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Asura patted his full stomach in contentment. He had eaten himself bloated at Yakiniku Q while his students were careful not to overfill themselves in anticipation of their test to proceed as Genin. Asura had been keeping a steady eye on each of them as he plowed his way through dinner.
Shikara for the most part stayed quiet,her only contribution to any conversation was to be the majority vote or to mimic one of the others' opinion. Bee had taken it upon himself to be the center of attention, and hadn't been able to control himself when it came to asking Asura anything and everything. When he wasn't pestering Asura he was giving his other Genin the same treatment, getting only the coldest of shoulders from Geki, and just a polite nod from Shikara.
"Surely they should know each other by now, or has the academy changed since I went there?" thought Asura.
"Hey, for all of you being the same age, you were surely in the same class? You talk like you hardly know one another," asked Asura.
The trio looked at their teacher in disbelief, not knowing if he was acting like a dumb glutton on purpose, or if he was really thick headed.
"Well..." spoke up Shikara before being interrupted.
"We have only just properly met today. Sure we recognise each other from our time at the academy ,but other from that today is a fresh start," answered Bee.
"You weren't in the same class?" said Asura with a puzzled tone.
"No. When we first entered the academy we were split into classes of corresponding villages and taught by a teacher from the same village. At break times we were allowed to intermingle with other children, but it was a rarity. The first time the different village's Genin work together is on their Genin test," said Geki cooly.
"Seems a bit unfair to me, having to go through a pass or fail test with people you don't know at all. But on the flip side, it's highlighting the students who can adapt quickly with very little forehand preparation," said Asura, idly picking pork out of his teeth.
"Now it seems like the race wasn't such a bad idea after all," thought Shikara.
Sensing Shikara's unease, Asura turned to his student. She hadn't been able to stop fidgeting the entire time they ate and she looked petrified, her eyes were as big as saucers and her porcelain skin had turned a ghostly shade of white. Asura could almost hear her heart pounding inside her head, like a thousand jackhammers, the noise was almost deafening. Touching her hand Asura could feel how clammy it was.
"Are you okay, Shikara? You look like you're ready to faint; would you like to see a medic?" asked Asura worriedly.
"No, thanks, teacher. I'm sure I'll be fine," smiled Shikara.
Even though she was smiling Asura could see straight through her, how her heart almost escaped from her chest when he addressed her directly, how her lips quivered and trembled even as they formed into a false smile. "I always thought any child of Shikamaru would be just like him, lazy and relaxed. But this child, she's been on edge since this morning, and right now she almost died of fright from being talked to. What happened, Shikamaru?
"Alright then, if there isn't an issue I will pay up here and I will meet you at training field four in twenty minutes. That should be enough time to grab any equipment you might have," said Asura as he walked to the counter.
"And just enough time for you to get a plan together."
The wind from earlier in the day had picked up. Instead of gently breezing through the grass, it flattened it to the earth in submission. Wafts of dirt and dust were blowing across the wide open plains of training field four. In the time they had been given, Geki and Bee had both rushed home to grab every piece of weaponry they could get their hands on, the holsters strapped to their thighs and waists were filled to bursting with kunai and shuriken. Geki had done one better than Bee and had a tanto strapped across his back. In the distance, Asura could see him testing its edge on one of the numerous trees outlining the field.
"You know, if you keep doing that you'll end up blunting the blade," said Asura, appearing before his Genins in a cloud of smoke.
"You're three minutes late," said Geki, placing his tanto back in its holster.
Geki's chest was quickly rising and descending as a prominent bead of sweat made its way down the bridge of his nose.
"And you're impatient," replied Asura sternly.
Looking past his student, Asura could see the marks in the bark where the blade had dug into the flesh of the tree and ripped at its skin. "The cuts are so shallow and yet he seems tired by just that little exertion, so this kid talks a big game but how's his delivery."
Forming the ram seal Asura, summoned two Kage Bunshin to flank either side of him. "A fair one on one for each."
"Begin!" shouted Asura, as himself and his clones took flight.
Kakashi had been hunched over his mountain of paperwork while Shikamaru scanned through the list of Genin teams for the third time. Kakashi noted that the worried look on his face seemed to multiply the more he looked over the list, the red throb of Shikamaru's temple threatening to overcome his face.
Looking down at his own copy, Kakashi couldn't quite understand his worry.
Team Asura: Shikara Nara, Bee, Geki Ryu
Team Uzamaki: Shikaku Nara, Chori Akimichi, Inoi Yamanaka
Konahamaru corps: Minato Uzamaki, Eien Terumi, Shirato
"Konohamaru and Naruto have both produced fine teams of Genin who have gone on to be some of the finest shinobi of this generation. As for Asura..." said Kakashi before being cut short by his subordinate.
"He is an untested instructor who, until forty-eight hours ago, was one of the ANBU's deadliest. You cannot deny the truth in some of these rumours, lord Hokage. I fear his training and time with the ANBU has tainted him," sighed Shikamaru.
"After all this time you still cannot trust Sasuke. I can't blame you for your mistrust. He has however been a great asset as the ANBU's commander. You cannot argue with results, Shikamaru," replied Kakashi with authority.
"Results I can't argue with, the ways and means that they were achieved... That's something I can argue against. Since the near extermination in the last war, the ANBU have become aware of their redundancy and their increasing signs of brutality are becoming ever present."
Kakashi stopped his idle stroking of ink onto paper and cast his eye over his advisor. Shikamaru was not lazily hunched as he normally was. Instead he was sitting upright, his spine rigid as his hands clasped onto his knees as he returned his superior's gaze.
"You're not one to mince words, Shikamaru. You suspect something don't you?" questioned Kakashi, looking for a chink in Shikamaru's mental armour.
"All I have at the moment are rumours and slithers of information, no concrete evidence at all, but my gut is crying out to me that something has been feeling wrong lately in Konoha," sighed Shikamaru, as he allowed himself to slump into his regular posture.
Kakashi's visible eyebrow raised itself a few centimetres at Shikamaru's words, but knowing that this particular shinobi liked to have all the data in front of him before compiling anything, Kakashi decided not to pry any further into the subject.
"What is the other matter bothering you?" questioned Kakashi, noticing that the frown on Shikamaru's forehead hadn't subsided.
"Asura… someone should be watching how he tests his Genin. You know what he can get like," trailed off Shikamaru.
"You must be going deaf in your old age then, or did you just choose to ignore the footsteps of a dozen Kage Bunshin making their way away from here?" asked Kakashi.
The slight jab at Shikamaru's pride seemed to lessen the strain of the frown on his forehead as he let out a slight sigh. "Send for Hinata Hyuga as quickly as possible then. Her Byakugan can keep an eye on all of them, and if need be she can shut down Asura's tenketsu points if it rears its ugly head."
"Agreed," said Kakashi.
With a quick flash of his ink scribe, Kakashi had the order written out. Slapping his palm on the floor a familiar seal appeared before Kakashi as his loyal Ninken dogs appeared out of the smoke.
"Find Hinata Hyuga as quickly as possible," said Kakashi, as he passed the orders over to the greying pug perched on top of a bulldog's head.
"Hyuga. Always so tricky to track all that soap and silk. Regardless I have her scent," said Pakkun, as he and the other Ninken dispersed in a flash.
Geki had dangerously underestimated what his teacher meant when he'd said he was going to go all out; it hadn't been an idle bluff. As soon as the trio of Asuras had taken flight, Geki performed the seals for the Hiding in the Mist technique, to shroud him and his comrades in a dense fog.
His effort had been to no avail, however. Instead of being attacked from above like he expected to be, he instead felt an odd tingling sensation and the hair on his arms prick up as spikes of electricity crackled and arced their way through the fog. "He's using the water from the condensation as a conductor. Either I hide or get electrocuted or dispel it and get pummelled."
Not knowing if his comrades were being set upon, Geki dispelled the Jutsu, to then see the crater form in front of his feet as Asura-or an Asura clone-plummeted back down to earth feet first. The shockwave sent Geki hurtling back into the tree that he had been testing his tanto on. Geki's back bore most of the brunt of the impact, yet the searing pain blurred his vision as he fought his stomach's urge to expel most of its contents. Finding his feet again, Geki gripped at the handle of his tanto as an Asura slowly made his way towards him.
"Surrender or die," said Asura, as he took up a ready stance.
"Never," said Geki rather weakly, before his world turned black.
Shikara couldn't see anything in the thick fog. Before she had time to prepare a Jutsu of her own, Geki had summoned this fog. Ambling around in it, the young kunoichi pointed a sharpened kunai out in front of her, hoping-no pleading-that she didn't have to use it.
Using the weapon's point like a blind man would his stick, the kunoichi groped out blindly in the fog. That was until she met with a pair of ringed red eyes. As soon as she locked eyes with them Shikara realised she was under the influence of a Genjutsu. Remembering her academy tutelage, she began to lower her chakra, scrunching her eyes to concentrate and hopefully break the Genjutsu if it was ocular. The rhetoric chant replayed in her mind.Count to three… one… two… three… breathe. One… two… three… breathe.
Opening her eyes with the last expulsion of breath, Shikara was shocked by the sight in front of her. Geki's mangled corpse had been beaten to a pulp, the pale skin around his eyes deep violent shades of maroon. The Genin's body was riddled with deep slashes and burns, but the most revolting thing about it was the way the boy's spine had been crumpled up like an old accordion.
Bee-or whatever the pile of entrails was-had been mercilessly blasted to pieces, the only thing to recognise him by was the charred metal of a Suna forehead protector. Looking at the sight, Shikara's eyes began to flow before she felt her body falling forward into nothingness.
"That dumbass. We agreed on using my Sand Release: Earth shell, before he cast his Hidden Mist Jutsu. Now if I try it we'll be buried in quicksand, and with this fog I can't make out anyone." Keeping on his guard, Bee's ears pricked to the sound of hurried footsteps, just before his teacher leapt out from the mist and struck him with a glancing blow that instead of hitting his temple nailed his forehead protector.
It didn't make the dull ache emanating from the front of his skull feel any better, the strike making Bee's vision flicker for a second, but that was all Asura needed. The assault on the Genin had worked to inch-perfect precision. Once he had Bee stunned, he swept his legs out from underneath him, and planting his feet firmly in the Genin's stomach, launched him high above the shroud of fog cast by his teammate.
Bee's senses had only just came back to him as he heard the whistle of the wind whipping through his ear drum, as he suddenly realised the imposing trio of Asuras flying to meet him mid-air.
"Geki! Grab Shikara and run, I'll hold him!" bellowed Bee as he clenched his fists.
Kicking against an air current, Bee dove back down to the earth to try and meet the team of Asuras head on. But as the ground came closer into view, so did an open-toed sandle.
Placing Geki's unconscious body against a tree stump, Asura became all too aware of the eyes that were watching his every move. Raising his arms in a surrender motion he turned to meet a squad of Narutos, a Byakugan-activated Hyuga, and a pack of the Hokage's veteran Ninken. Lowering his arms, Asura let out a sigh as he released the thread tied around his middle finger that was attached to the kunai down his sleeve.
Looking back over at his students, Asura realised why the veteran Jonins were present.
"They aren't badly injured, and I saw to any injuries they may have. They're simply unconscious," said Asura, lowering his arms to his sides.
The Naruto clones dispersed as the original took the place of one of their number. Looking at the Genins Naruto couldn't quite tell if the Jonin-sensei was telling the whole truth.
"He isn't lying, Naruto, I watched the whole thing with my Byakugan active. He pulled all of his Taijutsu strikes, he only hit the boys with a fraction of his strength. However, that Genjutsu you cast was worrying. Tell me why did you use a Genjutsu that makes fears reality?" questioned the Hyuga head.
"Because I have no time for a Kunoichi whose main fear is if her hair doesn't look quite right, or that she lost in romance. For her to fear for her teammates' well being to such an extent to be able to visualise something like that is a credit to her. She genuinely cares for her teammates," said Asura with a steel in his voice that he had long forgotten.
"Okay, next question, smart ass," spat Naruto.
It had been sometime since Naruto had last seen the son of Asuna and Kurenai. When they'd last met, Asura was only a bright-eyed Genin waiting for his Jonin teacher to walk through the door. To see the now grown Jonin acting in such a way, unnerved Naruto to say the least.
"Why try and electrocute your students? What does frying them teach them?" said Naruto, prodding a questioning finger into Asura's chest.
"Geki has been said to be a prodigy among the Hidden Mist. He has a natural talent for tactical awareness. I only cast a simple discharge Jutsu, but Geki saw the risks of my lightning mingling with his water-based Jutsu and dispelled it immediately to avoid harm to his peers," answered Asura matter-of-factly.
"Feh," uttered Naruto, not convinced with his explanation.
"And I suppose kicking one of your own pack skyward has some deep wisdom to it as well?" spoke up the elderly Pakkun.
"Bee has a determination and energy I haven't seen or heard of since the days of your generation. When he knew he was about to face defeat, he warned his comrades to scatter and faced me head on, knowing that he never had a chance against me," finished Asura, growing tired of explaining himself.
"Now that I have concluded my test I wouldn't mind some peace before my Genin awake," said Asura coldly, staring down the much older Jonin with his red eyes.
Hinata walked in pace with Naruto as they made their way through the halls of the Hokage's mansion. Naruto could still feel the palpable itch in his temple from the anger he'd felt earlier. Hinata had tried her best to calm him, but even his wife's words couldn't reach him. Hinata knew he was seeking council from elsewhere.
"He's a rather odd one isn't he?" boomed the voice of Kurama.
The giant fox sat upright with its hands gripping onto the haunches of its rear legs, its many tails idly swaying behind it.
"Odd isn't the word. When I talked with him briefly outside the Hokage's door, he came across as a pleasant, eloquent shinobi. But then on the training field… there was no feeling of killing intent or malice, just..." meandered Naruto, struggling to find the right words.
"Like his personality became ice," finished Kurama.
Kurama had lived for many years, over forty of them spent with Naruto, and in that time, the giant fox had came to have a pleasant relationship with his Jinchuuriki. Even though Naruto had sought the fox's council less and less as the years went on, Kurama was still thankful that Naruto would seek it.
"I suggest keeping an eye on him. Your Hokage will most likely be advised to do the same. His attitude is strange for a Konoha shinobi," said Kurama, stroking at his chin.
"Thanks for the advice, geezer. Looks like I'm needed back in the real world," smiled Naruto before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"Little punk."
Shikara was the first of the Genin team to awaken after being knocked unconscious. It took her a couple of seconds to realise she wasn't spread-eagled on the floor but sat up against a fallen tree stump. The back of her neck ached slightly from where she suspected the blow that knocked her out had struck. Looking to either side of her, she could see her teammates coming back to consciousness.
Looking in front of her, she saw her teacher sat on another tree stump, gently gnawing on the toothpick perched on his front teeth. From the groans Shikara heard from either side of her, she knew her comrades were fully awake.
"Wha… what happened? Why does my face ache, and why is bastard-sensei smiling? Being kicked in the face hurts you know!" roared Bee, forgetting himself.
Shikara's hands leapt to her face in shock at Bee's outburst, yet all Asura did was start laughing.
"Give me another chance, I'll plant this asshole head first!" shouted Bee, incensed at his teacher's laughter.
"Yes, that's the kind of grit and determination I need on my team. Congratulations you all pass!" exclaimed Asura.
Kakashi's ear pricked up as a gust of the late afternoon's wind,made the bells hanging on his nightstand chime happily to themselves.
Like to thank Joana boboletta for beta reading again