Naruto: Trapped
By I.K.A. Valian
~ Chapter Three ~
The First Day
"Team Seven, reporting for duty, Hokage-sama," Ian said. He held his hands clasped behind him at the small of his back while Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura stood before him. Sakura stood in a similar position to Ian, though she leaned sideways slightly toward Sasuke with a small blush on her face. Naruto had his arms cross, and though he was attempting to look grumpy, the blond couldn't hide his excitement and was bouncing on his heels. Sasuke had his hands shoved in his pockets and stared at the Hokage and Iruka sitting behind the Mission Desk while doing his best to ignore both his teammates.
"Ah, Team Seven," the Hokage said. "Are you ready for your first mission?"
"Oh yeah," Naruto said, his grumpy front thrown to the way side. He pumped his fist and then pointed at the Hokage. "We're ready to do whatever it takes. Lay it on us, Old Man! Just point us in the right *POW* Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Sakura-chaaan!" Naruto rubbed his tender head as his irate teammate shook her fist at him.
"Don't disrespect the Hokage, you idiot!" Sakura shouted. She waved her fist at Naruto again, as if threatening more of the same were he stupid enough to repeat the offense. Then she spun and bowed low to the Hokage. "I apologize for my stupid teammate, Hokage-sama!"
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered.
"Hahaha," the Hokage laughed. Beside him, Iruka held a scroll out for the Hokage while at the same time trying to keep from palming his face at Naruto's manners, or lack thereof. Ian worked to keep his face straight, but a slight smirk cracked that mask. "It's quite alright, Sakura. Now, for that mission." The Hokage took the scroll from Iruka and unrolled it. "Ah, yes, this is a good one to cut your teeth on. We have an elderly resident here in the village that has been having trouble with rodents digging into their small garden. They've already acquired the tools and material needed to build a fence, but they're unable to build it themselves. Your mission will be to root out any rodents still inside the garden and to build a fence with the material provided by the client."
"We accept the mission, Lord Hokage," Ian said. He walked forward and accepted the scroll from the Hokage. Before he turned to lead his team to the assignment, Ian leaned forward and quietly muttered, "I'll try and keep it interesting."
"I look forward to your success," the Hokage said. Whether it was to Ian or to the Genin standing idly behind him, no one knew.
The home with the garden was on the other side of the markets nearby the main southern gate into the village. The homes in this area of the village were spread farther apart, leaving room for a small yard, or in this case, a small garden. It was clear that the garden had seen better days. From the holes dug throughout the field and the lack of anything growing, it was apparent that the garden had been ravaged. Off to the side of the garden, along the wall of the house, was a stack of fresh wood, a couple of hammers, and a pile of nails.
"Alright," Ian said. He checked the scroll one more time. "This is the place. You heard the Hokage. Root out the rodents in the garden and build the fence. Get cracking."
"Alright!" Naruto shouted. "Those rats won't know what hit them." Naruto ran up to the first hole and pulled out a kunai. Then he paused and looked back over at the rest of his team. "Uh… how do we get them out?"
"That's a good question," Ian said. "Do you have any ideas how to go about clearing the field, Naruto?"
"Uh… couldn't we just call them out or… something?"
"That's not going to work, idiot," Sasuke said. "We'll probably have to smoke them out using a fire."
"Sasuke's so smart," Sakura said as she clasped her hands and grinned at her crush with a blush. Naruto twisted his face into a scowl as he muttered under his breath.
"I guess that could work," Ian said. Then he pointed at Sakura and asked, "Sakura, can you tell us the pros and cons of smoking the rodents out with a fire?"
"Ah, err… I…" Sakura glanced at Sasuke who was staring at her questioningly. Naruto was watching her as well, though he seemed a bit eager for her to shoot the plan down. Well she certainly wasn't going to do that, but being put on the spot had momentarily stopped her thoughts. "Well… there's nothing wrong with the idea. Nothing at all!"
"Stupid Sasuke," Naruto mumbled.
Ian sighed. "Sakura, look around. What is there to burn?" The three Genin looked about the garden, or what was left of it, and found a small clearing of lumpy earth and a few scattered weeds. The only fuel nearby was the wood that was going to be used for the fence. "It was a good idea, Sasuke, but not that well thought out." Sasuke glowered at Ian, who pointedly ignored him. "Sakura, do you have any ideas?"
"Umm…" She'd thought that Sasuke's idea was a good one. But, like Ian-sensei had pointed out, there was nothing to burn. And she remembered how Sasuke had been able to use that Fire jutsu the day before, but he'd only been able to use it once, so he'd not likely be able to use it on all the holes in the garden. There had to be another way, but what?
Ian sighed and palmed his face. "Alright, how about we think of this differently. You're not clearing out rats, but enemy forces from dug in tunnels that they've made. You know they're there, but they've entrenched themselves and built up defenses. You could smoke them out, as Sasuke suggested, but there land is arid, similar to how Rock country is, and there's not enough fuel for the fire. You could use Fire jutsu, but the cave is large, huge even, and your forces don't have enough chakra to power any Fire jutsu long enough to do the job. How do you get those enemy forces out into the open where you can deal a death blow to them?"
The three genin bowed their heads in thought. It was clear that each of them were thinking this one through as best as their training would allow. It wasn't long before Naruto's eyes lit up.
"I got it!" Naruto shouted. "We'll send in clones disguised as the enemy to trick them into thinking it's all clear outside. Then when the enemy comes out of the tunnels, we swoop in and take 'em out!"
"That'll never work," Sakura said doubtfully. On the inside, however, she was wondering why the idiot came up with that idea before she did. Sasuke's eyes were narrowed, but he didn't say anything as he considered the plan and then nodded.
"Well, Sakura, there's only one way to find out if it'll work or not," Ian said.
"Just leave this to me," Naruto said. He made the clone seal and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two dozen copies of Naruto popped into existence around Team Seven. "Alright you guys," Naruto said, "you know what to do."
"Boss!" the clones all said as they saluted and then transformed. When the smoke from the jutsu cleared, all that was left was an army of orange furred rats.
"Gross!" Sakura screeched. She jumped backwards and then scrambled on top of the wood pile. Sasuke looked about with slight distaste, but otherwise didn't move.
"Be ready to actually take the real rats out when Naruto's clones push them out," Ian said as he leaped backwards and landed lightly on the house's roof. "And be careful, real rats are nasty little buggers."
The army of Naruto-rats charged for the holes in the garden. While the orange rat army charged, Naruto and Sasuke pulled out kunai and a few shuriken. Sakura hesitantly pulled out her own kunai and jumped down from the wood pile. It wasn't long before the first brown rat made its appearance. It was an ugly thing, with long incisor teeth and wild fear in its beady black eyes. It scrambled, hissed, and screeched as it emerged from its hole.
Sasuke immediately let loose the kunai he was holding and took the rat out. Then another rat popped out, Naruto managed to pin this one by the tail and Sasuke finished it off with a shuriken. As more and more rodents emerged, ranging from rats and mice to the one rabbit, Naruto and Sasuke went about killing their targets. Naruto wasn't as accurate as Sasuke, but his instincts on where to look for the next target were sharper. Sakura stood near the back and by the time the rodent killing frenzy was finished, she'd only managed to kill just one rat, and it was already wounded by Naruto's badly thrown kunai.
"Good job," Ian said as he hopped down from the roof. Sasuke and Naruto busied themselves with collecting their weapons and disposing of the dead rodents. While they did that, Ian turned to Sakura, who was sulking, and said, "Sakura, don't worry too much about not helping very much. This is the first mission, after all."
"But Ian-sensei, I barely did anything," Sakura said pitifully. "I didn't even think the plan would work and when it did I barely lifted a finger to help."
Ian smiled. "And I'm telling you not to worry. The mission isn't over yet. Team work isn't only about doing an equal amount of work. It's also about sticking together through thick and thin."
Sakura looked up at Ian, though she didn't appear any happier or convinced. Ian smiled and nodded reassuringly at her before he moved into the center of the garden. Sakura followed him and the Team Seven regrouped.
"Alright, that's the first stage of the mission complete," Ian said.
"Yeah! Alright!" Naruto shouted. "I knew my plan would work! I'm just awesome!"
Sasuke grimaced and sneered at Naruto. "Shut up, you idiot. It was my idea to smoke them out in the first place."
"Regardless of whose idea it was," Ian cut in, "the plan was a success and it required both of you to make it work. So congratulations. Now, let's build a fence. After, I'll treat you three to lunch."
"Alright!" Naruto shouted and pumped his fist into the air. "Free ramen!"
"We're not really going to be eating ramen, are we?" Sakura groaned. Ian watched as she subconsciously ran her hand over her stomach. Sasuke ignored them all and had already started digging around the garden's perimeter with a shovel from the tools provided for the job.
"What's wrong with ramen?!" Naruto shouted. He waved his hands about in an exasperated manner. Sakura grimaced and shoved Naruto away from her before he could get any closer. "Ramen is the food of the gods! The gods!"
"It's also not as healthy as a true balanced meal," Ian said, but he had a hand on his chin where he was rubbing his short beard thoughtfully. "That said, Teuchi-san does make some rather good and nutritious bowls of ramen. For now, focus on the mission and I'll worry about where I'm treating you three."
"Yes, sensei," the two said.
The fence was built over the course of several hours. Sasuke was rather adept at using a hammer and digging, likely stemming from attempts to upkeep the Uchiha Compound alone. Sakura didn't necessarily have the muscle power to do any of the heavy work, but she was quick to point out the better ways of constructing a wooden fence, and more importantly, how many nails to drive into the wooden cross beam that would hold the fence together. Naruto, as before, provided the man power to get the job done with generous use of Shadow Clones.
While Team Seven built the fence, Ian patrolled around the house and the garden. Sometimes, he could be seen watching over his students from the roof. Other times he'd be seen simply walking the perimeter of the garden. Shortly before the fence was finished, he was helping the elderly couple who owned the house into their home with their bags of groceries.
When Ian emerged, he found his team leaning against the side of the complete fence while they waited for him. Sakura had several dirt stains all over her and was covered in grime and dust. Sasuke was even dirtier, but he looked less concerned about it than Sakura did. Naruto was, somehow, still bright and clean looking, even though his orange jumpsuit was stained with dirt and his mop of yellow hair was not as bright as it usually was with the dirt all over it.
After inspecting the fence one last time, Ian nodded. "Alright, that's good work. This job actually counted as two missions, so you'll be getting two D-rank mission payments."
"Really?" Naruto asked, eyes bright with excitement. "Yes!" he shouted and pumped his fist. Sakura had looked pleased until Naruto's outburst, after which she was scowling at the blond. Sasuke as always was indifferently ignoring them both. "Hey! Do you think after lunch we can get another mission? Maybe saving a princess or rescuing a hostage or something cool like that?" Naruto paused momentarily and then was hasty to add, "Not that I don't like these boring missions."
"Naruto," Sakura scowled and took a half hearted swipe at him, not having enough energy to actually put more force behind her attack. He just grinned as her fist lightly thumped his head. "This isn't some fantasy story."
"Idiot," Sasuke said, though he secretly hoped that Ian-sensei would ask for a more difficult mission. This one was exhausting, true, but hardly a proper use of his talents. And he wouldn't be getting any stronger if all he did was build fences and kill rodents.
"What'd you say, Bastard?!" Naruto snarled, whirling on Sasuke with renewed energy.
"Calm down there, Naruto," Ian said as he grabbed the back of Naruto's jacket to keep him from going forward with his attack. Sasuke actually looked slightly saddened that he wasn't going to get to fight back. Sakura subtly concealed nervous sigh. "First, we'll report that we're finished with the mission. Then we'll get lunch. Then for the rest of the afternoon, we'll be training. Save your energy for later, cause that's when you'll be sparring with Sasuke and Sakura."
Ian let go of Naruto's jacket when he stopped trying to get at the Uchiha. He settled for grinning while glaring his challenge at Sasuke. Sasuke smirked and glared right back. Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it when her stomach rumbled loudly. Her face flushed a deep red when the others all turned to look at her.
When they sat down for lunch, it was Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and then Ian at an outside bar set up with stools for customers. They'd gone to one of the newer diners to open up in Konoha, a place that served the food sensation sweeping across the elemental nations. Hamburgers (1).
"Eh… this stuff's alright," Naruto had said at one point as he rested between his six burgers. "Doesn't come close to ramen, but it doesn't suck." Coming from Naruto, 'it doesn't suck,' compared to Ramen was about the same as saying 'this is really good.'
Sasuke snorted in response as he munched on his own mouthful of ground beef, lettuce, and tomato. He'd hesitantly ordered the burger, not sure if he'd enjoy it as much as he enjoyed any of the other foods he'd liked. He'd heard good things, of course. Lots of people seemed to love promoting their food and wares to him, even if he'd rather they leave him alone. After taking a few bites, he'd concluded that while most of those low born morons constantly assaulting him with their inane advertisements were beyond annoying, they were actually correct for once. Hamburgers weren't as bad as he feared. It wasn't the greatest food in the world, but he would never voice an opinion similar to the Idiot in front of the Idiot. So he sat and silently ate his burger while doing his abject best to ignore his teammates.
Sakura had ordered a small salad, only composed of lettuce. And a small water. That was all she thought would keep her diet intact. If she ate anything like that calorie laden slab of meat that both her crush and the Idiot were downing, she'd bloat up like a whale and then she'd lose any hope of catching Sasuke's heart. At the thought of Sasuke finally noticing her great figure and asking her out caused a light blush to appear on her cheeks.
The sound of someone putting something down in front of her made her open her eyes. Now in front of her were the fried sticks of potato that her sensei had gotten with his meal. When she looked over to Ian-sensei, she found him just finishing his own meal.
"I… I'm not hungry," she said as she pushed the food away. That's when she noticed the small note underneath it. She discretely glanced at sensei, but he was busy berating Naruto for his terrible eating habits. Pulling the note out, she unfolded the small piece of paper and read the words written.
'Two things. One, if you want to look good to a real shinobi you're trying to 'attract', then you need to eat the proper nutrients, that includes carbs and protein. Two, if you don't eat these, you'll find out how some ninja force their targets to eat poison. P.S. - It's not pleasant.'
Sakura's eyes widened and she looked up at Ian-sensei, or where he was, but now he was standing over Naruto and helping him learn how to eat like a civilized human being, instead of like a caveman. Naruto was grumbling as Sasuke watched on, clearly amused at the Idiot's comeuppance for bad table manners.
Swallowing loudly, Sakura pulled the pile of fried potato sticks back to her and picked on of the salty, greasy things up. It was warm between her fingers and she had to admit that they smelled pretty good. Her stomach agreed and rebelled against her desire to not sate her hunger. Her lips trembled as her will to resist crumbled and she quickly shoved the potato stick into her mouth.
She chewed it slowly at first, then faster, and then swallowed. Her stomach continued to grumble, clearly not satisfied with a small leafy salad and one potato stick. If anything, it made her hungrier than she was before. This was why she didn't like eating things like this. It made it so hard to resist the temptation of the food. That wondrous, glorious food!
She looked forlornly at the fries. If she gave in, if she let her will power fade, then she knew she'd bloat up like a whale and Ino-pig would win Sasuke in the end. No! She couldn't let that happen! She would win Sasuke, not Ino-pig! But… Sakura looked at the crumpled note in her fist. If she didn't eat these, then Ian-sensei would force her to eat them.
It couldn't be helped. She'd just have to skip dinner and breakfast to make up for this. This would simply have to be a momentary sacrifice on the road to claiming Sasuke. Besides, it wasn't like she ate much breakfast or dinner to begin with. And plus… these things tasted so good!
By the time Sakura had finished the small basket of potato sticks, which was more of a flash of movement and then the basket was empty and Sakura was primly wiping her mouth, Naruto had finally finished his stack of burgers, three baskets of potato sticks (smothered in a thick layer of cheese and soy sauce, naturally), and two cups of tea (to wash it all down). As Team Seven stood, Ian patted Sakura on the head. After he paid, they left for the training ground.
"Alright, my little killers," Ian said as he hopped onto a stump. The stump was in the middle of the clearing in which they'd taken their genin test. Ian crossed his arms as he looked over the three genin. Then he nodded as if coming to a conclusion. "Since this is the first training session I'll give you a short run down of what's going to be happening every day from here on out. First we'll do some stretches and then work on any basic study we'll need to firm up until you've got that mastered. Then we'll move on to more advanced topics, such as jutsu and improving chakra capacity and so on." The three of them nodded, clearly expecting such things. Naruto looked excited. Sakura looked expectant. Sasuke looked bored and shot angry frowns at his teammates.
Ian grinned rather sadistically.
"I'll only be going easy on you today," Ian said. "Tomorrow, I'll be pushing you three so hard that by the end of the day you'll feel like you'd rather die than continue on, but I won't let you die. None of you will like it, at first. You will be on a fist name basis with the Shinigami at the end of the first month and by the time I'm done with you and you take the Chunin Exam, you'll be on your way to becoming the next set of Legendary Sannin." Ian paused as he looked over the incredulous and skeptical looks he was receiving from Naruto and Sakura.
Sakura actually had a bit of fear mixed in with her skepticism. She'd already been proven wrong today when Naruto's idea worked. On top of that, Ian-sensei had already threatened to force feed her. She'd seen how easily Ian-sensei had overpowered them on this very field. The crater from Sasuke's failed attack was still over there, along with the remnants of the bag of flour.
Naruto, from the incredulous look he was giving Ian, probably didn't know what Ian-sensei was talking about. He had to work harder than everyone else just to get as good as he was. That left the question: Wasn't it normal to work like the dogs of hell were on your heels? Whatever Ian-sensei dished out would be a cake walk compared to the training he put himself through already. And when he pulled through the other side of the training and was the most badass of all ninja, he'd finally get Sakura to go out on a date with him.
Sasuke, unlike his compatriots, was no longer bored and angry, but rather smirking. Finally, someone who would give him what he wanted. Power.
"First, while I saw some of your taijutsu skills during the test yesterday, I'd like to get a full understanding of what level each of you are at," Ian said. "So please do a run through of the different styles you know and we'll go from there."
Sakura had perfect form. Ian had come to expect that, all things considered. It also wasn't surprising that she only knew the Konoha Basic Style. Despite her perfect run-through of the different stances and forms, there was no power behind her moves. There was no passion in her motions. She was just moving her body into the correct places and that was it. Not the worst way for a genin to start off, indeed, probably the best.
Naruto was, if possible, the exact opposite of Sakura. He had no form, rather, he'd just run around punching and kicking in a straight line while screaming his head off. Sadly, Ian had come to expect that as well. That no one had taught him the Konoha Basic Style at all was a travesty, but Ian wasn't worried. Something about the way he punched told him this display was a complete and utter lie. If Naruto was good at anything, he was good at hiding his true face. The reason Ian followed that line of thought was because of the full bodied power Naruto was throwing behind his attacks. Every time he punched, the attack originated from the soles of his feet. Every time he kicked, the attack originated from his shoulders or his waist. No, it was supposed to look like the feeble attacks of an untrained idiot. Ian smirked. His mother's influence, no doubt.
Sasuke did a near perfect run-through of the Konoha Basic Style. He had a fairly strong grasp of it and managed to put more power into his hits, unlike Sakura. Despite this, his form wasn't nearly as perfect, sacrificing that for the power he'd pushed into the blows. After that, Sasuke did a fairly decent showing of the Basic Uchiha Style. That showing was vastly more impressive and it was clear that youth put a lot of effort into perfecting what he knew of the style. The difference between the two styles lay in the initial stance and the speed with which one can move through the following forms.
Konoha Basic, and all the styles that flowed from that, such as the parent style Strong Fist, was focused on balancing attack and defense. One could move well enough from one strike to the next, but the style sacrificed speed to allow the ninja to defend themselves from any retaliations. Uchiha Style, made famous by the clan itself, was focused on strength and speed at the expense of defense. One attack flowed straight into the next one, ending up with huge combo counts that could be repeated as long as the ninja didn't tire and in any combination the ninja desired. The best defense is a good offense, as the saying goes, and a really fast and super strong ninja was usually the one who ended up on top. The Gentle Fist of the Hyuuga followed the same principle, though replacing strong power with soft power. Both the Uchiha Style and the Hyuuga style were comparable in strength, though the Uchiha Sharingan generally won out over the Hyuuga Byakugan.
When Sasuke was finished, Ian nodded to himself and hopped down from the stump. "Alrighty, first we'll warm up with twenty minutes of stretching. After today, I expect you to be doing this before you leave your homes. When we're done stretching, Naruto, I want you to create four shadow clones. I'll work with the clones and Sakura while you and Sasuke spar. Taijutsu only, no weapons. You'll have plenty of time to use them later."
"Yes sensei."
Ian grinned as he watched his team move as instructed. Maybe taking this assignment wasn't so bad after all. It certainly wasn't as terrifying as he imagined it to be.
While the three genin stretched, Naruto falling over half the time only to swear loudly as he got back up, a shadow dropped from one of the trees to land silently next to Ian. Ian tilted his head in greeting, even though the silver-haired ninja was behind him. Kakashi did an eye-smile and moved to stand next to Ian.
"So, how's the first day going?" Kakashi asked as he pulled an orange book from his back pouch and opened it to read. Ian ignored Kakashi's antics as he watched the Genin continue their stretching.
"Not too bad," Ian said. "I believe Naruto has potential as a battle field commander, maybe sub-commander, were he to gain enough experience. Sasuke got a good head on his shoulders but seems to have trouble with being original, not to mention he's only half bat-shit insane. Sakura lacks confidence, but I swear I am catching glimpses of a spine of steel underneath all those girly-girl layers. She's still the weakest of them though, physically. Definitely capable of analyzing fast, though. Over all, not a bad team, despite the work it'll take to break their shells."
"I see," Kakashi said as he calmly turned the page. "What's the plan then?"
"The goal is mid to high chunin level by the exam in a few months," Ian said. "The method is Hell Training."
"Hell Training?" Kakashi's book wavered for half a second. "That's restricted to ANBU for a reason. Perhaps there's a better method to use."
"No, there isn't enough time," Ian said. He crossed his arms. To anyone looking, they weren't talking. Instead, both were watching the three genin continue their stretches with the watchful eyes of a teacher. "I'd rather push them harder than that, actually, but I don't think they would all survive."
Naruto continued to fall over, he seemed to have a balance problem that no one had corrected. Sakura tried not to blush as she watched Sasuke do his stretches rather than concentrate on her own, amazing anyone who would have looked that she could do both activities at the same time without falling over as much as Naruto. Sasuke ignored both his teammates as he did his best to get as limber for the spar as possible.
"I can see what you mean," Kakashi said. The ridiculousness of that statement was that Kakashi hadn't looked up from his book once. "I'll just assume that the Hokage has approved your use of the training program then."
"He's given me a nod," Ian said. "I doubt he could have done more than that. The eyes who watch the god never blink, after all."
"Oh, that's a new one," Kakashi said. "Well, in any case, they look about done. Let's continue this conversation later."
"Kakashi," Ian said rather loudly. "Thanks for dropping by. Any hints for my lovely little killers?"
"These punks?" Kakashi asked, lackadaisically flinging his hand in their direction. "They'll be dead before the week's out. Not worth it, in my opinion. Smell you three later."
With that said, Kakashi waved, eye-smiled at the shocked genin, and vanished in a Body-Flicker. Ian let out a soft sigh-snort and turned to his team. What he found was exactly what he expected.
Sasuke was glaring at the spot that Kakashi had been in. No doubt, thoughts about murdering the one-eyed Jounin were going through his head, along with further self-declarations of determination to succeed no matter what. That would be followed, if Ian was guessing correctly, by reassurances to himself that he wasn't the dead last, Naruto was, and anything that both the One-eyed Bastard or Ian-sensei could dish out, he could handle. His brother could handle it, and that means he can handle it.
As if to confirm what Ian was suspecting, Sasuke's glare morphed into a smirk of triumph. Ian shook his head at how easy to read the kid was. Next to Sasuke, Naruto was grinding his teeth and his hands were clenched. Ian could actually see the internal rage steaming off of the blond, or was that chakra. No matter, Naruto was just underestimated and he'd prove them wrong. He'd prove them all wrong.
Sakura, unlike her enraged teammates, was shivering. No, shaking. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at the spot Kakashi had been. Her mouth hung open slightly as a tick formed on her eyebrow. Clearly, she was having problems rebooting her brain. Either that or, Ian suspected, she was trying to envision what kind of training would kill a person.
Ian groaned and palmed his face. They were all too easy to read. The sound of his groan broke whatever spell Kakashi's check-up had over them.
"Ian-sensei, what the hell is with that guy!" Naruto shouted. "He just comes in here and tells us we're going to die and then runs off. What the hell! We're not some weak academy students anymore! We're genin now! Ninja! We're not that weak! And I'm going to be Hokage! No way in hell I'm going to die! Dattebayo!"
Sasuke snorted in agreement. Then, realizing what he'd done, he snorted again, grimaced and turned away from Naruto and Sakura. His face was clearly a little red, though.
Sakura looked a lot calmer now. She was still breathing a little quickly, but her eyes shone with more determination than before. 'Cha! The Idiot is right!' she thought. 'I'll definitely not die until I have Sasuke! Shannaro!'
'Congratulations Kakashi,' Ian thought. 'Mission: Encourage the Little Killers is a smashing success.'
"Hatake-san," Ian said, "is technically the one assigned as Jounin-sensei to Team Seven. I'm here at the request of the Hokage and Kakashi."
"Wait…" Everyone waited while Naruto looked deep in thought. "I don't get it."
Everyone groaned. "Idiot," Sasuke said.
Before Naruto could upgrade his scowl at the Uchiha to attack mode, Ian said, "As I said when we first met, this is my first team of Genin. With a team as important as this one, the village Elders and the Hokage wanted an experienced Jounin to be in charge of training it. That Jounin is Kakashi Hatake."
Each student then assumed that they were the reason the team was so important. Naruto, because obviously he was going to be Hokage. Sasuke, because he was an Uchiha, the Rookie of the Year, and the controlling interest of the very large Uchiha Estate. Sakura, because she was the Kunoichi Rookie of the Year, barely, and because she assumed the Elders and the Hokage were going to force Sasuke to marry her. They were all wrong.
"I'll just assume that you're all thinking of reasons why this team is important," Ian said, "but for propriety, I'll give you the real reason. The reason is because this is Team Seven who passed the genin exam. Every Team Seven that's passed before this one has gone on to shape the course of world events. No ifs, ands, or buts. It may sound a bit superstitious, but it's been true so far. The first Team Seven, trained by the Nidaime Hokage, contained the Sandaime Hokage and two of the three village Elders. They, obviously, went on to lead Konohagakure to the top of the elemental nation dog-pile. The second Team Seven, trained by the Sandaime, became the Legendary Three Ninja. And yes, they are legendary. The third Team Seven, trained by Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin, included the Yondaime Hokage, arguably the single strongest shinobi to come about since the Sage of Six Paths. Before the Yondaime became Hokage, he trained the fourth Team Seven, which included Hatake-san. And now we have the fifth Team Seven, you three, who are technically under the command of Hatake-san. Needless to say, the Hokage and the Elders expect great things from each of you."
"Wow…" Naruto said with stars in his eyes. A giant grin split his face. "That's so awesome! I'm in the same team as the Fourth Hokage and the Old Man! There's no way I can't become Hokage now!"
"Ian-sensei," Sakura said, timidly raising her hand. "If Hatake-san is our sensei, why are you teaching us?"
"You said the Hokage and… that man, requested your assistance," Sasuke said. Ian arched one of his eyebrows. Clearly, there was no love lost between Sasuke and Kakashi.
"Yes," Ian said. "While the Hokage and the Elders entrusted your training to Hatake-san, he is unable to actually do that because of other priorities the Hokage has assigned to him. They both came together and decided that I would be an adequate replacement and requested that I take over for the foreseeable future. Basically, that just means that Kakashi gave Team Seven to me while he gets to keep his name on the paper work. Not a bad deal, since that means I don't have to fill out any paper work regarding the team, aside from mission reports."
What Ian didn't mention was all the back room politics and other crap he'd gone through just to be allowed to do this. Kakashi wasn't just coming by every now and then to casually chat with Ian, but to check his progress and report that to the Hokage. It wasn't that the Hokage didn't trust Ian, but as the Old Man put it, Ian's ability to train anyone, let alone a team with such potential, was in question. With this team in particular, and the Elders breathing down his neck, the Hokage had to be very careful. Ian didn't mind really, since he knew what the Hokage was going through to allow him this chance and if the Old Man wanted reports, then the Old Man could have his reports. Some of the Third's paper work was self inflicted.
"So," Ian said, "before we get any farther off track, let's get back to training. Naruto, four clones please. Then you and Sasuke can go beat the snot out of each other. Remember, Taijutsu only and no weapons. I don't want to have to deal with paying for repairs to the training ground from the stray Ninjutsu either. Sasuke, use only the Uchiha Style. Naruto, do try and remember what style you were taught. Running around screaming is not a style. Don't stop the match until I come back to say so. If one of you falls down, the other will let them get back up before you go at it again. This is training, not a grudge match."
As the boys got to fighting, Ian led Sakura and the Naruto clones off a little ways. Already Naruto was screaming loud enough to find him from the other side of the forest. At least he was giving it his all out there.
Once they were far enough away, Ian turned and pointed at two of the Naruto clones. "You two are going to learn the proper stances and forms of the Konoha Basic from Sakura here," he said. "After she teaches them to you, you're going to practice them for an hour."
"Right, Sensei!" the clones said. Ian motioned toward Sakura, who hesitantly began with the opening stance of the Konoha Basic. Ian then dragged the remaining two clones away into the forest.
Once they were far enough away, Ian said, "Ok, I know you're both clones, but I have to ask you to show me your real style. I know your mother would like you to keep it secret because she told me so. But it's still important that I see it. So, if you would, please show me the real reason you were running around and screaming."
The two clones were silent as they found interesting things in the dirt to look at. One of them even kicked a small stone into a nearby tree. Ian shook his head and snapped his fingers in front of their faces.
"I'm sorry, Ian-sensei," one of the clones said. "Mom told us not to ever reveal the style unless-"
"Unless your life was in danger, your teammate's life was in danger, your friend's life was in danger, or you had no other way of defeating an enemy who would put those three group's life in danger," Ian finished. "Yes, yes. I know the whole spiel. I've heard it before from your mother and I'm telling you now that if you don't show me what you know of the Uzumaki Style, I'm going to kick you off the team for putting your teammate's lives in danger. Then I'm going to march you back to your house and tell your mother exactly why you decided to put their lives in danger. You can trust us, Naruto. We're your teammates and if we don't know what to expect of you then we can't trust you in return. There can be no secrets between teammates."
The two clones were staring at Ian with something akin to a mixture of fear, terror, and awe. 'He's evil! Pure evil! Mom would kill me!' Both clones swallowed loudly.
"Now," Ian said. "Show me what you know. You don't have it mastered yet, but you understand enough of it to put power behind your strikes, which is what I'm going to have you teaching Sakura here in a few minutes."
And so they did. The Uzumaki Style was a lost art. The last remaining Uzumaki, Naruto's mother, spent years of her life putting the style back together after the clan's demise in Uzushiogakure, the hidden village destroyed in the Second Shinobi World War. The woman was never a master of it to begin with, but being the last Uzumaki put the onus on her to save it or let it go for the rest of time. Seeing as Naruto and his children would inherit the style, it was safe for Ian to assume his mother had been teaching Naruto what she could.
What the clones showed Ian was a style that involved a lot of twisting, spinning, leaping, redirecting, dodging, and a slow, steady, inexorable progress forward. It really did take after its namesake and it was easy for Ian to see how Naruto wasn't able to hide the part of the training that powered every one of his hits. Every attack started as far back in Naruto's body as possible. A spinning kick, high or low, started in Naruto's shoulders, if not his head. A punch started at the soles of his feet. Every scrap of energy was focused into a whirling barrage of attacks that any other Genin would be hard pressed to defend against.
As Naruto started winding down, it was clear to Ian that the style wasn't anywhere near completed. The attacks only moved in a straight line. While it would be easier to deflect side attacks with this style than with the Konoha basic, it wouldn't stop them from being effective. But the innate nature of the style meant that this weakness could be snuffed out by refining it even further.
"Very good, Naruto," Ian said. "I'm sure your mother is proud of you. Now, I don't want you to feel like you have to show your teammates this, but you should find some way of letting them know you're not as inept at fighting as you let on. That said, Sakura needs work focusing the power of her hits. So I'd like you two to help her learn how to, say, throw a punch from the soles of her feet, or kick from her shoulders. It will help her be stronger and keep the team safer. Not to mention, she may just give you brownie points for being so helpful without asking for a date."
"Wha-we weren't going to ask for a date," Naruto's clone mumbled.
When the three emerged from the forest, they found Sakura leading the two clones in a string of stances. Kick. Kick. Punch. Kick. Punch. Leg sweep. Jump kick. Uppercut. Roundhouse kick. Backflip axe-strike kick. Amazingly, both clones were following in almost exact detail. They may have had problems with their foot work, but they were following along quite well.
"Wow, Sakura," Ian said, "you're a good teacher."
Sakura fumbled the landing from the last jump kick, wobbling back and forth. When she caught her balance, she faced Ian and almost scolded him. But she held back when she saw the grin he was giving her and blushed lightly. He wasn't Sasuke, but Ian-sensei was praising her abilities. It always felt good to be praised. "Thank you, sensei," she mumbled.
"Ne, ne," one of the clones said. "Sakura-chan is a good teacher! Way better than that bastard, Mizuki."
"Thanks… Naruto," Sakura said. Her blush brightened a little bit at the praise.
"Hey, do you think after this we can go on a d-"
POW!
The clone vanished in a puff of smoke. Ian took a step back and motioned toward the other two clones he'd talked to. The first clone, third clone, and Sakura stared at Ian as he started walking away.
"Now remember," Ian said over his shoulder, "play nice, but remember, this is training. Try to take it as seriously as life and death. Because it is." And then Ian was gone, past some trees, as he made his way toward where the real Naruto and Sasuke were having a no holds bar beat down.
Sakura turned to the remaining clones and shivered. All embarrassment from praise was now gone, because she just realized, she was surrounded by Naruto. This… couldn't end well.
"Sakura-chan," said the last remaining clone that she'd been training, "I think he was going to-"
"Hey, you should get back to doing those poses," one of the other clones said. He quickly walked up to the other Naruto, smacked a hand over his mouth, and quickly dragged him away. "Let's go over here where you can show them to me!"
"What was that all about?" Sakura asked to no one. The last clone heard her, however, and chose to respond with a grin and a thumbs up.
"Don't worry about that, Sakura-chan!" The clone said. "Ian-sensei wanted me to show you how to put more power into your hits. He said that I got the ability to teach you something, so that you can be a kick ass ninja too!"
"Uh… I… Are you sure that's what Ian-sensei said?" Sakura asked, repressing the urge to shiver violently. If Naruto, of all people, had something to teach her, then the world was ending. She looked up to check if the sky was falling. No… well that cloud looked kind of low, dark, and full of rain. Damn, the sky wasn't falling. Sakura sighed, resigned to her fate, as she turned to the Naruto clone for instruction.
Ian hopped up into a tree and parted the branches to get a good overview of the battlefield. And it was a battle field. It seemed like in the twenty minutes or so he'd taken to get Sakura started, Naruto and Sasuke had managed to beat each other to a bloody pulp and left a trail of destruction wherever they went.
Off to his right, Ian saw a couple of trees that had pockmarks in the from blows that had missed. To his left, a tree was smoldering. Off on the other side of the clearing, was a brand new crater that also sported a rising pillar of smoke. And across the grassy clearing were streaks of blood. As he took it in, Ian was amazed the two of them could actually produce enough blood to cover that much territory.
"I suppose someone had the bright idea to forget the 'Taijutsu only' part of my instructions," Ian said. A small smile appeared on his face. "This means punishment training. I love punishment training." It only got disturbing when the person being punished began to enjoy the punishment, which wasn't often, but it had happened. Not many people enjoyed getting their asses kicked so thoroughly.
With a light jump, Ian appeared in the middle of the field just in time to catch the bloody fist Naruto threw at the smirking face of Sasuke with one hand, and with the other he caught the burned to a crisp ninja sandal wrapped around Sasuke's foot that had been headed for Naruto's grinning bloody face. Neither boy registered that Ian was even there for half a second, both enjoying the glare and the grin they were giving and receiving. When they did wake up from their battle lust, they looked up, their mouths hanging open in shock, at the sadistic grin Ian had.
They both thought simultaneously, 'Oh shit.'
"You two seem to have a problem following orders," Ian said. He could barely keep a giddy chuckle from escaping as he tightened his grip on the two appendages. "I suppose that means you two require Punishment Training."
"Uh… hehehe…" Naruto tried to pull his hand back, but Ian tightened his grip further. "Ian-sensei… uh… sorry?"
"I told you not to use Ninjutsu," Sasuke mutter.
"You're the one who blew that giant ass fire ball at me!" Naruto exploded.
"Then why did you try to take my head off with that giant Shuriken?!" Sasuke shot back.
"Boys, boys," Ian said. This time he did chuckle, darkly. "It doesn't matter who started it. Now, it's time to receive your punishment training. Your punishment is you have to fight me. And I'm not going to go easy on you like during the genin test."
Ian grinned at the two gleefully. Both boys felt a shiver of fear like nothing they'd ever experience before. The next thing either knew, they were flying, straight up.
"And that's how you throw a punch from the soles of your feet," Naruto's clone said.
"Hah!" Sakrua did as the clone had demonstrated and threw a punch. It was just like every other punch she'd thrown. Really, the only difference was the slight pressure sensation as the blood in her arm seemed to be flung into her fist for just a second. She frowned, realizing that feeling was not normal.
Was changing her body's movements that little making that much of a difference? She hadn't actually messed up the form or the stance, and yet, the punch was stronger just because she'd started the punch from her feet. Curious, Sakura started going through the rest of the stances, exactly what she and the clones she was leading before were doing, only this time she was starting each blow, as best she could, from as far back as she could. Each punch started in her feet, or lower legs. Each kick tended to start in her waist, instead of the opposite shoulder, but that didn't mean the kick didn't feel more just that much stronger than it normally did.
When Sakura had run through the entire set four times, she was sweating and smiling in wonder as she look with wide green eyes down at her shaking hands. Her muscles ached from doing something she'd normally done over a dozen times without breaking a sweat. Why? Why was it harder now and not before? She wasn't doing wrong any of the stances she'd studied so hard to learn in the academy, so why was it like she'd just learned them over again? Why hadn't the academy gone over anything like this? Maybe it was a more advanced theory, but if that were the case, how did Naruto know it when he didn't know any style at all?
"Way to go, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's clone cheered as he jumped into the air. Sakura felt like jumping too, even though her legs burned as if she'd just done twenty run-throughs instead of four. She looked up, grinning just in time to see the Naruto and Sasuke, covered in bruises and bleeding from cuts, land in the clearing right on top of the clone, which dispelled.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted as her heart leaped into her throat. She ran up to Sasuke and screamed "Sasuke-kun! Please don't be dead! Oh, no, no, no, no!" When she noticed the blond starting to stir next to her crush, she reached over, grabbed the lapels of his torn orange jacket, and ignored the burning cries of her arm muscles to wrench the Idiot closer so they were face to face. Then she glared as hard as she could, as if she could set him on fire with the sharpness of her green eyes. "Naruto! What did you do to Sasuke-kun, you IDIOT?!"
Naruto opened his mouth and closed it as his eyes rolled around and blood continued to leak from the cuts on his face. Sakura ignored the red getting on her hands and cloths as she shook the blond until his eyes were finally focusing on her. When Naruto finally recognized who he was looking, his pupils shrank to mere dots.
"Sa-Sakura-chan," Naruto said, his voice shaking. "R-run! R-run! He's a- He's a monster! Run!"
Sakura would have been taken aback by this. Naruto was normally all too eager to get her forgiveness for any perceived slight, usually when he got in between her and Sasuke. But this time he wasn't worried about that at all. Why was he telling her to run? Those thoughts were pushed aside when she heard Sasuke groan from where he was laid out. Sakura immediately dumped Naruto to move next to Sasuke and started fretting about to make sure he was okay.
"I'm sorry Sensei!" the bloody broken mess that was Uzumaki Naruto cried from behind her. She didn't really pay attention since Sasuke looked worse than the blond idiot did. "We were bad! We were bad and needed to be punished! Please! Please forgive us!"
"Sakura," Ian called out as he slowly approached. She looked up and saw the clone who was teaching her running off as sensei walked toward her and her teammates. "Please move away from your teammates. They're undergoing punishment training."
"Wha-but Sensei!" Sakura cried, tears in her eyes, "Sasuke's hurt! You… you did this? Why? Why did you do this? What did Sasuke do to deserve this?"
"Uhn…." Sasuke groaned.
"Sakura," Ian said softly as he came to a stop next to the children. Naruto shivered on the ground behind her and Sasuke was moving slightly but was still unconscious. "They disobeyed a direct order. Now, there is nothing wrong with disobeying an order as long as there's a good reason and you're willing to accept the consequences of your actions. I specifically told Naruto and Sasuke to use only Taijutsu, but I get back to the clearing to find they're using Ninjutsu and weapons. They had no good reason, since it was clearly an escalation of their egos. They both wanted to win at any cost. This is the cost. Now, please move so I may continue their punishment. If you don't, you too will need to accept the consequences of your actions."
Sakura looked up at Ian with a tear streaked terror stricken expression. Without consciously telling it to do so, her body moved itself away from her two teammates. This was, without a doubt, the most fear she'd ever felt in her entire life. The idle thought that she was just letting Ian-sensei get away with killing Sasuke ran through her mind, and for a brief instant, a spark of fire lit within her and then wilted under the intense pressure of reality. She was too weak to make a difference. There was no way she'd be able to defend her teammates as she was now.
This thought, combined with a final glimpse of a resigned Naruto just before Ian left her view that brought the spark back. It summoned a memory of Naruto at the Academy, when he and Sasuke were paired up to spar. Sasuke was clearly the stronger, tossing Naruto around like a child's toy. But Naruto continued to get back up and ran stupidly back into the fight. He really was a stubborn idiot, but the look in his eyes was something she didn't seem to be able to forget. He had the strength to fight against Sasuke even though he knew he was going to lose.
"I'll never give up-ttebayo! Not now! Not ever! That's my nindoooo!"
And then she remembered their Genin exam battle with Ian-sensei. She was useless in that battle too. She gave up before ever lifting a finger to fight or try getting a bell. Instead she'd sat by the downed Sasuke and cried. They would have probably failed if all of them worked together, but the point of the test was to see if they could put aside their differences and work as a team.
"There's still time for you to try and get a bell… though from what I've seen, I highly doubt you'll succeed any better than these two on your own."
After that, there was the D-rank mission they'd had earlier that morning. Their plan to smoke the rats out of their nests wouldn't have worked if it had only been one of them. She'd thought that Naruto's stupid idea wouldn't have worked, and then when it did she was useless again.
Sakura reached her arm up and rubbed the tears away from her face. "I… I guess I really am useless…" She choked back a sob as she tried to regain control over her emotions.
"Team work isn't only about doing an equal amount of work. It's also about sticking together through thick and thin."
And finally it clicked. Their sensei wasn't a complete sadistic bastard… most of the time. He was just waiting for them to act like a single unit. To act like a team!
And just like that, the spark ignited a fire.
"Nooo…" Naruto moaned when a flash of pink entered his vision. He and Sasuke could take this. Sakura was too weak to take it. Why was she running toward them?
"Ian-sensei!" Sakura cried out as she landed before the man. He arched his eyebrow and tilted his head to inspect the out of breath girl standing before him with her hands stretched out. "I-I can't let you punish them anymore."
"Sakura, are you sure you want to go down this path?" Ian asked. "There's no going back."
"I'm sure," Sakura said. She swallowed, but her breathing was coming back under control, and firmed her back as she stood. "Please, Sensei, stop hurting them."
"I'll give you a choice, then," Ian said. He nodded to the two boys in his hands. "Whose place will you take?"
"Um…" Sakura hesitated, looking back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke. If she could do something to help Sasuke, maybe he'd pay more attention to her. But at the same time, Naruto looked worse off than her crush. He was pale, trembling constantly, and was covered in much more blood. So much blood. Sasuke, comparatively, looked a little better and healthier. "I choose N-"
"Sasuke," Naruto said with a snarl. "I can take it. Leave the bastard out of this. Come on, sensei. I'll take Sakura's punishment too. Give me all you got cause it don't matter how much you throw at me, I'll just get back up and keep going. I'm going to be Hokage! I'm going to… goooinnng toooooo…" Naruto slowly drifted off and slumped in Ian's hand.
"Sasuke it is," Ian said. He dropped Sasuke on the ground and Sakura let out a little squeak. Before she could even think of what was going to happen next, Ian had already thrown Naruto at her. She didn't react in time and quickly found herself on the ground with the air knocked out of her.
"I guess that means you're dead now," Ian said.
Sakura frowned as she regained her breath and rolled Naruto's bloody body off of her. She decided to stay on the ground, still breathing hard from a combination of nerves and the impact. "What do you mean, sensei?"
"What I'm saying," Ian said as he stooped down next to the girl, "is that you're currently not strong enough to even sacrifice yourself to save your comrades. If that truly is your goal, then you should become strong so that in the future, when these two idiots get into trouble, you're capable of pulling their asses out of the fire." Ian snorted and then added, "And who knows. Maybe they'll start looking at you as a teammate instead of the girl they want to date and that pink haired fan-girl."
Sakura covered her face with her hands and groaned. Ian smirked as he stood and moved to pick Sasuke up. Silence reigned in the small section of forest as a cool breeze blew though, rustling the leaves of the tree canopy. Slowly, Sakura got back to her feet and brushed the dirt and grime from her dress.
"Come on," Ian said as he lifted Naruto up, "let's take these two boneheads and set up a camp so I can give your real punishment training."
"S-sensei?!" Sakura half whispered, half cried. She stared at the man as he smiled at her. It was such a weird thing to see when he'd just threatened her.
"Training, not a beating," Ian said. "These two don't learn anything unless you beat it into them. You have the exceptional ability to listen to instruction. So I'll be sparring with you and asking you questions at the same time to improve your situational thinking speed. We'll do that until night fall. Alright."
"Oh…" Sakura's shoulders slumped as a wave of relief washed over her. She didn't think she could take what Naruto and Sasuke could. Not yet, anyway. "Alright then, Sensei!"
Sasuke awoke with a start. He found himself sitting upright against a tree on the edge of a small clearing. It was a campsite now, made obvious from the small fire crackling in the middle of their group. Naruto was off to his right. Sakura to his left. Ian-sensei was not to be seen.
Where was he? What had happened? How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was fighting against Naruto. Well, it was more like he was owning the Idiot in taijutsu and then the Idiot broke out a bunch of clones. It only escalated into a full tilt battle from there, which wasn't to say it was any harder for him than before, just more engaging. And then sensei showed up.
Sensei!
Now he remembered. Sensei beat the ever living crap out of them both. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was the ground rushing up at him way too fast. Normally, a drop like that wouldn't have been an issue, but sensei had broken both his leg and his arm. He thought he was going to die, but that assumption proved to be wrong if the current situation was any indication.
Sasuke did a quick once over of his body. Nothing seemed out of place. His hands moved in the right way and his arms and legs weren't broken any longer. Even the large bruises he expected to see covering his body were absent. Had Sensei gotten a healer? It was the only logical assumption to make since he wasn't in the hospital at the time.
He heard groaning and looked to his right to see the Idiot slowly coming too. He smirked with some satisfaction when the blond started grumbling about how his back hurt from laying on a rock. But now that the Idiot was awake, his peace and quiet had gone away. His smirk slowly devolved into the scowl that seemed ever present on his face anymore.
"What happened?" Naruto groaned as he sat up. "I feel like I did that one time mom caught me eating ramen after I went to bed…" He watched the Idiot look around the camp site, first noticing him and then Sakura, who was sleeping soundly on her own with a small rock under her head instead of any kind of pillow. "How much time has gone by? And where's sensei?"
"Here's a hint," he heard Sensei say, "look up." Both he and Naruto looked up and found their sensei sitting on the branch of a tree just above them. Sensei gave them a little wave from his laid back position against the truck of the tree, but his dark and serious expression were anything but laid back. "You two get the message? Or do we need to continue our punishment training?"
"No," both he and Naruto said way too fast to sound casual.
"Good," Ian said with a nod. "It would seem you two can learn. Next time you don't follow instructions, the consequences might not be me beating the crap out of you as punishment, but the enemy killing you and your comrades, or people you care about, or your mission is lost, or any other number of very bad things. Now, I'm not telling you to never disobey orders, just to consider the price of doing so. Everything has a cost, even that little stunt you two pulled when you were sparring. The price a ninja pays for breaking the rules, even if it was the right thing to do, is always going to be a hundred times harsher than the price a civilian pays. You're no longer civilians, so I'm not going to cut you any slack." Ian stared at the two boys for a moment longer before he smiled. "With that out of the way, there's food in the sack next to Sakura over there. Just don't wake her. She trained pretty hard and I'm sure she'd rather sleep than deal with you two boneheads."
"Alright!" Naruto shouted, "Foo-"
"SHHHH!" Ian and Sasuke both shushed Naruto at the same time. He immediately looked contrite and all three looked to Sakura to see if she'd awoken. Fortunately, Sakura had only turned her head a little but otherwise remained asleep.
"Sorry," Naruto said, much softer this time.
Sasuke stood and looked up at his Ian. "Sensei, is every day going to be like this?" he asked.
"A whole day of working, training, and more working?" Ian asked rhetorically. He paused as if he were actually considering the question. Then he closed his eyes and nodded sagely. "Yes, young grasshopper. This and all the days this week will be like this. It's one thing to read about survival training and practice it at school. It's entirely another to live it for any amount of time. By the end of this week, you'll be seeing sides of each other you'd rather have kept private. But, you're a team now. The notion of privacy is a luxury you three can no longer afford."
"Wait," Naruto said, his mouth stuffed with ration bars. "We're not going to be staying at our homes? What about Sakura's parents? And I got some plants I gotta water, so can I at least go home to water them?"
"We're not leaving the village, Naruto," Ian said exasperatedly. "You'll be able to make stops at home when we do missions, but we'll be training after that until dark, and then making camp, like this. And don't stuff your face with those. You've got to make those last a week, you know."
Naruto paused as he was about to shove another ration bar into his open mouth. He blinked, looked down into the sack which was now half empty, and then his shoulders slumped.
"Idiot," Sasuke said as Naruto dejectedly dropped the ration bar he was holding back into the bag. Naruto sneered and was about to respond in kind when Ian cleared his throat.
"No fighting," he said sternly. Normally, they just might have ignored their sensei and sniped at each other verbally. But after experiencing the torture known as Punishment Training, they decided to keep their barbs to themselves and settled for glaring at each other across the flames of the small camp fire.
"Get some sleep," Ian said. "We'll be going for a morning jog before the sun gets up, so you're going to want to be well rested. And now it looks like we'll be hunting too."
"Yes, Sensei," Naruto said. He picked up the rock that had been digging into his back and tossed it into the woods before he flopped back onto the ground and let out a long sigh. Sasuke went back to the tree he was leaning against with one ration bar and sat down to eat it. He stared at the flames and contemplated what his immediate future was going to hold.
Ian-sensei had promised him power and from the looks of how harsh the training was, he'd most certainly gotten what he'd asked for. If he wasn't so dedicated to his task, Sasuke might have feared that he'd bitten off more than he could chew. But he'd be damned if he would admit to that ever. Besides, he wasn't afraid of a little training, since he was an Uchiha and that meant he could do anything. No, the real concern that he worried about was whether this training regimen, harsh as it was, would be enough.
Sasuke shook his head and leaned back against the hard wood of the tree. It wouldn't help to worry about those things right now. He would need his sleep. He'd just push himself all the harder if it wasn't harsh enough anyway. And then he was asleep.
(1) Fairly certain that they don't have this staple of western food in the show or the manga. Could be wrong, but for this story, let's just go with the idea that it is new.
A/N: When it comes to training Genin, one thing that most authors, and not even Kishimoto, do is actually treat their training as if they are part of a military organization. Granted, the show is about child soldiers and whatnot, but still, no discipline at all. If Kakashi had been half as strict as he should have been, I doubt any fangirlism would have been left in Sakura after the first day, Naruto would have been forced to focus more, and Sasuke would have just been Sasuke. Honestly, I don't like that little shit, but he was the most shinobi-like of all three genin of that team.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
~I.K.A. Valian