NOTE: So there's a pretty big easter egg in this chapter. You'll probably catch it, but yeah, just thought you should know.
Part II: Episode 2
"Where the hell is our sensei, anyway?" Kiba groaned, lying back in the silk-like flowers of Konoha's Twilight Field. The field was named for the numerous flowers, all blues and violets and pale oranges that mirrored the sky in the early mornings. Team 6 had walked towards the fields almost immediately after Iruka left, per their sensei's instructions, but the jonin had yet to arrive.
As expected, neither of Kiba's teammates responded and his dog Akamaru merely shifted his sleeping position on Kiba's stomach. The Inuzuka growled and sat up, much to Akamaru's chagrin, and looked around. The fields were pretty flat, aside from the occasional fruit tree that gave the area a pleasant smell. But there was no sign of a jonin instructor anywhere.
"I've heard of jonin instructors being late and some forgetting about their charges altogether." Sai commented. His input did nothing to make Kiba feel better. Instead, he stood up placing Akamaru on his head.
"I'm gonna look around." Kawamura sat up and blinked at Kiba curiously while Sai's expression made it clear he didn't care what Kiba did. Kiba sighed and turned around, but not quite sure for what. The Twilight Fields were completely flat and Akamaru would have smelled someone had they been in the area, even with the heavy scent of fruit and pollen. At least, Kiba was fairly certain he could. The idea hit Kiba like a hammer and he quickly began focusing chakra to his nose. Akamaru's natural sense of smell was strong, but Kiba's chakra-enhanced olfactory skills were even stronger.
It was faint, but Kiba was sure he could just make out the scent of another human aside from his teammates. Slowly and carefully, he sniffed around. It was difficult and the smells from the fruit trees drove Kiba mad with hunger. The flowers smelled heavenly and Kiba wasn't sure when he began falling. He jumped when he felt a pair of arms catch him, and the build-up of chakra in his nose caused him to sneeze.
"Good move, dumbass. Let's turn your nose on in a field filled with hallucinogenic flowers." Sai sneered, but Kiba felt too light-headed to be annoyed.
"There's someone else around here," Kiba said as he slowly stood up.
"I figured. Only I did it without nearly knocking myself unconscious." Sai countered.
"Shut up," Kiba spat, feeling well enough to be irritated with Sai's attitude. Sai's dark eyes scanned the field, looking for anything even remotely unusual.
"Yuri, how fast can you-" Kawamura interrupted Sai by poking him in the shoulder. Sai nodded, understanding the silent message. He narrowed his eyes, looking for anything- and then he saw it! It was a faint shimmer, but enough for Sai to realize it wasn't natural. He held his fist up and behind him, Kawamura nocked an arrow and pulled back.
"There!" Sai ordered and Kawamura released the arrow, sending it flying forward. Sai made a sound of disappointment when nothing happened. Adrenaline pumping, Kiba again concentrated chakra to his nose, making sure not infuse too much like he had originally. It took half a sniff before he noticed the presence coming towards the trio.
"Kawamura, behind you!" He exclaimed. Without missing a beat, Kawamura swung his bow outward, but failed to connect. Regardless, all three boys watched a patch of flowers suddenly flatten. Petals began to spiral upward and suddenly, where there had once been nothing, a drop-dead gorgeous woman stood. She had an amused smile on her face.
"Congratulations boys. I'm your jonin instructor, Yuhi Kurenai." Kiba and Kawamura were love-stricken instantly, but Sai seemed far less than impressed.
"I assume this was your secondary genin trial?" Sai said, his arms crossed. Kurenai gave him a sideways glance. She had read in his file that Sai had issues with authority, but it still surprised her how upfront he was with his doubts.
"Secondary trial?" Kiba asked, turning to Sai. "What do you mean?" Sai rolled his eyes, much to Kiba's annoyance.
"Just because you graduate from the Academy doesn't mean you're automatically a genin. Your jonin instructor has to administer a test of their own and if you fail, you get sent back to the Academy." Kiba looked at Kurenai incredulously.
"You serious? Did we pass? Please don't make us go back to the Academy, I just got out!" Kiba exclaimed and Kawamura nodded in agreement, his navy blue eyes wide and pleading. Kurenai sighed and was about to answer when Sai spoke up again.
"Of course we passed, dumbass."
"Would you learn how to shut the hell up Sai? No one asked you!" Kiba snapped. Kawamura looked back and forth between the two as their staring match intensified. Kurenai sighed.
"This test was designed to test your initiative and perceptive skills. There are times on missions when things don't go according to plan and when that happens, you'll find yourself presented a myriad of options, some good and some bad." Kurenai began to explain. Kiba frowned. This wasn't looking like a yes.
"You all passed, but barely. Kiba-kun, you shouldn't have gone off on your own without knowing what was happening. That's an easy way to get yourself killed." Kiba's frowned deepened as he took a sudden interest in the sky.
"And Sai," Kurenai began, turning to who was quickly becoming her problem child. He gave her a skeptical look, as if he didn't think he possibly could have done anything wrong. "If you suspect something is amiss, tell your teammates. As skilled as you think you are, one shinobi is nothing compared to a team of them." Sai's look was somewhere between thoughtful and glaring.
"It wouldn't be a problem if my teammates weren't so useless," Sai muttered.
"That's it Sai!" Kiba roared. Before the Inuzuka could do anything, Sai felt something softly run into his head. He turned and saw Kawamura with his bow aimed towards him. When Sai looked down he saw the arrow that Kawamura had shot, backwards so that it wouldn't hurt him, laying harmlessly on the ground. Kawamura's eyes weren't angry but the statement was clear. 'Don't call me useless again'. Sai scoffed and folded his arms.
Kurenai sighed. This team needed a lot of work.
"Man, where the hell is he at?" Sasuke groaned as he, Naruto, and Choji laid across the various desks in the Academy. By now, all the other students had left with their jonin sensei leaving the boys to wallow in boredom. At some point, Naruto had placed an eraser over the door so that it would fall onto the Academy's next entrant. Sasuke had stopped officially counting, but he was pretty sure it had been an hour since then.
"This jonin sucks!" Naruto moaned to the ceiling.
"What if this is like some kind of test?" Choji asked to no one in particular. For some reason, whenever his two teammates looked at him, Choji only felt Sasuke's eyes. It was slightly unnerving.
"Whoa what if it is?" Naruto exclaimed, bolting upright. As if sensing his movement, the boys turned to look at him. A sudden tension filled the room as the genin struggled to determine what exactly the test could be. The theories ranged from finding the hidden teacher to enduring starvation for three days. Sasuke was livid and Naruto was hysterical when the boys heard the door open. All three boys turned to watch as Naruto's eraser trap went into action and the eraser dropped onto a bandana-covered head.
"You've gotta be kidding me. Really? An eraser trap?" The young man walking through the door groaned. He was about Kakashi's age, Naruto noticed, with fairly long brown hair and a toothpick hanging from his mouth. He gave the three boys an unimpressed look.
"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke asked. The guy was way too old to be a genin, at least he was according to Sasuke. Plus he was wearing a flak jacket and you had to be a chunin (or have very generous parents) to get one. The guy rolled his eyes.
"I'm Genma and I'm your sensei," he said with less enthusiasm than Choji thought was humanly possible. Sasuke sighed.
"Dude, if you don't wanna be here, just go." The Uchiha suggested.
"Yeah and send Kakashi-nii to be our sensei instead!" Naruto added on. This only seemed to irritate the man.
"Trust me, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have anything to do with you brats. But orders are orders." Choji was the only one of the boys who stood up. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Genma with bored expressions. Genma seemed to get even more irritated at this.
"Are you two really gonna be little shits about this? Come on!" His voice wasn't particularly angry, just exasperated and tired.
"What's the point? You don't even want to be our sensei. It's not like you're actually going to help us with anything." Genma instantly decided that he hated Sasuke more than anyone else on the planet at this point. Although Naruto was a close second.
"Look the faster we get through all this genin cell bullshit, the faster you guys can take the Chunin Exams and the faster I can get on with my life. So come on." Choji could tell that Genma was starting to get frustrated now. The Akimichi looked between the two sides, hopeful for someone to be the bigger man before it came to blows. Finally, thankfully, Naruto stood up.
"Well being Hokage means having to deal with obnoxious people, so I guess I might as well learn how to do it," he thought aloud. At first Choji's jaw dropped at Naruto's words, but then he saw the mischievous gleam in his eye. He was actually trying to bait a jonin into a fight.
"You, Hokage? Please kid," Genma said, picking up the gauntlet that Naruto had thrown.
"He has a point, Naruto." Sasuke said as he too stood up. "I'm becoming Hokage." Choji sighed as the three males stared between each other. With each second, the tension grew and as it went up, the chances of Choji having a nice, normal genin career came crashing down.
"These?" Tsunade asked, placing her hand on a stack of manilla folders that were positioned just out of Orochimaru's reach. He nodded, then held out his hand when she tried to hand them to him. They were the bi-weekly status reports from the jonin who had been assigned genin squads.
"May you read them out loud to me? I'm going to work on these mission reports." The Hokage said without looking up from the papers on his desk. Tsunade sighed and started to open one of the folders.
"There were only twelve graduating students?" She asked skeptically. Orochimaru stopped what he was doing and glanced up at Tsunade with eyes that either meant he was annoyed that she was straying from the script or curious as to why she bothered asking her question.
"Of course not," he answered. He then turned back to his papers. Tsunade waited a few more seconds for him to continue, but only silence greeted her. She sighed, causing Orochimaru to glance up. This time, he was trying to figure out why his answer hadn't been satisfactory.
"Why do you only have four folders then? What about the other students who graduated?" Orochimaru turned back to his papers before answering.
"Of the twelve squads, five were completely dissolved and sent back to the Academy and three were partially dissolved. Besides," Orochimaru paused and Tsunade could see he was making the expression he made when he was about to say something that could be taken offensively. "The four squads in your hand had, without question, the highest possible potential out of their entire class. Even Akimichi, the deal last in his class, has the potential for greatness that many of his peers do not share."
"So even if all of the squads had passed.." Tsunade said, more to herself.
"Yes, I would put more of my focus onto those squads." Orochimaru stopped again and Tsunade could feel his eyes on her, trying to determine just what she was thinking about what he said. After a few moments, she nodded and began reading.
"This is the report from Yuhi Kurenai of squad 6," she began as Orochimaru reluctantly went back to his papers. "These students are clearly talented, and just as Hokage-sama noted, the potential for covert communication is definitely there. However, the team suffers from serious personality conflicts, particularly between Kiba and Sai. Kawamura's inability to speak often forces him to use force in order to separate the two, which often leads to increased hostility. I will have to work on team building exercises. Also, I cannot help but notice that Sai is far above the level of the average genin and easily has the skill of a chunin. How did such a prodigy not cause such a stir? He is extremely tight-lipped about the origins of his techniques."
"That will be fine," Orochimaru said before Tsunade could continue. "The rest is simply how they are developing, and I already have an idea of how that is coming along. I simply want to know how the students are interacting with one another." This caught Tsunade's attention.
"You want to know how they're interacting with each other?" She asked. Orochimaru nodded as he signed off on another paper. There was a silence, but Orochimaru realized this time that Tsunade was waiting for him to elaborate. "I'm curious to see how their interactions with one another will affect their growth. I have my predictions, but..." Orochimaru stopped writing, but didn't look up. Tsunade looked at him quizzically.
"But what?" The blonde sannin asked.
"Bonds...friendship...rivalries. The way these students interact here and now, both with each other and with their sensei. I've found that there are times when individuals subpar in every possible way have come to bloom beyond my predictions simply because of the relationships they've made. I want to see if we can use that, then the growth rate of our shinobi could increase exponentially." Tsunade couldn't help herself from bursting into laughter, much to Orochimaru's confusion. The head of Konoha's medical system walked over to Orochimaru and squatted so that the two were eye level.
"Bonds aren't something you can predict, Orochimaru. And they're not some variables you can tug and change in order to get a desired affect. The bonds that can cause even the weakest Academy student to blossom into a great ninja; those are the kind of things that can only be left up to fate." Tsunade held the Hokage's gaze. He looked so cute when he was processing information. Tsunade pecked him on the lips. Just as Jiraiya walked on.
"Well what have we got going on here?" The Toad Sage bellowed, much to Tsunade and Orochimaru's irritation and embarrassment.
"Dammit Jiraiya, you really have no sense of timing." Tsunade glowered, causing the white-haired sannin to chuckle. "Anyway, I was reading the first genin cell status reports."
"Oh?" Jiraiya said, his eyes widening in interest. "Is that right? I heard this year was a slaughter. Didn't like 2/3 of 'em get sent back?" Tsunade nodded grimly.
"Tough break, for them. Mind if I listen in?" Jiraiya asked. Tsunade shrugged. The squad reports were public domain and it wasn't as if Jiraiya had anything particularly important to get back to. With a sigh, she stood up and grabbed the next folder.
"Squad 10, lead by Sarutobi Asuma," Tsunade began.
"What? Little Asuma is running his own squad now? Man how the time flies!" Jiraiya exclaimed. This time, Tsunade couldn't help but laugh as she remembered the days when 4-year-old Asuma refused to leave his father's side and would accompany him while he was out with the sannin. Behind his desk, even Orochimaru couldn't help but crack a smile at the memory. Before she continued, she noticed Jiraiya taking out a flask and glared at him until he poured her a cup.
"These girls are going to be the death of me and Shikamaru," the report began. "I have no idea how they managed to score so well in class when all they do is bicker about boys. Are all teenage girls like this?" Jiraiya laughed and Tsunade chuckled softly.
"For the most part, the three worked together fairly well. Sakura and Shikamaru are great at formulating plans together, but Ino usually gets left out. Sakura and Ino are surprisingly good at fighting together, although then it's Shikamaru who sits out. And when I can get Shikamaru and Ino to work together, they're so used to each others' skillsets that Sakura generally has nothing to do. I need to find a way for all three of them to work together."
Tsunade put down that folder and picked up another. It belonged to team 8, which Tsunade faintly remembered as the team with Naruto and Sasuke. The council members (and the Academy staff) were not too pleased with Orochimaru's decision.
"Shiranui Genma of Squad 8 says," Tsunade began but stopped once she read the first few words. She began laughing so hard she had to put her drink down. Orochimaru glanced up, slight annoyance in his eyes and Jiraiya looked intrigued by his colleagues reaction.
"Sorry," Tsunade said. "Naruto and Sasuke are obnoxious little shits. I swear one of these days I am going to kill these brats. Do any of the other senseis have to deal with this? Despite being little twerps though, I gotta hand it to them. The kids are good. That Akimichi kids needs to step up more or he's gonna end up left in the dust." Jiraiya was still giggling once Tsunade had finished and maybe it was Jiraiya's drink (which was ridiculously strong, even by her standards), but Tsunade had found the report brilliant.
Orochimaru, however, had a deep frown on his face. Tsunade was about to ask him what was wrong, but the frown disappeared once he noticed her staring. She thought nothing more of it. If it had been important, Orochimaru would tell her in due time. Finally, Tsunade looked at the last report.
"Finally, there's squad 7's jonin instructor," she began. "Kuchiki Byakuya". The mood in the room changed and even Jiraiya sat up a little bit straighter at the mention of the name.
Author's Corner
So first off, online classes suck. And I hate them. Now that that's out of the way, here's the latest chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed. Wow, people really like Orochimaru huh? At first he wasn't really going to play a major role in part 2 (kinda like how Sarutobi really didn't do much in part 1 of the canon), but I guess I'm gonna have to give him more screen time. Oh well, I like writing him anyway.
Still, part 2 is gonna be pretty centric on the kids. So far, there's no real pattern as far the POVs go. I'll just be hitting the major points of each team's journey. Hopefully, it turns out as fun as I hope it'll be. Also, Genma might be a bit OOC in this story, but that's mostly because Naruto and Sasuke are little anti-authority brats who make their teachers very sad.
As for the Byakuya thing, don't worry. There won't be any big crossover or anything like that. I just like randomly crossing characters from one fandom to another in my fanfiction. I'm not gonna lie, you guys are probably gonna hate him at first, but he'll get cool.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to leave reviews and such and I will read them and enjoy them and be tickled pink by them. Later guys.