Life of a Ninja: Renascence

4. Dissension

dis·sen·sion /dəˈsen(t)SH(ə)n/

noun

disagreement that leads to discord


It was 7 am sharp, when Tobirama and Nagisa entered Training Ground 7, to find that Sasuke had already arrived and had seated himself against one of the three posts in the clearing, seemingly brooding.

Upon their entrance, Sasuke barely glanced at them, and Tobirama guided his companion towards the small river, where they sat down, Nagisa immediately pulled out a scroll from her pouch and unsealed it.

One poof of smoke later, and there were two bentos sitting innocently on the scroll.

Sasuke paused, sharp eyes flicking between the lunches and his two teammates, a sneer on his face. "Dobe, sensei told us not to eat breakfast."

Nagisa just shot him an overly innocent smile, "Technically, he only suggested we don't eat, because there was a chance we'd throw up." She pointed out.

Tobirama shot the bristling Uchiha a smug smirk, "It'd not our fault you're so incompetent you cannot look underneath the underneath."

Sasuke snarled at them.

Nagisa took pity on the dark boy, shoveling part of her food onto the lid. Tobirama's hand shot out, catching her wrist.

"You need the nutrients." The silver haired boy pointed out, before adding part of his own meal. Nagisa shot him a shining smile, lighting up before sliding the food towards Sasuke.

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed into a suspicious glare. "I don't want your pity." He snapped, Nagisa drew back, looking hurt, and Tobirama glowered at him.

"Unthankful brat." Tobirama growled, "Don't bother with the Uchiha, Nagi."

Nagisa hesitated, before drawing back, eyes downwards.

Tobirama sighed, tugging gently on the blonde's pigtail, "Too kind for your own good."

-((-))-

Kakashi watched his possible team through a single narrowed gray eye. The Senju, and sensei's daughter (more so in the blonde's case) were making an effort to try and get to know the Uchiha, but the brat continued to shoot them down, rudely stating he didn't want nor need them.

He frowned as he watched Nagisa scuttle back beside her silver-haired friend, while Senju glowered at the dark-haired brat.

Hunkering down and making himself comfortable, Kakashi prepared himself for the next few hours of sitting and studying the group of children.

-((-))-

Tobirama's eyes flickered towards the tree-line, narrowing slightly in contemplation. He glanced towards Nagisa and jerked his head slightly towards the foliage. Her blue eyes followed his line of sight, before turning back to him and nodding.

They were being watched.

Nagisa's head tilted to the side and her hands began flying through signs, 'Kakashi-sensei is watching us?'

Tobirama dipped his head, 'Yes. Probably to study our habits. To search for strengths and weaknesses' He had done the same while training his little brats (not so little anymore - he had to remind himself - they're sixty now) after all; making it seem like he was late, while in reality he had been watching how they interacted, how they trained, among other things.

Nagisa's eyes narrowed slightly, nose scrunching cutely as she thought. 'What should we do?'

'Run through simple katas, through him off anything he may have picked up, don't show off.'

Nagisa nodded her consent before bounding to her feet, making her way to one of the training posts and began to run through the begin katas of Harikēn no ken, one of the Uzumaki clan's many taijutsu styles.

-((-2 HOURS LATER-))-

Nagisa and Tobirama had just sat down to take a breather when Kakashi arrived in a dramatic poof of smoke.

"Yo!"

"You're late." Sasuke snarled, dark eyes narrowed into a dirty glare.

Kakashi eye-smiled, not at all perturbed by the adolescent boy's pathetic glare; he'd seen scarier. "Well, you see... I got lost on the path of life."

"Oh, tell me about it." Nagisa said, eyes sparkling mischievously, "That road has so many twists and turns I'm surprised it's not a roller coaster."

Tobirama decided to play along, if only to annoy the Uchiha-brat. "Did you run into any black cats, by chance?" He asked innocently, lips twisting into a mocking smirk when Sasuke glowered at him.

The Hatake snorted in amusement, before clapping his hands together, "Now, onto business," all three children straightened. "You see these bells?" He pulled his hand out of his pocket, dangling the two silver bells in front of him for emphasis. "You have an hour to try to take them from me. The one who doesn't retrieve a bell will be tied to a post, while the rest of us eat lunch in front of you - "

The sound of a stomach grumbling interrupted the Jonin, and three pairs of eyes turned to the only dark-haired one in their midst.

"Ho?" A rather cruel smirk twist Kakashi's lips under his mask - brat got his just desserts - "Did someone not eat breakfast?"

Sasuke sniffed imperiously, "You told us not to. I was following orders, unlike the dobe."

Nagisa and Tobirama both glared, looking moments away from committing teammate-homicide.

"He only suggested we don't eat breakfast, if we didn't want to throw up." Nagisa reminded him, arms crossed over her chest and blue eyes flashing angrily while Tobirama radiated cold fury, his pale red eyes frosty.

Kakashi nearly sighed, he could cut the tension between these kids with a kunai. "Tobirama and Nagisa are correct. I never ordered you not to eat; something you must know as a ninja is 'look underneath the underneath'. I have no need for mindless tools." His single eye roved Team 7. "As I was saying... The one who doesn't succeed in retrieving a bell... will be sent back to the academy for another year."

He watched the childrens' reactions to the news. Nagisa had immediately looked to her silver-haired companion, head tilted to the side as her hand flew through signs he knew the ANBU had used five years ago -where did these kids learn that?-, in which Tobirama promptly replied in his own.

'He's shitting us.' Nagisa signed, looking between her teammates and their sensei.

'He is, there is no such thing as a three member genin squad.' Tobirama studied him for a moment before continuing. 'The only time that happens is when one member either dies or is promoted.'

Smart kids, Kakashi noted in approval.

Sasuke, on the other hand; his eyes had narrowed and he glared at his two teammates, before staring hungrily at the silver bells, body angling away from the other two.

This one fell for it. Kakashi sweat dropped, for the so-called 'almighty' Uchiha, the kid wasn't very good at looking underneath the underneath.

At all.

Then Sasuke was moving, faster than most genin but slow enough for Kakashi to follow, dipping his hand into his kunai pouch, the dark haired boy darted forward, kunai poised for an attack. Kakashi waited, and the moment the Uchiha was close enough, he twisted, one hand grasping Sasuke's wrist, twisting the boy's arm around so the blade was inches away from the boy's own head, while the other tugged on Sasuke's dark hair, pulling him roughly to a stop.

"Maa, someone's impatient." Kakashi drawled, tightening his grip on Sasuke's wrist. "I never said go." He eye-smiled mockingly, "Go,"

Then he promptly vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving three children alone in the clearing.

Nagisa was the first to speak, "We should work-"

"I don't need your help, dobe." Sasuke interrupted with a snarl, "You'd only get in the way." He glared at his two so-called teammates, "Stay out of my way." Then he leapt off into the trees to hunt down the silver-haired man.

With a sigh, Nagisa shrugged, "I tried."

"He's a fool." Tobirama growled.

"Yes, yes he is." Nagisa agreed. "But, sadly, he's our fool. We can't pass this thing without him."

The Senju grunted.

"Should we wait until he screws up to help him out?" Nagisa asked, "Because he's about to make a total fool of himself. He has no hope of getting that bell."

"You're right," Tobirama agreed with a nod. "Hatake will most likely let him touch the bells, get the Uchiha arrogant enough to manipulate into thinking that he won't need our help. He wants us to work together, but he's not going to make it easy for us."

"True," Nagisa nodded. "Sasuke-teme is way to easy to manipulate." She added as an after thought.

Tobirama snorted, before collecting himself and arranging his face into an apathetic mask. "I have a plan." His eyes glimmered with excitement -this was going to be fun/he hadn't had such a challenge for far too long-

"You always do." Nagisa pointed out.

"Oh, shush."


TAHDAHH!
Sorry about the wait for this chapter, it's exam time once again. So it took me a bit to write this out, gomen mina.

Next chapter will be the rest of the genin exam, sorry about the cliffhanger -.-". Just a quick note that I'm going to be concentrating more on LoaN:R than Shinku Kyofu because of the much more popular demand. So LoaN:R will be updating much faster than Shinku Kyofu. I've also had this little plot bunny hopping around my head for a Katekyo Hitman Reborn!XHarry Potter crossover (not a genderbend this time), so it's been detracting me, making me write down these little notes while I should be concentrating on my exam studying and working on my fanfictions. Haha... -.-""

I've been trying to find a beta to read over my works, so if anyone has one in mind, it would be really helpful!

... Next Chapter: Synergy - Sasuke will finally pull his head out of his ass for an hour and realize he needs his teammates to pass this exam.

~TDU