THE SHINOBI PROJECT
by Tap-Chan
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto
Chapter 2: Graduation
Academy,
Classroom 11
Konoha
401218
Nara Shikamaru stared outside the classroom window as he watched the clouds pass overhead.
The sky was a calm blue as usual with no sign of any change. The weather was ever constant and predictable living within a bio-sphere. Rain fell twice a week, and the weather was always grey on Wednesday. While his mind understood the blue sky was little more than an illusion created by the bio-sphere, he could not help but be comforted by the peace the fluffy looking wisps of vapour provided.
The class instructor, Umino Iruka seemed to be talking about something regarding the division of the remaining students into three men teams, continuing their military training under a jounin ranked instructor. Paying no attention, Shikamaru gave a yawn. Class was boring and bothersome. Many of his classmates from when he had first enrolled in the Academy had already left and Shikamaru estimated that within the whole school year, perhaps only thirty percent of the two hundred students remained.
He had not wanted to attend the military Academy. Fighting was just too troublesome.
Although his own parents served in the military, he had only wanted to simply complete general education averagely and perhaps go into an average career where there was no possibility of battle, live an average life and die a peaceful death. But strangely, his parents had come home one evening one year ago and insisted he join the Academy.
Arguing would have been tiresome, so he had merely accepted their wishes albeit reluctantly as he recalled his neighbour and childhood friend, Yamanaka Ino dragging him on their first day through the Academy gates. He could have followed in the footsteps of other students and dropped out, but even that was troublesome.
His parents would have made a fuss and then he would have had to return to regular education in order to pursue another career. It really was just easier to continue on in military school.
His eyes wandered over towards the remaining students who had survived the last eight months in the Academy and personally, he was amazed Uzumaki Naruto had managed to tough it out while many others had crumbled and left.
Naruto was after all, the worst in their year. The dead-last.
But Shikamaru had to admit...
While Naruto was no intellectual, the blonde had good instincts.
Academy Grounds,
Training Field # 9
Konoha
401222
Uzumaki Naruto sat on one of the large wooden poles that were embedded in the ground watching for his new instructor. The meeting time had already passed by two hours and their new instructor had yet to show his face.
Glancing down towards where his two team mates sat, Naruto scowled at the dark haired boy, Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto and Sasuke had instantly taken a disliking to each other in their first week of class as Sasuke seemed to always stare down his nose at him.
Sure, the Uchiha bastard had skills and talent. Brains and looks. Was it even possible that Uchiha Sasuke was actually a real, live, flesh and blood boy? Unfortunately, the answer was yes. He had even gone out of his way to check.
But the real reason that Naruto really disliked the dark haired boy was because of the girl next to him.
Naruto's eyes moved to glance over at his pink-headed female team mate. Haruno Sakura.
The girl had been fairly quiet when she had first enrolled into the Academy and Naruto had instantly been smitten by the girl. Her personality had changed slightly though, in the following months when she and her best friend, Yamanaka Ino had both gotten into an argument, ending in a dissolution of their friendship.
Over Uchiha Sasuke no less!
Scowling, Naruto hopped off the pole, landing in front of his two team mates.
"This is stupid. We've been waiting two hours already and this Hatake Kakashi has yet to show up." muttered Naruto in irritation as he watched Sakura watch Sasuke, giggling every so often.
Sasuke looked up, turning his dark eyes to look at Naruto. Staring back, Naruto frowned at the glare in Sasuke's eyes. Naruto knew while Uchiha Sasuke's face rarely betrayed any sort of emotion, his eyes were always suffused with many emotions, often anger. But right now, the main emotion he saw was irritation.
"Iruka-sensei is going to hear about this when I get home and then I'm going to make him pay for a whole lot of ramen at Ichiraku for sticking me in a team with you."
Sakura rolled her eyes as Naruto continued to pace back and forth.
"Oh sit down, Naruto."
"And then I'll order a huge bowl of beef ramen and then miso, I'll make Iruka-sensei pay for extra pork too!"
Sasuke gave a smirk before glancing over at Sakura.
"It's no use, Haruno Sakura. The idiot can't hear you over all the noodles in his brain."
"What did you say, bastard!"
"Hmh."
"Are you picking a fight with me, bastard!"
"Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura.
"A-ny-time - mo-ron." enunciated Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun!"
A few feet away, hidden in the foliage of the trees, Hatake Kakashi watched the three students assigned to him, as the girl tried to keep a fight from breaking out between the two boys, with little success.
The short blonde charged at the dark haired boy in a clumsy and ill-thought out battle strategy. Kakashi gave a little wince as the Uchiha boy sent the blonde, Uzumaki crashing face first into the dirt as the girl, Haruno Sakura looked on in horror.
As he watched the pair continue to fight, Kakashi began to better understand the skills both boys possessed. His thoughts replayed his last meeting with the Hokage when he had been assigned as a jounin instructor.
"Me? An instructor? With respect, Hokage-sama... why? There are many other jounin who specialise in the personal instruction of Academy students."
"True, but none are like you, Kakashi. The students I have assigned to you are special and in particular, the survivor of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke."
Kakashi stiffened at the name.
"Uchiha?"
"You as one of the last of our third generation gen-ees know about that illegal programme that was halted over nine years ago, do you not?"
Kakashi nodded. As a gen-e, or genetically engineered soldier, he had been one of the few who had heard of the illegally resumed research into genetic engineering that had been forcefully halted by Jiraiya-sama, one the three first gen-ees in Konoha history.
"What you do not know, was that nine gen-e children were recovered from the facility as well as the records of the four that preceded them. The students I have assigned to you are three of the nine."
Kakashi raised his eyebrow in question. "However, from your speech, I am to understand that the other six have not been assigned under a gen-e instructor. What makes these three, so special that you require my skills?"
"It is the two boys that require your expertise. You are the only one with knowledge on the Uchiha's unique genetic ability, Sharingan as well as the fact that from the many reports I have received, Uchiha Sasuke is likely at the moment, the most dangerous of his nine peers."
"And the other boy?"
"Uzumaki Naruto. He's a dark horse that may yet become the most dangerous of the gen-ees to date. The boy was an experiment by the researchers."
"Uzumaki...? Isn't that-"
"He is the progeny of second generation gen-e, Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage and his gen-e wife, Uzumaki Kushina."
"Wait a minute, when Konoha abandoned its eugenics programme, I'm certain Minato-sensei destroyed all the genetic data regarding Uzumaki Kushina and himself."
"He did."
"Then how-"
"Naruto is their natural born son that was stolen when they were killed. The child somehow ended up at that facility and it is clear from the data by the scientists, that he has been altered. But we do not know to what extent. That is why I need you as this group's instructor." answered the Hokage solemnly.
"..."
Kakashi was pulled out of his memory by the battle cry of Uzumaki Naruto as the boy started his charge at Uchiha Sasuke once more. Kakashi was surprised that the fight between both boys had escalated to the use of bladed weapons.
It was time to end this.
Haruno Sakura bit her lip as she watched both her team mates proceed to beat, well, one of them tried, the stuffing out of each other. She winced as Sasuke, the boy she currently had a crush on, delivered a particularly nasty punch that had Naruto staggering backwards before the blonde swept Sasuke's feet out from under him.
While Sakura did not particularly dislike Naruto, she often found him irritating with his obvious crush on her. Especially when his antics disrupted her attempts to talk to Sasuke.
"Uh, guys... you should stop. If our personal instructor arrives and you two are fighting like this-"
Sakura ducked as Sasuke slammed into the wooden bench next to her.
"Hah! Take that, Sasuke!"
"Sasuke-kun..?" murmured Sakura as she watched the dark haired boy's bruised face turn into a scowl. Perhaps it was a trick of light, but for a moment, Sakura could have sworn Uchiha Sasuke's black eyes took on a reddish light. She blinked and Sasuke was no longer next to her, but had rushed at Naruto.
The fight took a turn for the worse when Sasuke and Naruto pulled out kunai and tried to stab each other.
"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" shrieked Sakura as Sasuke's kunai came very close to Naruto's face, nicking the blonde boy's cheek. "Those kunai are for ancient weaponry class! Stop it!"
Sakura began to run forward when a sudden rush of wind blew her long hair into her view, halting her in her tracks.
When she next took in the scene before her, both Sasuke and Naruto were held away from each other by the collars of their clothes, their kunai on the ground. A tall man with silver grey hair stood between them, his only visible eye in a frown. The man wore the standard jounin-rank military uniform consisting of a long sleeved black military shirt and military issued olive flak-vest.
The man had his Konoha head protector covering his left eye and a mask that hid more than half his face.
"What is the meaning of this?" came his deep voice.
Academy Grounds,
Training Field # 9
Konoha
401223
The next day at the same place, the three team mates reconvened.
Uchiha Sasuke was in a bad mood. He had woken up this morning aching almost everywhere and he sported some large black and blue bruises across his body. Who would have thought that for an idiot, that Uzumaki kid could really pack a wallop.
The sound of footsteps drew his attention away from his pain towards his two team mates arriving on the training field.
Looking up, his eyes took in his blonde team mate and frowned. Was he imagining it, or did Naruto not look as beat up as he was supposed to be? In fact, Sasuke was certain the cut on Naruto's cheek that he had inflicted with his kunai was hardly visible, looking to be at least over a week old.
"Morning, Sasuke-kun!" called Haruno Sakura gaily as she hurried up to his side.
"Morning." mumbled Sasuke as he tried to ignore the girl and continue his examination of the injuries visible on Naruto. It was not that he despised the girl, in fact, her intelligence and analytical skill often impressed him, but her obvious crush, almost to the point of obsession irritated him. The coming two years of intense training was important in his goal for revenge, and he did not need a distracted team mate likely to interfere in his training.
"Mornin' bastard." muttered Naruto as he locked eyes briefly with Sasuke.
"Hnh."
"Why you-"
"Naruto! Stop it! If Kakashi-sensei arrives and catches both of you fighting again..."
That one phrase, effectively ended all and any protests yet to be made by both boys.
Three hours later,
Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto were beyond pissed and irritated. Again, their personal instructor was late and no where to be seen. Conversation between the three, if any to begin with, had long since died a slow and painful death. The only consolation was that because they were living within an enclosed bio-sphere, the temperature hardly ever changed even with the sun glaring down, announcing it to be mid-day.
The growl of a hungry belly interrupted the silence and two pairs of eyes turned to look at the offender. Naruto scratched his messy blonde head, a slight blush blooming on his face.
"What? It's almost lunch... I'm hungry."
Sasuke gave a snort and turned away once more while Sakura sighed shaking her head.
"You're always hungry, Naruto."
"I'm growing! I can't help it!"
Sasuke turned his attention back once more at Naruto's outburst, a smirk gracing his lips.
"For someone who claims to be growing, you're pretty short for your age, dumbo."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, ASS-"
"That was rude, Sasuke-kun."
"It was only the truth..."
"I AM NOT SHORT! I'LL BE TALLER THAN YOU-"
"It's still not something to be said aloud. He could just be a late-bloomer."
"The moron isn't just a late-bloomer, he's a no-bloomer."
"BOTH of YOU, STOP talking like I'M NOT HERE, I-"
The sound of wind and rustling leaves distracted the three team mates from their topic of conversation as they turned and found their personal instructor, Hatake Kakashi standing in front of them.
"Yo."
All three were silent for perhaps a fraction of a second, until Naruto shot to his feet, shouting.
"THREE hours! You're late! Late late late late! We've been waiting for three hours, sensei! It's almost lunch time and-"
"Today, before I explain what your two year intense training under me will entail, we're going to play a little game, first." announced Kakashi, effectively ignoring Naruto's outburst.
"What? Hey! Kakashi-sensei, don't ignore me-"
A clenched fist socked Naruto in the face, sending the boy flying backwards a considerable distance to land with a thump.
Sasuke and Kakashi eyed the only girl on the team with some interest.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura sweetly.
Sasuke glanced over his shoulder where Naruto was sitting up, perhaps a good six feet from where he had been previously standing. Sasuke noted that Naruto hardly seemed fazed and in fact was already getting up and walking back towards them.
Shifting his eyes back to the pink-haired girl, he frowned.
"How'd you do that? You didn't even have a running start in that punch to hit him that far..."
Sakura blinked, turning to look at Naruto, then Sasuke. "I have no idea."
Kakashi watched his three students in interest.
It was obvious, Naruto had the ability to heal at a rapid rate. A punch that had knocked an eleven year old to such a distance should have knocked him unconscious as well, and yet, Naruto was wide awake without a bruise to even indicate his face had met anyone's fist.
Moving his gaze to Haruno Sakura, according to her profile, the scientists had created her genome to emulate one of the original Konoha gen-ees. It was obvious which gen-e she had been designed after. The first generation gen-e, Senju Tsunade had the similar ability of superior strength and the capability to augment her strength using kinetic energy.
"Ahem..." coughed Kakashi as he drew the attention of the three children back to him.
"As I was saying, we're going to play a little game."
The game turned out to be an all out test of their battle skills where the objective was to disable Kakashi and steal the two bells he had, tied to his belt. No tactic or strategy was prohibited. Kakashi had even handed them dart guns with a mild enough anaesthetics where multiple hits would not be lethal. If you were hit in the arm, your arm would go numb, but if you were hit enough times with the drug, you'd lose consciousness.
"The game ends when the sun starts to go down. Don't hold back, don't worry about injuring me. Because this is my examination on whether you're fit to continue on in intense training. I don't care if you made it through the Academy's general training. If you fail, you're out."
Hidden in the underbrush of number nine's training field, Sakura bit her lip as she remembered Kakashi-sensei's words. His tone of voice had been cold and harsh, his single visible eye, calculating and unblinking.
Well this was a little bump in the road. Kakashi-sensei was a jounin rank and she a mere student, plus, the physical skills had never really been her forte. As she watched Kakashi amble through the clearing, a book-
Wait... a book?
Sakura frowned. He was reading? Now? Sakura felt a little insulted that her sensei would underestimate her team mates. Sasuke, was the top ranked student in the Academy year in terms of physical skills. And Naruto... er...
Well, Naruto had good endurance.
Now she sort of wondered where the two boys were.
Meanwhile, hidden in the leaves, high above the ground, Sasuke also watched the progress of Kakashi as the jounin continued to read his book while walking through the clearing. The calm laid-back attitude the jounin exuded annoyed Sasuke greatly.
He was not going to fail this 'exam'. There was too much at stake. As long as the other two on his team did not get in the way, he could care less where they had hidden themselves.
Settling himself into the crook of his sturdy branch, Sasuke aimed his weapon on Kakashi, waiting for the right moment to squeeze the trigger.
Stilling his breath as Kakashi slowed to a stop, his book still open, but his eye lifting to scan his surroundings, Sasuke slowly curled his finger, beginning to squeeze the trigger when the sudden sound of multiple shots echoed through the trees.
Sasuke could even hear one of the darts bounce off one of the nearby trees.
Such a bad shot could only have been fired by one person...
'Naruto, you dumbass!'
Turning back to look at where Kakashi had once stood, Sasuke cursed in his head. The jounin instructor had disappeared.
'Shit! Where'd he go?' wondered Sasuke.
Down below, hardly hidden by anything at all, Naruto's bright orange and blue jacket stuck out like a sore thumb. The blonde boy cursed as his head continued to swivel about, searching for the jounin instructor.
'Where did Kakashi-sensei go?'
Looking at his gun, Naruto frowned. He only had four shots left of the fifteen round dart cartridge. Maybe he should not have fired those darts the way he did. But he had surmised, surely one of them would have hit Kakashi?
As he stood still contemplating his weapon, a sudden chill went up his spine making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Ducking and turning around, he barely missed an attack by Kakashi. Lifting his arm, Naruto fired his gun twice more.
At such a close range, one would have expected a hit.
But strangely, Kakashi's form seemed to flicker and disappear, leaving the darts to hit the trees behind him.
"What?"
'Below!' screamed his mind.
Naruto's gaze went to the speeding form a fraction too late. A fist connected with his gut, driving the air from his lungs with a whoosh.
As he lay gasping for breath on the ground, Naruto groaned. A shadow fell over his vision, blocking out the light overhead.
"You've got good instincts, Naruto. But you're too slow." came Kakashi's flat voice as the jounin raised his own dart weapon. "Looks like you're out of the game."
Kakashi fired five darts into his legs and Naruto knew no more as he blacked out.
Sasuke cursed as he scanned around for Kakashi. He had heard the gun shots and the crashing of undergrowth. In all likelihood, Naruto was probably out for the count, but then, what had he expected of the class idiot?
"Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke leaped backwards, landing on another sturdy branch. His eyes widening slightly at the sight of Haruno Sakura crouched on the branch he had been on previously.
"Haruno Sakura."
"Have you found, Kakashi-sensei?"
"How did you find me, Haruno?" asked Sasuke as he trained his dart gun on the girl.
Sakura blinked looking back towards Sasuke, her eyes dropping to the gun aimed at her.
"I nearly set off some of your traps just now, and I deduced this would gain you the best vantage point of the traps." she answered. "What are you doing, pointing that thing at me?" she asked pointing at the dart gun.
"This could be a ploy where you're in cahoots with Kakashi."
Sakura blinked again.
"Are you high?"
"What?"
"Anyone ever tell you, you're really paranoid, Sasuke-kun?"
"Being suspicious keeps you alive and alert, Haruno."
"Sakura."
"What?"
"My name is Sakura. Haruno is what they call my mother."
"Oh."
"You didn't answer my question though... have you found Kakashi-sensei? I lost sight of him when Naruto shot at him. But I heard more gunshots moments ago." said Sakura as she continued to scan the ground.
"No, I haven't. That idiot Naruto just had to-"
Sakura hardly had time to blink when Uchiha Sasuke grabbed her off her perch in a sudden movement, both falling into the underbrush below as the trees they were hiding in exploded sending chips of wood raining down onto their heads.
Sakura crushed her inner-fan girl to the back of her mind, trying to ignore the fact that Uchiha Sasuke had just saved her and was practically lying on top of her at the moment.
"What the hell...? Is Kakashi-sensei trying to kill us?" asked Sakura as she avoided looking at Sasuke's face.
"Hnh."
"And he's not playing fair. We didn't get any explosives besides these dart guns." muttered Sakura as she scowled at her hand weapon.
"Sakura."
A sudden movement had both Sakura and Sasuke on the move as he lifted her to her feet and started dragging her along with him.
The sounds of whizzing thuds had Sakura looking over her shoulder to see two darts embedded in the wood where they had just been.
"Sakura, can you tell where the attacks are coming from?" called Sasuke.
"Wait!"
Another thud, this time from a kunai. The jounin instructor was really pushing it.
"Your left! Thirty degrees above us!" called Sakura as her mind easily calculated the trajectory paths of the earlier projectiles and pinpointed the most likely path of pursuit by the jounin.
Sasuke sprang into action as he released her wrist, spinning around as he pushed her forward on the path behind him. He lifted his own dart gun, firing two shots towards the direction Sakura had estimated.
Kakashi dropped from the trees, avoiding both shots.
"Impressive. Even many jounins have difficulty anticipating and pinpointing where an enemy will next appear." praised Kakashi. "But running isn't going to get you the bells."
Sasuke smirked. "Who's running?"
"Oh?"
A flick of his wrist, Uchiha Sasuke released the traps he had carefully set earlier, projectiles flying at the jounin.
As Kakashi dodged the numerous pointy projectiles aimed at his head, Sasuke made his move, rushing towards Kakashi, a foot sweeping in an arc to catch his head.
Almost.
Kakashi saw the leg headed his way and countered with an arm.
Suddenly, Sakura was there, immobilizing the other arm as Sasuke reached down for the bells.
Kakashi cursed as he threw both children off, retreating to a safe distance.
"I didn't need the help, Sakura."
Sakura eyed him silently, the question in her green eyes.
"Alright, a little help, then. But stay behind me, your physical abilities weren't anything to brag about back in the Academy, you know."
"You know, if I didn't think you cute, I'd probably have hit you in the face."
A slight flush appeared on the Uchiha's pale skin before he swung his head away.
Ten minutes later, after two more attempts at immobilizing Kakashi, both Sasuke and Sakura were suffering from their efforts. Sakura had gotten hit in the arm by one of the darts and already, her fingers on the particular arm were feeling numb. Sasuke himself had several cuts and bruises from his attacks on Kakashi.
"The sun will start to set soon, Sasuke-kun. What are we going to do?" asked Sakura as she continued to flex her numb hand, hoping the drug would miraculously wear off. At the moment, her arm felt practically like a dead weight.
"Dammit. If only we had another pair of hands."
"Do you kids want to try once more are you going to forfeit? By my estimate, you kids probably only have less than half an hour left." called Kakashi as he twirled his dart gun in hand.
Sakura and Sasuke did not move from their defensive positions, behind some large trees.
"No? Well, your loss-" began Kakashi when the sudden rustling behind him caught his attention.
'Impossible, did one of them move to circle around me?' wondered Kakashi as he leapt away from the sound of the bush movement.
That was when a short pair of arms latched onto him.
"Hey... sensei." came a raspy chuckle.
Sasuke was surprised to see Naruto.
In fact, Sasuke had been certain Naruto was down for the count judging from the earlier gun shots and the subsequent absence of Naruto-like blunders and appearances. But surprisingly, the blonde now held onto Kakashi like glue. This was their last and only chance.
Signalling Sakura, both of them joined in on immobilizing Kakashi.
Sasuke went for the legs while Sakura with her good arm, drew her dart gun.
Kakashi toppled at the sudden tackle while he had been trying to pry Naruto off his person.
"Now, Sakura!" shouted Sasuke as he pinned Kakashi as much as he was able using both his hands and legs.
Sakura standing above the pile of struggling limbs, fired her dart gun, three darts hitting Kakashi in both legs and one arm. Kakashi immediately felt the tingling that signalled the spreading numbness of the drug.
Sasuke, free to release his hold on Kakashi jumped to his feet, snatching both bells off the jounin's belt.
"I win." smirked Sasuke.
A cough sounded behind him making Sasuke glance behind his shoulder. Sakura raised an eyebrow, her good hand still holding the dart gun.
"I mean, we win." declared Sasuke as he shared a slight smile.
A groan beneath Kakashi pulled both Sasuke and Sakura's attention back to the jounin.
"That's swell and all... now can somebody get Kakashi-sensei OFF me?" came Naruto's peeved complaint.
Sakura and Sasuke shared a look before laughing. Well, Sakura laughed, Sasuke merely gave a smirk.
Kakashi rubbed his legs as the numbness wore off having injected himself with a counter-agent to the anaesthetic. Sakura flexed her fingers as the feeling returned to her previously numb arm. In the dying light of the sun, the sensei and his three students sat in silence.
Finally, Kakashi got to his feet stretching.
"Alright. I concede to your skills. The three of you are rough and tumble around the edges, but it appears you have the necessary qualities to survive the coming two years under me, so tomorrow, we will meet at the Konoha Bridge and I will explain what your intense training will entail. Dismissed."
The three children got to their feet, slowly making their way off the training field.
"Naruto."
The short blonde looked up, stopping in his tracks. "Huh?"
"How are you feeling? No dizziness from the drug? Are you certain you don't need the counter-agent?"
Naruto gave a bright grin at his sensei, waving the injection away.
"Naw, I was only out for maybe fifteen minutes according to you guys. Drugs don't really work or affect me for long." shrugged Naruto.
"I see. That's good then. I'll see you tomorrow."
"See ya, Kakashi-sensei!" called Naruto as he ran after Sakura and Sasuke shouting at them to wait for him.
Kakashi watched as the three left, walking towards the Academy building, Naruto was once again arguing one-sidedly with Sasuke while Sakura looked on laughing.
"Drugs don't work, huh?" mused Kakashi to himself as the trio disappeared from his sight.
Looking down at the darts in his hands, Kakashi gave a wry smile.
"Five of these darts should have put him out for at least an hour and a half judging by his body mass, and yet, he shrugged it off in a sixth of the time it should have taken for it to wear off. That's some immune system." muttered Kakashi as he scratched his head in resignation.
Wave Nation
430615
Two years intense training apparently meant two years of actual in-the-field combat missions under their assigned jounin instructor. Most of the time, these missions took the trainees away from the safety of Konoha's bio-sphere. There were no theories to memorize, no books to study. There was only hands-on practical survival skills.
This suited Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto just fine. In fact, both boys seemed to revel in the constant danger and excitement of a real life situation to the point where while both boys still argued, a sort of companionable kinship emerged between both of them. Often, the boys seemed to be communicating mentally when attacking an opponent together.
Their two years with Kakashi-sensei were almost up. In fact, they had just completed their last mission and would be returning to Konoha where their two years would be officially over.
As the three males on her team talked or in Naruto and Sasuke's case bickered by the flickering firelight, Sakura watched slightly envious of the easy rapport her two peers seemed to share despite their constant denials of friendship. They frequently reminded her of mirror images. When one moved, so did the other. While she stayed still.
Sakura frowned as she watched them from her protective bio-tent. Oh, she had learned new things and skills. Her strange strength had grown, she had even received training as a field medic, being the only one of three with any potential in medical skills. And yet, she still felt stationary. Unmoving. Naruto and Sasuke were still the heavy hitters of the team, always pushing her back.
Who knew being constantly protected felt like crap?
Naruto caught sight of her and broke into a smile, beckoning her to join them by the fire. Sasuke looked her way, an easy relaxed expression on his face as he watched her. Kakashi was engrossed in his pornographic book as always.
The three of them had in their curiosity of Kakashi's constant fascination with said book, pinched the book in their early days under Kakashi's tutelage. The book had been promptly returned less than an hour later by the three of them, red-faced over the book's content.
Adjusting and switching on her personal environmental field, Sakura left her bio-tent and took her place beside her team mates by the fire. Sakura offered a smile at both boys as Naruto grinned at her and promptly returned to bicker with Sasuke and at the same time, badger Kakashi.
As she pushed her long hair out of the way, she felt a hand brush at it and looked up. Her eyes locked with the black of Sasuke's, his arm raised towards her head, a stray leaf in his hand.
"You had this in your hair." muttered Sasuke as he lifted the leaf as if to show it off.
"Thanks."
"Hnh."
That single sound brought a laugh to her lips and for the time being, Sakura forgot about her insecurities.
It was quiet with only the popping of the fire to break the silence. Naruto stared out at the murky grey brown of the open sky. Things really were very different outside the bio-sphere. Hardly any plants grew and any that did were more like dry brown weeds than anything else. The ground was hard and dry. Even the air was slightly toxic that if a human was not wearing protective gear and an environmental field, skin would begin to blister and burn.
Naruto mused silently to himself as he watched Sasuke and Sakura sit in a comfortable silence, a smile ghosting over his lips. The two years the three of them had spent together had undoubtedly changed the relationships between them.
Sasuke was not as hard or as distant, in fact, Naruto sort of enjoyed the barbs and rivalry that had passed between them these last two years. While it seemed as if both could find no good words to say to each other, there was no one Naruto would rather have at his back when they fought in battle. There was still a sort of darkness and anger within him though, the same burning he saw in the dark boy's eyes that first day they had met. Naruto knew it was this burning that often had Sasuke training, pushing himself.
Sakura still lectured both boys when they got into scrapes with each other, often voicing her displeasure at having to patch both of them up so frequently. The two years had not dimmed his thoughts about her. She was still beautiful to him and Naruto really liked being around her even if she did not see him in any romantic sense. The two years however, had blunted her obvious infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke, leaving a sort of, in Naruto's eyes anyway, quiet affection that she expressed with looks and private musings as she patched Sasuke up from the injuries he received when training.
Their changes were probably most reflected with Kakashi-sensei. Naruto watched in the corner of his eye as the jounin continued to flip through his perverted book. Kakashi had sort of become the parent in their group, offering guidance in not just military skills, but other daily mundane details as well. It felt a bit strange to think that their time together was coming to a close.
Then there was himself. Naruto scratched his cheek in amusement. He was usually asleep at this time of night, but tonight, he was wide awake. Many things had changed since he had been a child in the orphanage. After being adopted by Umino Iruka, his other half had slowly gone silent. He had then begun to laugh more, play pranks, make friends. These two years had changed him once again. His other half now whispered to him again, offering suggestions and at times, dark malicious thoughts he never imagined would have existed in his mind.
'Kyuubi...'
Main Gate,
Konoha
430620
They had finally returned to Konoha. Pale eyes watched as the teams led by the jounins, Hatake Kakashi and Sarutobi Asuma strolled through the bio-sphere's gate. Both adults were chatting amicably while their six students were either talking quietly or arguing, in the case of Sakura, Ino, Naruto and Sasuke.
Hyuuga Hinata watched the group bicker, her eyes drawn towards the blonde boy of Kakashi's Team Seven. Hinata loved watching Naruto, his confidence and unwavering will a beacon shining like the sun to her eyes. His personality so different from her own, she was often comforted by the kindness and optimism he showed others.
She was after all, just the shy soft-spoken heiress of the Hyuuga clan who had required constant training and effort to maintain a standard that was satisfactory to her father.
So, she hid behind a large tree, drinking in the sight of Uzumaki Naruto whom she probably had not seen in half a year. Though her own team had returned to Konoha for almost two months, Naruto's own team had been away for more than three.
"Why don't you just go and greet them?" asked a matter-of-fact voice behind her.
Hinata jumped as she turned to find her team mate, Aburame Shino standing beside her, hands in his windcheater pockets.
A blush started up Hinata's face at the idea of even going up towards Naruto and greeting the blonde. Her fingers pushing together in a nervous gesture, a habit she had picked up over the course of her two years with her team mates and instructor, Yuuhi Kurenai.
"We don't know th-them very we-well, Shino-kun." murmured Hinata, her head hanging low.
"Every relationship needs to begin somewhere." stated Shino.
A full blown blush turned Hinata's face red that Shino was sure her ears would start steaming any moment.
"R-R-Re-Relationship?" squeaked Hinata.
The dark haired girl then proceeded to faint.
Academy,
Assembly Hall
Konoha
430627
Yamanaka Ino stood in the Assembly Hall of Konoha's Academy of Military Arts, rubbing her head as the buzzing in her mind seemed to grow louder. What had started out as an occasional peep of sound as a child was now often a constant irritating buzz. The two years she had spent training under her instructor, Sarutobi Asuma had not helped either. If she had to compare, she would have said the buzzing had grown worse.
But there were times when she could almost make out voices in the incomprehensible buzzing that plagued her mind. She was not sick, tests from years ago had determined nothing wrong with her health.
"Are you alright?" came a lazy voice.
Concentrating on the voice of her childhood friend, the buzzing in her head subsided and disappeared. Giving a sigh, Ino turned and waved her team mate off. As long as she concentrated on one voice, the buzzing would not return.
"I'm fine, Shikamaru. Don't worry."
The boy rolled his eyes. "I don't need you fainting or anything. I'm always the one who has to carry you to the infirmary when that happens. So troublesome." muttered Nara Shikamaru.
Ino frown and swatted him in the head before returning her attention to the front.
Watching the activity of the instructors in the front, she became curious as to what was to happen, now that they had survived and completed their two year stint under their personal instructors. The hall was packed with students standing at attention, their faces turned to the front, intent on listening to the speech given out by the Academy Instructors. Looking around, Ino noted there were many more students than the original teams of her year that had left on their training two years prior. In fact, some of the teams in her year were missing.
Her thoughts came to a halt however when her eyes landed on the members of Team Seven.
Uchiha Sasuke had grown taller from the last time she had seen him. As she admired his profile, she quickly realized who the dark eyed boy was talking to. No one could mistake that long pink hair on the girl by his side.
Ino wanted to stamp her foot in irritation.
Haruno Sakura or Forehead as Ino liked to call her, was happily conversing with Sasuke as if they were close friends.
Which they probably were.
Both were on the same team and had spent two years in each other's company after all.
Some girls really had all the luck.
Hyuuga Neji was restless. He disliked this large congregation of students. In fact, he disliked how he knew a portion of the students in the crowd had only to complete the required two years before their personal instructors had cleared them for graduation. He himself had wanted to finish the course in the relegated two years. But his instructor, Maito Gai had thought it best for them to continue on with him another year.
His only female team mate peeked at him, her face worried.
"Neji, are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Look at it this way, Neji. The two-year graduates aren't spectacularly capable. Their instructors are just lazy." grinned Tenten.
Neji almost smiled. Almost.
"It's a comforting thought, but I doubt that. One of the graduating teams are the students of Gai's 'arch-rival', whom he's never been able to defeat."
"That's-"
"Welcome back to the Academy and many felicitations on making it this far past your intense training." came the voice of an instructor.
Neji and Tenten fell silent as they turned to view the instructor who had spoken. The man looked slightly pale with dark circles beneath his drooping eyes.
Coughing once, the instructor continued his speech.
"You are here today to be briefed on your final exam."
Tenten turned to look at Neji as she mouthed in confusion. Final exam?
Neji shook his head in a shrug as murmurs and whispers broke out among the many students as they realized they were perhaps only potential graduates and not actually graduating.
"The exam will encompass many other military students from ally or peaceful bio-spheres, lasting a total of one week. This year, Konoha will be hosting the exam and as such, will open its gates to outsiders. The actual exam however will be held outside the bio-sphere..."
The instructor had another coughing fit as many students were now worried and agitated.
"Excuse me... as I was saying. The exam is to take place outside the bio-sphere in the Forest of Death."
Loud exclamations were heard all around as many students turned to face team mates and their neighbours.
Neji however was silent even as his other team mate, Rock Lee was cheered in excitement much to the disbelief of other students standing about them. As Tenten looked on, scrutinizing his face, a slow smirk made its way across his lips.
"Well this just turned interesting." smiled Neji, his white eyes meeting Tenten's brown in anticipation.
"Settle down, kiddies. You all heard right." came another instructor's voice. This time, the man who spoke was a healthy looking man with chin length hair in a bandana and what looked like a senbon in his mouth.
"The Forest of Death. Welcome to the Graduation exam." grinned the man.
To be continued...
This is a really long chapter. I never expected the scene with Team Seven and Kakashi to take up practically the whole thing... my mind just spits out the words that follows the scene playing out in my brain. It's so tough trying to coordinate a scene when a character jumps in my head and proceeds to do whatever the hell they want.
Next Chapter: The Forest of Death
09/0710
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