Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Team Seven Again
Chapter 2
"So, you ready to fail?"
"Do you really think we're going to fail Konohamaru-nii?" Shina shot back. The three genin had come early, and looked ready for bear. Shina and Satsuki's short pockets bulged with equipment, and from the look of things Shina's bag was carrying several scrolls. The boy had also donned an orange windbreaker, while black armguards were strapped over Satsuki's forearms. Even Ayako had come prepared, her belt sporting several bulging pouches strapped to it.
"Considering how Ayako and Satsuki were getting along yesterday…"
"Ayako-san and I have come to an arrangement." Satsuki interrupted. "We don't plan on going back to the academy any time soon, except to get missions from Hokage-sama."
Konohamaru chuckled and nodded. "So she says," he thought. "But let's see how it holds up in practice."
"Alright then," he said, his face turning serious. The three genin tensed, all three of them reaching into their pouches. It made him smile a bit. "Eager to get going, aren't we? The test is simple: over the next hour, you have to keep me from taking you out of the running. You're free to use whatever jutsu or tactic or strategy to achieve that, but try not to kill each other."
The genin narrowed their eyes at him. "So long as one of the team is still standing," Konohamaru added. "Then the test will continue all the way to the one-hour limit. On the other hand, if the entire team is eliminated before the time limit is reached, well you're all going back to the academy. Got it?"
The three genin nodded, and Konohamaru placed an alarm clock on a nearby rock. "Then," he said, theatrically pushing the alarm button. "Let's begin."
At once the three genin pulled out and three a series of flash and smoke bombs on the ground while simultaneously springing back. Konohamaru likewise jumped back, eyelids closed and arms raised crossed protectively in front of him to protect his eyesight. He jumped back once, twice, and then three times out of the smoke cloud, hands flashing through seals.
"Fuuton: Daitoppa…!" he said, sharply gesturing outward with both hands, and blowing the smoke away. The genin were nowhere to be found, clearly having gone to ground in the forest. Konohamaru smiled before shouting at them. "Not a bad start! Alright, I'll give you a freebie for it: you have ten minutes before I go in there and start kicking your asses back to school!"
There was no reply, and Konohamaru laughed.
They just might pass this test after all.
The free ten minutes passed quickly, and soon enough Konohamaru was jumping through the trees, leaping from branch to branch as he searched for his prospective students in the forest. So far he'd no such luck for the past five minutes, though they had to be in there somewhere.
If one of them had been a Nara, I'd consider that they might have left the training grounds for the next hour. After all, it would make it harder for them to be eliminated, and I did say they could use any means to do just that.
Though, I doubt any of them would come up with such an idea. And even if they did, Satsuki would never go along with it.
A flicker of movement through the trees caught Konohamaru's eye, and coming to a halt on a branch he threw several shuriken out. They cut through several leaves and branches before embedding themselves on a tree.
The jounin jumped closer, a kunai drawn just in case. Standing on a branch, he carefully surveyed his surroundings, channeling chakra to his senses. After a minute he stood down, and retrieved his shuriken before resuming his trek through the forest.
Where are they?
Did they actually leave?
Or are they waiting somewhere up ahead?
The last thought brought a smile to Konohamaru's lips. "You brats aren't the only ones who can think ahead." He thought. "Well, sometimes you have to spring a trap to get past."
Changing directions, Konohamaru leaped through the canopy until he reached the edge of a large clearing in the middle of the forest. Crouching down on a branch, he checked the clearing for any sign of a trap, but could find nothing.
There are other clearings out there.
At the thought, Konohamaru prepared to leave, but only after a closer check of the clearing. Jumping down he warily walked into the middle of the clearing, his eyes narrowing as his instincts warned him of impending danger.
A volley of shuriken flew at him from the side, the jounin easily blocking them as the three genin charged in. Satsuki and Shina cross-jumped from side to side in an effort to disorient him, while Ayako charged straight in from the front, only to finish with a sliding kick as Satsuki and Shina attacked from the sides. Only…
"Nice try!" Konohamaru shouted. Taking a short-jump forward, he dispelled Ayako's bunshin with a step while blocking with his arms dispelled Satsuki and Shina's bunshin. Turning, he threw several shuriken and grinned as they stabbed into pieces of wood courtesy of a quick kawarimi.
A distraction with bunshin while the real attack comes from behind is a basic tactic, too basic.
But, what if the attack from the rear is also a feint? Then that means…
Still grinning, Konohamaru simultaneously turned and sprang back, fully expecting the third wave. The grin slipped in the next moment.
"Katon,"
"Fuuton,"
"Oh shit!" Konohamaru barely had time to swear.
I expected one of them to cover the other, not both of them to launch a combination elemental attack!
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
"Daitoppa!"
A powerful stream of fire erupted from Satsuki's lips at the same time as an equally-powerful stream of wind erupted from Shina's outstretched hands. The two elemental attacks came together, and with an audible roar and a visible displacement of air, the augmented fireball exploded in Konohamaru's direction, powering past his position and through several meters into the forest beyond.
"That was too close." The jounin said, having used kawarimi to escape before jumping up another tree branch. He glanced at the suddenly-burning patch of forest nearby, before he jumped off and to another tree as a kunai with an explosive tag embedded itself in the trunk. A few moments later and it exploded.
Ayako jinked back and forth between the trees, throwing explosive kunai at Konohamaru. Her aim could be better, but it didn't have to be, at least not in this case.
The explosions will draw Satsuki and Shina in her direction, and will keep from getting close…not!
With a shunshin, he was behind the genin, who barely had time to gasp and partly-turn before Konohamaru delivered a knock-out chop to the top of her head.
"GAH!"Shina cried out as he managed to replace Ayako with himself, blocking Konohamaru's blow with crossed arms raised overhead. He uncrossed them outwards, but before he could follow through Konohamaru simultaneously opened the distance while kicking Shina away hard.
The blonde flew several feet through the air before crashing onto the ground and tumbled several times before falling flat on his back. Konohamaru couldn't follow through however, as Satsuki was on him in an instant. A flying kick was blocked, but Satsuki sprang back to avoid his riposte and launching a counterattack of her own, a series of powerful punches that Konohamaru blocked followed by a spinning kick that Konohamaru also blocked.
A flurry of shuriken from Ayako managed to allow Satsuki to reopen the distance, the Uchiha quickly flashing through hand seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" she shouted, before blowing out a stream of fire that forced Konohamaru back.
As he sprang back he spotted Shina jumping to his feet in the distance, briefly shaking his head to clear it. "Was that the famous Uzumaki endurance?" he thought. "Most genin would have been felled by a kick like that."
"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"
Konohamaru swore, having allowed the 'enemy' to get one on him. He dodged the controlled bursts of fire before using a shunshin to close the distance.
"Fuuton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!" Shina shouted, swiping a hand flat up through the air, and sending a sharp blade of wind straight at Konohamaru, and forcing him back away. And then with another shunshin, he threw a flying kick at Shina, who blocked with both arms but was forced to skid back.
Growling, Shina uncrossed his arms and forced Konohamaru back, but was forced to stay on the defensive as Konohamaru unleashed a series of kicks and punches. Shina blocked them all, but was steadily forced to give way from the sheer speed and power of the attack. And then Konohamaru managed to catch him by the wrist, and forcing Shina's guard open, twisted him around and kicked him away at a tree.
Only a quick kawarimi kept a possible concussion away, and a powerful explosion marked yet another Goukakyuu from Satsuki. "Time to take this up a notch." Shina growled as he pushed himself off the ground and pulled a pair of scrolls from his side-bag.
Meanwhile back in the clearing Satsuki was trying to fend off Konohamaru from a prone Ayako, the other girl having been thrown clear across the clearing by the jounin. As Ayako shook her head to clear it, Konohamaru managed to punch Satsuki in the gut, explosively expelling the breath in her lungs and sending her flying several feet.
Konohamaru glanced down at Ayako who threw a handful of shuriken at him. The jounin dodged, only to take a kick to the chest from Satsuki who powered off him and flipped back to crouch in front of Ayako with a drawn kunai.
"Watch yourselves!" Shina suddenly shouted as he jumped out of the canopy, unfurling a pair of scrolls. "Incoming!"
As the scrolls unsealed, dozens of kunai rained down over Konohamaru and between him and Ayako and Satsuki. Konohamaru sprang back, his eyes widening at the sight of the explosive tags attached to the kunai. Satsuki half-dragged Ayako to her feet, and as Shina landed the three genin ran for the tree line and cover.
And just in time: as they stepped into the shadows of the trees, a series of massive explosions erupted behind them, buffeting the trees and powerfully gusting the wind past. "That was too close." Ayako said, peeking out from behind the trees.
"I'd agree but – SCATTER!"
The three genin jumped clear as shuriken rained down, followed by Konohamaru jumping down from the canopy and throwing more shuriken at them. The three genin dodged, Satsuki already going through hand seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" she shouted, before roaring out a fireball at their sensei.
Konohamaru dodged, and then used kawarimi to avoid a volley of shuriken and explosive kunai from both Shina and Ayako. The three genin jumped back further into the forest, and then Ayako shrieked as Konohamaru appeared from nowhere, and with a chop to the back of her neck knocked her out cold.
"Ayako!" Satsuki and Shina shouted, before running back to her. Konohamaru threw shuriken at them, and then used shunshin to get behind them.
"It's two on one now." He said with a grin, the two genin simultaneously turning and jumping back to avoid a swung kunai. "Show me what you've got, Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year."
The two genin traded looks and then Satsuki charged in. A flying kick, followed by a backward dodge, and then a series of fast kicks and punches. Konohamaru blocked them all, Satsuki dropping down to avoid a return kick before attempting to sweep out Konohamaru's leg. Konohamaru jumped up, tried to kick Satsuki, but was blocked by a low kick from Shina who followed it with another kick aimed at Konohamaru's torso.
The jounin blocked, only for his eyes to widen as Shina twisted through the air, bringing a kick up to his face. Konohamaru blocked and shoved the genin away, and then Ayako jumped in with another flying kick, this one making contact and driving Konohamaru back.
Smoke and blinding light erupted, and Konohamaru used shunshin to get clear. "Not bad," he thought, blinking his eyesight clear and saw no sign of either Shina or Satsuki. And then he frowned, spotting the downed form of Ayako at the base of a tree. "They left her behind?"
Konohamaru narrowed his eyes. That seemed too contrary to the teamwork they displayed earlier, and the whole setup smelled of a trap. He briefly debated throwing a shuriken, but settled for a rock instead. He tossed it at Ayako, and the moment it touched the girl, it popped to reveal a log covered in explosive seals.
Konohamaru snarled and took cover as it exploded.
Clever
"Are you alright?"
"Somehow," Ayako replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "My neck still hurts though."
"You should have a medic-nin take a look at it later." Shina said. Ayako nodded, and then glanced at Satsuki as she slid down the slope to join them. The three genin had retreated further into the forest, and were now taking shelter beneath a small, tree-covered hill. "Do you think you got him?"
Ayako looked back at Shina and shook her head. "He threw a rock from a distance." She said. "The explosion wouldn't have caused anything serious."
"It was too soon to use kawarimi." Satsuki said. "You should have waited until he came close, and then used kawarimi."
Ayako winced and nodded. "Sorry," she said. Satsuki sighed and looked at Shina.
"What now?" she asked. Shina looked at his wristwatch.
"There are still thirty minutes left in the test." He said. "We need to hold out for that much longer."
"It's going to be a pain." Satsuki said. "We've managed to surprise Konohamaru-sensei more than once, but he's shrugged off everything we've thrown at him."
"What did you expect?" Shina asked. "He's a jounin. Even if he is taking it easy, it's still not going to be easy for us."
"I know that." Satsuki said, taking a look over their cover. "And that's why I think we should abandon the existing plan and use a new one."
"And from the sound of it you've already thought of one." Shina said after a moment. "What do you have in mind?"
Satsuki smiled and leaning forward whispered the plan to the rest of her team. Ayako looked shocked. "Seriously?" she said as Shina snickered.
"That's playing dirty." He said with a grin. Satsuki shrugged.
"We're ninjas." She said. "We're not supposed to fight fair. If we did, then we're doing something wrong. And in the first place this was an unfair fight to begin with. Three genin fresh out of training against a veteran jounin? What a joke. No one's going to blame us for doing everything we can to even the odds. And didn't he say we could use any plan we can come up with to finish the test?"
Shina snickered again. "He's not going to be happy if this works." He said. "Though, my dad will probably laugh his ass off."
"Well if Hokage-sama is fine with it, then what's the problem?"
"None." Shina said, before glancing at Ayako who nodded. "Alright, we'll follow the new plan. Now let's get going before Konohamaru-nii catches up."
Konohamaru landed on the riverbank and scratched his head. There was still twenty minutes left in the test, but for the past ten minutes he couldn't find any trace of his prospective students.
Well, he'd managed to find their trail after they'd broken off and retreated after the earlier engagements, and he'd followed to the river while sending out Kage Bunshin to fan out and search the forest, but he'd seen neither head nor tail of the three genin. There was that explosion far off the trail earlier, but it was clearly a feint, though just in case it wasn't or it was an accident – like say an explosive tag going off by mistake – he'd sent a Kage Bunshin to investigate, and help if necessary.
Though, they couldn't really be considered prospective students anymore. Their teamwork could still probably use some work, but they could and did work together, which was what the test was supposed to find out anyway. Whether or not they reached the time limit was meaningless in that light.
That didn't mean he was going to end the test early though. It was a matter of principle.
Konohamaru kept scratching his head as his Kage Bunshin dispelled one by one in the distance, all reporting via their memories no trace of the genin except for the trail leading here. Only, there were no genin here.
"This doesn't make sense." He thought to himself. "If they were going to box me in against the river, why haven't they attacked yet? Are they waiting for something? If so, what?"
Muttering to himself, the jounin paced along the riverbank, sharpening his senses using chakra for any trace of a trap or anything of the sort. And then he noticed something: the trail ended at the riverbank. Literally.
Konohamaru felt like swearing and laughing at the same time. That was their plan?
"Instead of doubling-back through the forest, they'll swim down the river and simultaneously avoid me and cut time off getting back to the main training grounds." he thought. "Then while I'm wasting time looking for them in the forest, they can dig in and wait for me to come to them, or until the time limit is reached."
Konohamaru finally laughed at how clever his students were. But, they'd forgotten one thing: he didn't need to swim to use the river as a shortcut, and could get back to the main training grounds before them or at least faster than they expect. "I don't know if it was Satsuki or Shina who came up with this plan," he said with a grin, already sweeping down the river surface. "Damn they're clever! But I should still be able to give them ten minutes of hell for this dirty trick!"
In moments the jounin was gone down the river and around a bed, leaving the riverbank empty and quiet save for the sounds of nature behind him. A couple of minutes passed, and then with puffs of smoke, three large rocks were revealed to be a trio of genin using henge. "I can't believe that actually worked." Ayako said with a gasp. "He was right in front of us!"
"Sometimes the best place to hide in is in plain sight." Satsuki said smugly. "They taught us that at the academy remember?"
"Yeah, they did." Shina said with a laugh, rummaging through his bag and pulling out a scroll. Opening it he unsealed several rice balls and handed two each to Ayako and Satsuki. "Oh man, dad is going to love this."
"CONGRATULATIONS!"
A pair of fists promptly decked Satsuki and Shina on the head from a grinning Konohamaru, who was sporting a throbbing vein on his forehead. "You finished the test, and you pass!" he said cheerfully. "As of this moment, you are unquestionably and officially Genin of the Leaf!"
"W-w-w-why?"
Konohamaru's face twisted into a dark scowl. "That was for the dirty trick you pulled." He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "Man, you three got me good. You had me running off on a wild chase back here while you had a little picnic in the forest before taking your sweet time coming back."
"You said we could use any plan we could come up with!"
"Yes I did." Konohamaru nodded with a smile. "That doesn't mean it still wasn't a dirty trick. And don't expect it to work again: I underestimated you guys, but it won't happen again. And that sort of trick doesn't really work in the big leagues."
Konohamaru sighed, and lowered his arms. "Now then," he said. "Who among you three actually came up with that plan?"
"What's it to you?" Satsuki challenged.
"Credit goes where credit is due."
"Really?"
"Why is it so unbelievable?" Konohamaru snapped. The three genin looked at each other and then back at him.
"Well," Shina began. "You say that, but you also said it's still a dirty trick."
"And you bonked me and Shina on the head for it." Satsuki continued.
"So who knows what you might do if you found out who came up with the plan." Ayako finished.
Konohamaru gaped, and then shook his head. "No, no, no," he said. "Seriously, who came up with the plan? I swear I won't hit or anything the genius behind it. Really."
"Really?" the three genin chorused.
"YES!"
"Then," Shina said, before pausing and glancing at his teammates. Satsuki raised an eyebrow, Ayako shrugged, and then Satsuki nodded before Shina looked back at Konohamaru. "All three of us came up with the plan."
"I don't believe you." Konohamaru said bluntly.
"Then don't," Satsuki said bluntly. "Send us back to the academy for all we care, I'll just tell Uncle Naruto you held us back because we were watching out for each other. That'll go really well I'm sure."
Konohamaru growled and muttered incoherently at the threat. Leaning forward, he gave the three of them the stink eye, but while Ayako cowered and hid behind Shina none of the three gave way. Satsuki even had the nerve to raise her chin defiantly.
Konohamaru kept up the pressure for several more moments, and then leaning back smiled before holding out a fist. The three genin stared at it, glanced at Konohamaru, stared at it again, and then glanced back at Konohamaru.
"Fist bump you fools!" the jounin snapped.
The three genin gaped, and then muttering about people trying to be cool Satsuki was the first to return the gesture. Shina followed, and then Ayako did likewise.
"Yeah, Team Seven is ready for business!" Konohamaru said with a grin. And then the grin turned back into a scowl.
"Seriously though, don't ever be so uncool not knowing what a fist bump is again!"
The administrative block of the academy building echoed with the Hokage's laughter filtering out the open windows. "Oh, oh, oh," Naruto struggled to say between laughs. "I…I can't believe…you actually…you actually fell for something like that…!"
"Hokage-sama," Shizune pointed out as Naruto continued to laugh. "While I'll admit a jounin getting tricked by three freshly-graduated genin is rather, amusing…"
Konohamaru shot her a betrayed look, which she ignored.
"The plan was rather ingenious, and not something you'd expect for genin. Well, maybe a Nara could come up with something like this but,"
"Oh?" Naruto said, stopping his laughter. He wiped at his eyes, and then resting his chin on his hands gave Shizune a quizzical glance. "Are you trying to imply something on my son's part? Yeah he looks like me and I wasn't exactly, er, very, um, perceptive, when I was his age, but he takes a lot from his mother on the inside. And Sakura-chan was always very smart."
"I'm not trying to imply anything like that, Hokage-sama." Shizune said with a sigh. "It's just that genin usually tend to try and solve things by charging in and solving problems or accomplishing mission objectives using the easiest and most obvious plans. Generally-speaking, of course."
"Point I guess." Naruto said with a nod. "So, who do you think was behind the plan?"
"Any of them actually," Konohamaru replied. "Most likely it could be either Shina or Satsuki based on their academic performance, but it's possible Ayako could have come up with it too. Dead last or not, you never know when someone has the motivation and effort to pull something off."
Naruto nodded. "It doesn't really matter though." Konohamaru said with a grin. "Even without the three of them covering for each other over whoever came up with that plan, the teamwork they showed in the first part of the test is more than enough to pass them on."
Naruto smiled and leaned back on his test. "Good," he said with a nod. "To be honest I was rather worried about Satsuki, but from what you've told about how the test went she's at least more than capable of being professional on the field. They're off to a good start then, better than our Team Seven was. We basically fucked off to each do our own thing, ending with, uh, someone tied to a stump."
The other two in the room grinned at that, and Naruto coughed. "Moving on," he continued. "What can you say about their skills?"
"I can't really say anything about genjutsu until I can test it specifically," Konohamaru replied at once. "But when it comes to ninjutsu both Shina and Satsuki are good. They each know at least two nature transformation jutsus, and Shina is also good enough it seems with kawarimi to cover for a teammate at a moment's notice. Ayako doesn't seem to know any nature transformation jutsus yet though, and from what I know none of them should know anything more than the Leaf Chakra Control Exercise from the academy, though I have suspicions about that on Shina's part."
Naruto nodded. "When it comes to taijutsu they're both good, for genin, though Satsuki seems repetitive at times." Konohamaru continued. "Ayako's taijutsu though is barely passable, and the same goes for her aim except at close range and with explosive weapons."
"You must be really abysmal to miss at close range," Naruto said with a laugh. "And you don't really need to be accurate with explosive weapons. Even a 'close enough' is usually good for something. So what's your plan with those three?"
Konohamaru smiled. "Oh the usual," he said. "D-ranks, chakra training exercises, practice bouts, stamina and team building: in short, all the bull we went through as genin to get stronger."
Naruto and Konohamaru shared a laugh at that while Shizune coughed primly at the coarse language. "Well there's no such things as shortcuts when it comes to learning, getting stronger, or growing up." Naruto said, pulling Team Seven's paperwork to him and stamping it with his seal. "I'm not sure if I ever said that to either of my kids or to Satsuki, but either way they'll be learning soon enough."
Naruto nodded and looked back up at Konohamaru. "I'll leave them to you then." He said.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
A/N
If Sasuke in canon can use Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu before he was 10, Satsuki could master it by 12, and ditto for Shinachiku and Fuuton: Daitoppa. Katon: Housenka no Jutsu and Fuuton: Kazekiri no Jutsu should be peanuts compared to either of those jutsu.