Chapter 23 - The Birth of Team 49
"Okay, now. Are you finally ready?" the photographer asked.
Sarada tried to fix her hair to stop it from flapping down over her headband, but it proved fruitless. She sighed, remembering a quote from her mother about how Uchiha hair was 'relentless' and 'refused to be tamed.' Hana's hair was already more manageable than hers.
She gave up, and looked dead at the camera aiming at her. The photographer took that as a cue to take the picture.
"Alright then. On three... two... one..."
It was at the final second; no, the final millisecond that Sarada was blindsided by something in her view. It made her eyes squint and her mouth part, the worst graduation photo the camera could have captured.
The photographer groaned. "Come on, young lady. Why would you bomb your own picture?"
He noticed Sarada was staring at something, and peered back at it himself. When he saw what had happened to the Hokage Monument, he forgave Sarada completely.
He wondered, since when did Bolt Uzumaki become the Eight Hokage?
"Bolt, you little brat. Get down here already!" Konohamaru shouted from atop the Hokage Office building.
He and small party of chunin were barking at the recently graduated student. He stood at the top of the Hokage Monument, his arms crossed with a wet paintbrush in one hand, the bolt around his neck dangling, a smirk on his face and the sun's shine reflecting off the Leaf headband on his forehead. Directly underneath him, a large self-portrait of himself with the same expression – headband, smirk and all – was painted on the mountainside.
"What's the big deal, Bolt; defacing the Hokage Monument again!" one ninja yelled up to him.
"Defacing...? I'm just showing the sculptor what the next face should look like!" Bolt boasted. He pushed his headband up with his thumb. "Now that I'm a real ninja, it's only a matter of time before I kick that Dumbkage out of his seat and take his place! Believe that!"
Konohamaru put one foot on the roof's railing while grinding his teeth. Then he heard somebody "Awe.." behind him.
"Bolt's painting has gotten better over the years," Iruka said while walking onto the roof with the others.
"Iruka sensei? How can you say that?!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "He's vandalizing the monument again!"
Iruka chuckled. "From what I remember, the current Hokage vandalized this monument quite a few times himself."
"But he's threatening the Hokage, Iruka sensei!"
"Hmm... Funny. I recall the Third Hokage having a grandson who was just as eager to grab his position as Bolt is now. What was his name again...?"
Konohamaru made a dopey, flustered face. He faced Bolt again. Despite everything Iruka said, Bolt was still a menace that needed to be taken care of. Konohamaru was just about to jump up after him when he saw a dark-haired figure in a kimono flicker down right behind the blonde.
"Bolt... So, this is how you act right after becoming a ninja?" a scolding voice asked the academy graduate.
Bolt's body froze up reflexively when he recognized the voice. He slowly twisted his head back to see the white eyes of his volatile aunt glaring down at him.
Rivers of sweat ran down his face. "A-aunt Hanabi... Hey... did you know I graduated?"
"...really? I guess that means you're stronger now, huh?"
Bolt slowly nodded. "Uh... Uh-huh..."
"So..." Hanabi cracked her knuckles. "That means I don't have to hold back anymore, right?"
Bolt didn't answer. He was too busy bracing himself for the clobbering that was about to rain down on top of his messy, blonde head. It struck him faster than lightning.
Bolt was amazed to see that Hanabi wasn't joking. It was definitely the worst smack she had delivered to him, outside of sparring. It held so much impact, it send him spiraling off the monument. Seeing the genin rocketing through the sky, Konohamaru prepared to jump after him.
Once again, a dark-haired figure jumped in before he got the chance. This time, they were shorter, and they wore grey pants, and a purple short sleeve jacket with a long sleeve shirt underneath and a spinning windmill on the back. The figure landed a few feet away from Hanabi with Bolt in their arms.
Hanabi folded her arms. "So you graduated too then, Hana?"
Hana stood with his unconscious friend still in his arms. "Yes, I did. Thank you for asking, Miss Hanabi."
Hana had somehow gotten even more androgynous in appearance. He now wore his hair in a ponytail that reached the middle of his back, while locks of his hair came down over his ears and Leaf headband. Hanabi was almost intimidated femininely by how pretty he had gotten.
He put Bolt down then turned his back to him. "I was little worried about graduating, though... My grades were always a little lower than I wanted them to be."
"That's because you're always hanging out that idiot, and getting stuck in his messes," Hanabi said while pointing at the nephew she had just knocked out. "You should get better taste in friends, Hana."
He laughed nervously while hauling Bolt onto his back. "Um... Miss Hanabi, Bolt and I still haven't taken our ninja registration photos yet, so whatever you're planning to do to him... can it wait until this afternoon?"
Hanabi shrugged. "Sure. I'll make him do 100,000 palm thrusts before I let him go back home."
Doing 100,000 reps of anything would have been impossible in a single day. Bolt being subjected to such an exercise was basically torture. Despite knowing this, however, Hana just smiled and nodded.
"Thank you, Miss Hanabi. We'll be done soon," he said while he jumping off the monument with Bolt.
Over the years, Hana had developed a method for how he handled his blonde friend's shenanigans. Now, it was just second nature to him. He dropped down on the Hokage Office building, and nodded to his ninja seniors.
"Konohamaru sensei, Iruka sensei; good morning," he greeted before jumping away again.
Konohamaru scratched his cheek while Iruka chuckled. This generation's genin were going to be trouble.
The next day at the ninja academy, Bolt glowered at the ninja registration sheet that sat before him. He peeked over at Hana's registration form and noticed a huge difference: Hana was awake in his. Bolt, meanwhile, had his unconscious head was cocked to the side, and drool falling from his mouth.
"Why didn't they just wait until I woke up to the take the picture?!" Bolt barked.
"The photographer said he didn't have time. He had too many other pictures to take that day," Hana explained.
Bolt clenched his sheet until it crumpled at the sides. "What a load of bull!"
He heard a yawn below him. "Stop whining so much. It's too early in the morning for all that noise," Shikadai said. The headband on his shoulder reflected the sunlight that came in through the window.
"Yeah, Bolt," Inojin agreed, adjusting the headband on his head. "You can always just retake the picture."
"What? And be the only one?"
"I thought you liked sticking out," Chocho said while finishing off a stick of dango she came to the academy with. "Did those noodle arms of yours change your mind?"
Bolt made a face. His arms were still sore from the unreasonable amount of palm thrusts Hanabi made him do. He couldn't finish them, and fell out tired once he hit three thousand. When he got home, his arms were still so exhausted Himawari had to feed him with her chopsticks.
"You won't be the only one, Bolt." Bolt noticed Hana was pointing somewhere as he spoke, and looked in that direction. "Sis is retaking her photo too."
Sarada heard Hana's voice and glanced over at him. "Don't call me 'sis.'"
Bolt snickered. "You're retaking your photo too? What, did you notice some snot hanging out of your nose?"
"No, but I noticed how dopey you looked when you took your photo. Maybe you should have painted that on the Hokage Monument instead. Idiot."
The blonde snapped. "What'd you say?!"
Shino walked into the classroom. He sighed when he saw his most troublesome student making another scene.
"Bolt... it's your last day at the academy. Could you at least try to make a good last impression?" Shino asked.
Bolt glared at Sarada for a few more seconds before facing forward and crossing his aching arms. Sarada huffed. Hana laughed. Shino rubbed the bridge of his nose. Eventually, he began addressing his students for the final time.
"A few days ago, you all graduated. You're finally ninja, though none of you are still able to look after yourselves." Bolt scrunched his brow at this, but he kept silent. "So before you go, you'll be put in three-man squads. Also, after your teammates have been assigned to you, you'll all have to stay in the classroom until a jonin who will be overlooking your team comes for you. With that being said..."
Shino picked a clipboard and began reading names. While he did, various thoughts flew around the room.
'Three man teams... Mom's was with Dad and the Eight Hokage,' Sarada thought. 'Apparently, the Hokage assigns teams according to how each member balances each other out. The Eight was actually the worst student while Dad was the best, so they ended up in the same group.' She made a face and looked at Bolt. 'Don't tell me...'
'Hmm... A three man squad, huh?' Bolt thought. 'Not like I need a team. I can take anyone on by myself. ...but still, I wonder who I'm getting paired up with?'
'So we're being put into teams? If that's the case...,' Hana turned slightly red. 'I wish I would have been put in the same year as Himawari... Wait! Maybe it's not too late for me to fail! If I get held back a year then-' Hana thought for a moment before shaking his head. 'No. Never mind. If Miss Sakura found out I flunked out from being a genin on purpose...'
Hana shivered at the thought of an angry Sakura. Then he heard Shino mention his name.
"Next: Team 49 – Hana Fujikaze," he said.
Hana came at attention.
"Bolt Uzumaki."
He and Bolt looked at each other at the same time. The former smiled while the latter grinned.
"And Sarada Uchiha."
The grin disappeared from Bolt's face while he looked over at where Sarada was sitting. The former glared while the latter thought '...so I really did get paired with him. And what's worse...'
"Oh! Sis, is going to be on our team as well?" Hana asked excitedly.
Sarada's eye twitched. 'He's there too...'
"Next: Team 50 – Shikadai Nara, Chocho Akimichi and Ino-"
"Wait a minute, Shino sensei! Why am I paired with her?!" Bolt exclaimed while pointing at the 'her' in question.
Shino sighed again. "So close... The teams were assigned by the Hokage, Bolt."
"So it's the Dumbkage's fault..."
"If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourself. Or, more specifically, your grades. They were the absolute worst in class. Sarada's were the best. Naturally, you and she would get paired together to balance each other out."
Sarada raised her hand. "Sensei, can I ask question. Why is Hana in our squad too then? Aren't his grades pretty good?"
"Well, they would be, but the amount of absences Hana had brought his grades down to a mediocre level – almost completely average, really."
Hana gave a guilty smile 'Those must be from all the times Bolt tried to drag me along for one of his pranks...'
Shino went back to his clipboard once Sarada let down her hand and Bolt put down his finger. The pair sat and stewed. Team 49 was not off to an exuberant start.
Hana was happy, at least.
Later that afternoon, most of the assigned teams had their jonin come pick them up. The only teams left in the classroom were Team 49 and Team 50 – which happened to be the new Ino-Shika-Cho.
"So, we're together after all, huh?" Shikadai asked while he sat on Shino's desk with his legs crossed.
"You didn't want us to be on the same team?" Chocho asked from where she was sitting next to Inojin.
"Well, the look on our parents faces would have been fun, at least. Aw well, I guess it's just meant to-"
Shikadai stopped. Standing in the middle of the classroom were Hana and Bolt. They were shooting daggers into each other with their eyes, like the fallen statues of Hashirama and Madara. Their tension seemed to encapsulate the room.
"You ready, Hana?" Bolt asked.
Hana nodded. "Let's do this."
Everyone else in the classroom was on the edge of their seat when the boys cocked their fists back, then swung them forward.
"Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!" they both exclaimed.
Both hands came up with rock. They glared at each other again and went another round.
"Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!" Rock again. "Shoot!" This time paper. "Shoot!" Scissors. "Shoot!" And back to rock.
The word 'shoot' echoed through the almost empty classroom until Inojin asked "Hana, Bolt... what are guys doing?"
The both looked at him, but only Bolt answered.
"We're deciding who's gonna be the leader of Team 49."
"Isn't your sensei going to be the leader?"
"Yeah, but we mean who's going to be on top between just us three genin."
"Why not just have a real fight then?" Shikadai asked, genuinely weirded out for once.
"That would take too much time. Our sensei is going to be here soon, so we need to hurry," Hana answered.
With that, the two faced each other again. "Shoot!" Again with scissors.
Sarada felt her sanity slowly being chipped away. When she heard the door open, she prayed that it was Team 49's sensei, if only so that the idiotic duo before her would have a reason to stop.
The person who appeared in the door's frame was a woman. She didn't wear a Hidden Leaf vest, instead she wore vanilla-colored coat with a woolen turtle neck that went up to her mouth. She also wore shades, her Leaf headband shielded her forehead. The only parts of her person that were fully visible were her nose, ears and dark hair that parted in the middle.
She stared at the room long enough for the genin inside to get uncomfortable. "...Team 50?"
Slowly, Ino-Shika-Cho raised their hands.
"My name is Ninzo Aburame. I'll be your instructor from this point on." She turned around. "Come..."
Team 50 felt a strange vibe come from their new sensei, but they followed regardless.
"See ya, Sarada. Hopefully, Hana and Bolt will finish up before your sensei gets here," Chocho said on her way out.
Sarada cringed. She watched the two morons she was left with continue their endless duel. It was always rock vs rock, paper vs paper, scissors vs scissors. She couldn't believe that a winner still hadn't been decided yet. It should have been probabilistically impossible for a game of rock-paper-scissors to go on this long. When she heard 'shoot' for the fortieth time, she had had enough.
"Will you two, idiots..." She began while standing. "Just call it a day already?!"
Sarada slammed her fist down, and the resulting "Bang" made the boys freeze frame. They looked at her wrathful face, then they looked down at her hand. Their eyes widened. Sarada cocked a brow then looked down herself. Her hand was in the shape of a fist. She looked at Hana and Bolt's hands. They had both come up with scissors again.
Then she realized "Rock beats scissors..."
Bolt made a disparaged expression and dropped down on all fours. Hana just looked at his hand inquisitively.
"Wow... It seems as though you're the leader now, sis."
"I'm not playing your stupid game! ...and stop calling me 'sis.'"
While they were talking, they heard a tapping come from the window. They looked and saw a small snow monkey, curiously standing outside in the summer sun. It had a hidden leaf headband tied around its neck.
Bolt stood with a curious look on his face. "What's that monkey doing outside?"
He didn't get an answer, but the monkey did point up before scaling toward the roof itself.
"I think we're supposed to follow it," Hana said.
Sarada and Bolt looked at him. Then they looked at each other. Then they scowled.
"Fine..." Sarada said.
"Whatever..." Bolt muttered.
Hana lead the way to the roof, still being the only person happy about the situation.
On the roof, the genin found a familiar face waiting for them.
"Konohamaru sensei?!" Bolt blurted.
"Yo."
The monkey that told Team 49 to go the roof sat on Konohamaru's shoulders.
"Hey, boss, can I go now?" it asked with a young child's voice.
"Yeah, Jii. Thanks," Konohamaru said. "Tell the others I said hi."
The monkey nodded, made a hand sign, then poofed away. Konohamaru remained seated on the roof's railing while he gestured for his new students to come over and sit.
"I can't believe Konohamaru sensei is in charge of our team," Bolt whispered to Hana. "I can't tell if we're lucky or not."
"Bolt! Pipe down until we get introductions over with!" Konohamaru scolded. Once the blonde was quiet, he coughed into his fist and began. "I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi, and starting today I'm going to be your new sensei. I've never had students of my own, so let's just take things slow for now. How about you guys tell me a little about yourselves? Something to get the ball rolling. How about we start with you, Sarada?"
Sarada who was divided from Bolt via Hana nodded. "I'm Sarada Uchiha. Currently, I'm one of the only two surviving members of the Uchiha clan. When I get older I'm going to help rebuild my clan back to its former glory. That's all."
"Any hobbies to speak of?"
Sarada thought for a moment. "Reading."
Bolt snorted. "Boring."
Sarada shot him a look. Seeing some unwanted tension forming, Konohamaru quickly moved on.
"Bolt, since you're so sure you way more interesting than everyone else, you can go next," he said.
Bolt grinned. "Alright, then. I'm Bolt Uzumaki the greatest genin in the Hidden Leaf, and soon to be the greatest ninja ever! After I get strong enough, I'm gonna show up my old man, and become the next Hokage! Believe that!"
Sarada yawned. "And called me boring. All you did was spout off junk everyone's already heard."
The hostile atmosphere between the two returned. Konohamaru could already see issues popping up with this team.
He sighed. "Lastly, Hana."
Hana nodded. "Yes, sir. My name is Hana Fujikaze. I was found by my master, Sasuke Uchiha after my village was destroyed and he brought me to the Hidden Leaf Village, and adopted me into his family." He couldn't stop himself from smiling. "One day... I plan to pay him and his family back for everything. I'll protect them and my new village with everything I have!"
For once, there was no post-introduction clash between the Team 49's hot-headed blonde and cold brunette. Instead, both of them gave Hana tired looks.
Sarada sighed. "You're trying way too hard to look cool, Hana."
"Seriously. Delivering a mushy speech like that out of nowhere," Bolt agreed.
Hana looked back and forth between them, wondering what he had said wrong.
Konohamaru snickered to himself. 'Naruto was right... These three balance each other out, perfectly.'
"Hey, Hana. Anything else you want to add?" Konohamaru asked. "Preferably something less mushy. Like a long-term goal, perhaps?"
Hana looked down, and his black hair swept into his face a bit. "Long-term goal..." He recalled a pair of red suns, surrounded by flames and glaring down at him as though he was bug. He looked back up. "No."
"Hmm... Alright, then." Konohamaru got up at last. "Well, I guess we should call it a day."
Bolt made a face. "What?! All we did was talk for a few minutes!"
"That was just introductions. Your final exam starts tomorrow."
"Final exam?" Sarada repeated.
Konohamaru smiled devilishly. "Didn't you know, of the twenty-seven members of your graduating class, only nine go on to become fully-fledged genin. The rest get sent back A.S.A.P.."
A wave of shock jumped between the three genin before him.
"Are you serious?! Y-you're joking right...?" Bolt asked nervously.
Konohamaru started laughing. "Actually... yeah, I am." He saw the relived faces on his students. "You see, in Konoha City, two new ninja academies that are twice as large as this one opened up. That's five times as many students than the village used to have. So, to ensure that the village's graduating ninja are still the cream of the crop, the original nine genin per graduating class went down..." Konohamaru held up his fingers. "to six."
It was like time froze. Despite the disturbed expressions the three in front of him wore, Konohamaru strolled casually between them.
"You shouldn't worry, though. All you have to do is pass the test I give you at Training Ground 6 tomorrow morning. No sweat, right?"
Konohamaru made sure to the leave his students alone while they were at their most harried. It would make tomorrow all the more interesting.
The three kept sitting in silence until Hana said "...we should head home and prepare."
Silently, his new team members agreed.
Hana had gotten very accustomed with the training grounds over the past two years. Any of his time not spent reading or getting pulled into one of Bolt's hair brained pranks was spent training. He mostly trained alone, so he could only go by his own standards on how much progress he had made. He just hoped he was good enough to pass Konohamaru's exam.
When he and Sarada arrived at Training Ground 6, Bolt was already there stretching his arms next to his backpack.
"Took you guys long enough. I've been here for half an hour already," he said.
"Wow. That's way earlier than when you normally show up for class," Hana mentioned.
"This is bigger than one of two classes! If we pass this exam we'll be full-fledged ninja!"
"But if we fail, we'll be right back at the academy, and I doubt Shino sensei will give you a free pass twice," Sarada said while walking over to a shady spot under a tree.
Bolt made a face that Hana laughed at. While Sarada was putting down her things, Bolt focused in on something strapped to Hana's back. It was a short sword, more specifically a wakizashi, that hung diagonally at the back of Hana's waist. It also had a small key chain shaped like the Hidden Leaf's Will of Fire that Bolt found familiar.
"Hana, where did you get that sword?"
"Ah. You mean this?" Hana asked why touching the hilt. "Master sent it to me on my tenth birthday last year. He sent Sarada something to. ...something amazing!"
Bolt looked curiously at her. "Like what?"
Sarada blushed for a second before looking away. "D-don't worry about... It's nothing but a-" Sarada shook her reddening face. "here's Konohamaru sensei, already!"
"Over here." The genin looked and saw Konohamaru coming out of the woods a few feet away from them.
Hana suddenly heard something jingle. He looked down and saw a pair of bells hanging out of Konohamaru's right pocket.
"Sensei...why do you have bells?" he asked.
"These..." He flicked at the bells. "Are the test."
"Huh?"
Konohamaru walked over to a trio of wooden stakes. His team saw a clock was sitting atop the stake in the center. Konohamaru hit the top, and the clock began to tick.
He faced and students. "You have until the clock hits noon to steal these two bells from me. If you can, you pass the exam. But if you can't..."
Konohamaru walked within thirty feet of his students then pulled his thumb across his neck. He wasn't being literal, but they all understood. It was do or die time.
The three stood together and readied themselves.
Their sensei grinned. "Alright... Let the final exam for Team 49 begin!"