Chapter 3: The Infamous Bell Test
The Vegetable Gang graduated from the Academy on their first try with flying colours, and were officially made genin. For their three-man squad, Nagato and Konan were teamed with Minato, and placed under the dubious tutelage of the head-in-the-clouds Jiraiya, whereas Yahiko was paired with Kushina and another Academy graduate named Pinako, a blonde haired girl who seemed like a girly-girl but had a lot of hidden potential, being a natural genjutsu type. Kushina and Yahiko being as headstrong as they were got along fine but often fought and argued, however both got along with the mild-mannered Pinako. The gang recruited Pinako and another young graduate, the quick-footed Kosuke, and established their headquarters in an old building near the edge of town. Team 5, Yahiko's team, had not been appointed a Sensei as of yet.
"First mission tomorrow, huh?" Yahiko asked Nagato. They were sitting on a fence on a hill, overlooking the glorious sunset reflected in the river, their legs dangling down. Nagato seemed withdrawn, and Yahiko knew he was nervous.
"Not quite. Sensei said that before we accepted missions he wanted to test us. I wonder why, he's already taught me and Konan before, he's seen what we can do."
"Maybe he thinks Minato's the weak link" Yahiko expressed thoughtfully. Nagato gave him a baleful smile. Both of them knew that while Minato lacked the experience in training they possessed, he was a quick thinker and could definitely hold his own against either of them.
"Well, whatever it is, be sure to impress him! Me and Kushina'll be watching, and I might bring Pinako along too."
"What? Pinako? You're bringing her? I mean… She's coming? She'll be there? Umm… yeah, okay… do what you want I guess… try to bring her though."
Yahiko stared, before bursting into laughter. So Nagato had a little crush, huh? No wonder he blushed furiously whenever Pinako was around. He just figured Uzumakis were naturally very red people. Huh.
"Better prepare well. Don't want to mess up in front of a special somebody, now, do we?" Yahiko swung himself down and smiled sweetly.
"I don't have… she's not a special… huff." Nagato sighed. "Alright. Well, if you're coming to watch our training starts at 10."
"I'll be there," Yahiko promised.
The next morning Team 3 (Nagato's team) stood patiently in the sun, waiting for their Sensei to arrived. Uncharacteristically there wasn't much chatter, as all were nervous. The silence was broken by Minato's stomach grumbling; their Sensei had instructed them not to eat breakfast. He smiled sheepishly as Konan looked up at him.
"Yo!" came a jovial voice, and Jiraiya appeared in front of them as if by magic. "Glad to see you're all on time! Let's get started right away, shall we?"
"Hey, Jiraiya-Sensei!' Jiraiya was interrupted by a boisterous voice, he looked around to see Yahiko and Kushina making their way over to him, along with a shy, pretty young girl he didn't know. "Well, what's your name miss?"
"She's Pinako, and Sensei.." Yahiko glared "She's a little young for you."
"What? How dare you? I would never…" Huffing and puffing, Jiraiya looked away. "If you three would just shut up and go sit over there by those posts, that would be great."
"Now then," he announced, rounding onto Team 3. "The training. I have here with me.." he reached into his pocket and pulled out two jingling bells tied to ropes, 'two bells. I'm going to tie them to my belt, like so. Your mission is to get these two bells from me, one per person. You have until lunchtime to do so, and…"
"Hey Sensei! I think you left one at home" called out Yahiko obnoxiously.
A vein popped. "Shut up, you little squirt! My own sensei taught me this way and I turned out just fine."
Yahiko rolled his eyes. "That's debateable…"
"What's that?"
Yahiko opened his mouth to retort but was promptly clocked by Kushina round the head. "I'm sorry Jiraiya sensei, Yahiko just doesn't know when to keep his big yap shut. Please, don't mind us, continue." She flashed Yahiko a dirty look.
"Ahem, as I was saying… Those TWO of you that can get a bell, will be allowed to eat lunch. The one who fails, will go without as punished. Oh, and he or she will be tied to that post behind you."
"Keep in mind though, there's a way for two, one or even none of you to get the bells but for all to pass. Your goal is to impress me. And there is something very particular I'm looking for."
"Your time begins… now"
Within seconds, the three had armed themselves with kunai and shuriken. However, they avoided charging at their Sensei. They knew a high-level shinobi could demolish three genin like them without breaking a sweat. They slowly inched around, forming a circle around Jiraiya.
"Ganging up on me, hmm? Well, let's bring those numbers down a bit."
He shot forward, slamming his knee into Minato's stomach. "Minato!" cried Konan, as Minato doubled over, gasping. She began to run to his aid. Jiraiya took advantage of Nagato's momentary hesitation and chopped him in the chest, sending him flying back. He turned to Konan, who realised she was alone.
The bluehead snapped into action. She flung shuriken at him, which he easily deflected, and accelerated forward. Konan, having trained with him before, was ready for him, and she planted a chop right where her Sensei would appear…
Jiraiya saw it coming and managed to twist out of the way, grabbing her arm and judo-tossing her over his shoulder. Upside down in the air, Konan brought her legs up and rolled over his back, landing back to back with him, stabbing backward with the kunai in her hand. Jiraiya smiled and disappeared, leaving a surprised Konan staring straight in the eyes of a dumbfounded Yahiko. She turned and momentarily saw the red coat of her sensei before a hard knock to her temple sent her sprawling out on the grass.
Minato, managing to catch his breath, began to charge toward Jiraiya.
"Wait, Minato!" Nagato called out. He ran forward, grabbed Minato and pulled him somewhere into the forest, out of sight. Jiraiya smiled and looked at the dazed Konan, who was sitting up. He squatted down.
"Looks like they left you all alone."
He heard the rush of shuriken behind him and whipped around to deflect them, but when he turned back around, Konan had disappeared. He chuckled, and sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.
"Hey, what're you doing! Don't sleep in the middle of the ground, you're making it too easy!' yelled out Yahiko.
"Relax, kid." Jiraiya replied lazily. "They've figured out what they have to do, but it'll be a while before they hatch some sort of plan. Why waste the energy trying to find them when they're the ones that need to find me? Besides, brute strength or stealth is not what this mission is about."
Kushina looked at him wide-eyed. "What is it about?"
Jiraiya opened his eyes and looked at Pinako. A grin unfurled on his face. "Why don't you ask your friend there. She's got it figured out."
"It's about tea.." she began to say.
"Shhh, not so loud! The trees have ears you know.. or at least, the scamps hidden in the trees."
Behind the cover of foliage, team 3 plotted. For an hour, they planned, and perfected their gameplan before they stepped out of hiding to face their teacher.
Jiraiya got to his feet. He smiled, and took a defensive, martial-artist stance. "Let's begin, shall we?"
Minato charged forward. Jiraiya whirled around to meet him, grabbing his arm and tossing him up into the air, preparing a volley kick, but he was snatched out of the air by Nagato. Jiraiya's momentum carried him through the kick, he sailed through the air and landed on his feet gracefully, before looking up to see Konan rushing him. He shoved a mighty punch into her stomach… and watched in disbelief as she separated into piles of paper. She really is something else in origami.
His next challenge came in the form of multiple Minatos, ducking and weaving each other, trying to throw him off balance. Jiraiya's keen eyes quickly sought out the real Minato and attacked… but flew right through him. Another clone. He looked around now. He was surrounded by Nagatos. More simple cloning jutsu. Jiraiya smiled as the Nagatos ran through a series of handsigns, before realising in a panic, Nagato can use Shadow clones!
"Wind Style: Gale Wind!" cried the redheads, blowing a torrent of air from all directions. With nowhere to go, Jiraiya wrapped his mane of hair around him protectively, surviving the buffet of wind unharmed. He faintly heard the rustling of paper and was shocked to see: Konan's discarded paper! The wind had whipped it into a tornado and it was kept buoyed by the relentless wind, before a single Nagato stepped up from behind and blew it towards Jiraiya. He managed to jump out of the way, somersaulting in the air. Upside down, his eyes followed the tornado as he was surprised to see, it was rebounded by another Nagato, right back toward him! He swooped downward, but another Nagato had jumped up and blown it down toward Jiraiya. He was caught in a bizarre pinball game, surrounded by redheads with enormous chakra reserves, and he barely caught sight of a flash of blonde weaving throught the crowd right up to him…
*SLASH* Minato sliced the rope of one of the bells and managed to catch it, but as he continued to run Jiraiya caught his collar and hurled him into the tornado. Nagato was forced to let the tornado fall to avoid hurting his friend. Jiraiya was irate now, missing one bell. He rushed to the nearest Nagato, flinging him into another clone, before connecting his knee with a third. He grabbed a clone as three more charged him and deflected their attacks with his human shield before using one as a pole vault to kick the other two. He flipped the human polevault over his back and volley-kicked him. He stood facing the final clone, who was drawing in his breath for another wind jutsu.
"Wind Style: Gale.."
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Jiraiya weaved the handsigns and rocketed a fireball at Nagato, who was forced to abandon his jutsu and launch out of the way… right where Jiraiya stood waiting for him.
*CRASH* Jiraiya kneed him in the stomach and effortlessly tossed him onto Minato.
"Well now, that was quite a flurry! I'm impressed! You even managed to get a bell! Well, no matter, the great Jiraiya will not lose to a gang of squirts!" He struck a flamboyant pose. "I, the great Jiraiya, sage of the mountain toads and greatest ninja in the Hidden Leaf, will never be humbled by three little… three…" Wait a minute… there's a shade of blue missing in this primary colour palette of hair…
*snip* Jiraiya did not look down. He could not look down. That sounded too much like..
A bell jingled. He slowly turned to see a triumphant blue-haired, bright-eyed girl staring back at him. He had never been quite so shocked or annoyed at the sight of a woman before.
He looked back to the other two. Nagato was panting to catch his breath, but there was a rogueish smile on his face. Minato looked positively jubilant.
He turned back, slowly, and saw Konan smiling sweetly, her hand outstretched, proudly showing off the bell she had just won. Jiraiya sighed, and then he laughed. "Alright guys, you win."
He handed the three their lunches. Nagato looked at his in surprise. "But Sensei, I didn't get a bell."
Jiraiya smiled paternally down at him. "No, but thanks to you Konan and Minato got one. Without you, they might not have passed, and just the fact that you selflessly sacrificed your chance earns you a pass.
Looks like you three learned what I wanted to teach you. Teamwork is the most essential element in a ninja squad, more so than the actual mission itself. Jobe well done guys! Let's go home. We'll meet back here in a couple of days for our first real mission." He disappeared.
"WOO HOO!" Nagato turned and was instantly mobbed by his best friends. Yahiko and Kushina enveloped the battered and bruised team in a large group hug, while Pinako stood smilingly congratulating her friends. "Well done all of you..and especially you.. Nagato.." She said shyly. Nagato blushed. "Oh it was nothing.. I didn't get a bell after all.
"No but if it wasn't for you, your team might not have passed! So.. good job.." she shuffled her feet, looking down. Nagato smiled, and went to pat her shoulder. Pinako looked up. She quickly placed a kiss on his cheek, before turning on her heel and scurrying out of sight.
Nagato stood shocked, a hand on his cheek, watching her go. The first kiss he'd ever gotten… Pinako was so cute. Kushina, as warm and motherly as she was tomboyish and quick-tempered, had seen the whole exchange. She smiled and placed a hand on Nagato's shoulder. "She's definitely into you." Nagato simply kept smiling.
*THUD* The party was broken up by the arrival of another. A feminine but strong voice called out, "Alright, you little runts, break it up! Jiraiya's good but he's too soft, let me see m team! I'll really toughen you guys up!"
A blonde-haired, voluptuous (to say the least. Wow, thought Yahiko) woman walked over to them.
"Alright, who among you is team 5?"
"That's me!" Yahiko pointed a thumb at himself and gave a wink and a winning smile.
"And me!" not to be outdone, Kushina replied with equal enthusiasm.
"Well hello there. My name is Tsunade. Our training begins tomorrow. Good luck"