council decided to stop producing more Uchiha Itachis." He said bitterly and realised that with his statement he immediately had everybody's attention.
"That is true, Izaya-kun." Hiruzen replied calmly.
"Then why does my team have an eight year old girl? An eight year old, Hokage-sama. Isn't that a little hypocritical?"
"The reasons the girl was placed on your team run deeper than you can imagine, so if you'd be so kind as to not question them any further and simply accept the girl into your team, I would greatly appreciate it." The kind voice was gone, instead replaced with the steely hard tone, and for a moment Izaya saw in his eyes what had allowed this man to become God of Shinobi. The cold, unyielding resolve which overpowered his enemies and made even the most prideful of men obey his command.
Lowering his eyes to the floor, he tuned out what the Hokage had to say and began formulating a plan for how to test his little team. Since, obviously he needed to see if they were worthy of his attention. And possibly to find out more about the mysterious pinkette.
I ran home straight after having a little feast in the dango restaurant, and as I burst through the door, I called out; "Dad, dad! I passed, I'm a gennin!"
When my exclamation was met with silence, the bitter reality barrelled into me.
Dad wasn't here.
Tears gathered in my eyes, but I stubbornly held them back. It had been two years. I thought I was over it, or at least, used to coming back to an empty house.
Well, you thought wrong.
I guess I was just- that after all the effort he went through – I thought he would at least be here to see it.
You're lonely.
I'm not.
You're alone – lonely.
Alone doesn't mean lonely.
You're arguing with a voice in your head. You are lonely.
I'm not. I've got Neji-chan.
Yes, maybe, but no one else.
The weight of Inner's words sunk in and I suddenly realised she was right. But, I reasoned, in a week I would be meeting my team. Once I was on active duty, with a team to work with, the spare time for social life would decrease, so there was no point worrying about it.
Then a thought hit me. Was I arguing with Inner… or trying to convince myself?
The week had gone by quicker than I expected, and I was nervous. True, I was only just starting my career as a ninja, the lowest of the low, a Gennin, but I was curious as to what that title really meant. I had high expectations. I also had a goal - having recently seen that it was possible to go past morals and laws, I wanted to see how much further I could push them. And I had a target in mind which I planned to aim for – ANBU. Or, more importantly, Uchiha Itachi. That man had advanced amongst the ranks faster than anyone could imagine, and I wanted to beat him. That was my goal.
I made my way into the Academy according to the instructions given by the Hokage, stopping once or twice to check if I was going the right way. My headband hung loosely around my neck, and the metal glinted in the sunshine. Finally, I found the right door. I took a deep breath and walked in.
Immediately, heads turned to see who had walked in and I saw some glare at me while others had a curious expression on their faces. Some of the girls gushed at my apparent 'cuteness' and I barely held in a wince at their impossibly high voices.
A boy to my left with longish brown hair tied into a ponytail – which immediately reminded me of my dear Neji-chan – noticed my annoyance and chuckled. "Are you lost?" he asked kindly, apparently not noticing the hitai-ate tied around my neck. However, before I could tell him so, somebody else interrupted.
"Well, obviously she's lost, Kaoru! Seriously, what else would a brat like her be doing in our class?" a redhead sitting a few benches further said rather rudely. But the brunette – Kaoru – ignored the comment and turned to me for an answer. Wordlessly, I pointed at my headband and saw his eyes widen a fraction, going back and forth between my headband and my face, before he nodded mutely and returned to whatever it was he was reading before I came.
I took a leaf out of his book and also ignored the redhead when I walked past him and found a seat in the front row, far away from said redhead's glare and the squealing girls.
It took a few minutes until the teacher appeared, and I had to resist the urge to rub my eyes in disbelief when I saw how young he was. He had brown hair in a ponytail and a scar running across his nose. He couldn't be more than ten years older than me.
"Right! Well done to all of you who graduated, you're officially Gennin! I'll read out your teams together with the place you'll meet your sensei at. Good luck!"
A buzz of excitement followed his words and I listened intently to what he said. I was getting disheartened when I realised there were only a few people left, until the sensei said;
"All right; Team 13: Kaoru Yuhi, Sakura Haruno and Akane Satoshi! Meet your sensei at Training Ground 13 at noon."
I looked around and was pleased to see that I was on a team with the kind brunette from before, but the smile disappeared when I realised that the annoying redhead was going to be on my team as well. In the few seconds it took me to process that, Kaoru had already walked up to me, followed by the reluctant redhead.
"Shall we go?" he asked. I nodded mutely and led the way out. It was a long way to Training Ground 13 as it was on the very outskirts of the Village. Few ninja ever ventured there.
I could feel the redhead literally glaring a metaphorical black hole in my back. I tried to ignore him, but after a few minutes it became too much; with an annoyed sigh, I turned to face him.
"Would you mind telling me what the hell is your problem?" I demanded. I saw him mutter something which sounded like 'wow, it can speak', but decided to ignore it for the time being. "Well?"
It seemed as if the redhead was going to continue glaring, before he suddenly exploded: "You wanna know what my problem is? You are! You're like, what, six, seven maybe? Why did they even make you a gennin? And how on earth are we supposed to fight if we'll have to keep a constant eye on you? I'll be a babysitter, not a ninja!" Akane raged as he realised I had fallen silent. I was too shocked to do anything but watch as he yelled at me.
But he'd taken my silence as agreement and smirked arrogantly. "And like the useless little girl you are, you're not even going to deny it."
The shock quickly morphed into anger and before he knew what had happened, I slammed Akane against a nearby tree, my hand tightening round his throat. I was over a foot shorter than him and he could technically overpower me if he tried, but he seemed to have forgotten about that fact. I leaned up on my tip-toes to be level with his face.
"You want to know why I became a gennin? Because I came this close," I held out my hand for further emphasis, pointer finger and thumb so close they were almost touching, before I continued. "this close to killing one of the girls in my class. And I would've, had they not stopped me." I whispered.
I saw him pale slightly and backed down, satisfied with his reaction. He stopped glaring and the rest of the way to the Training Grounds went by in silence.
When we arrived at the designated place, I quickly realised our sensei was already waiting for us. At first glance, he looked good; short, spiky black hair, dark blue eyes, standard jounin uniform and pretty big chakra reserves.
Then he spoke, "Right. We won't have any of the typical sit-down-and-introduce-yourselves crap. There's a high chance you won't even stay a team after this, so why bother getting familiar? Let's just get to the test." He demanded.
How… blunt.
"What's the test, uh… what's your name?" the annoying redhead asked. I was ready to stuff a kunai down his throat, simply to get him to shut up…
"The name's Izaya, but for you brats, until you somehow magically manage to outrank me, it's Izaya-sensei, understood?" without waiting for an answer, he continued. "All right, there's no time limit – you simply attack me until you run out of chakra, or ideas. When I'm down and incapacitated, or tied down, then, and only then you've won and passed. Get it? Good. Go!" I saw him smirk and release a wave of chakra.
Suddenly I realised it wouldn't be as easy as it seemed – I didn't know my teammates, and frankly, even if I did I highly doubted I would work with them. But I had no more time to ponder as suddenly the ground shook and I was almost blasted off my feet.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, I'll be fighting back!"
Hope you all enjoyed and see ya next chapter!
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~Invincible