As the morning sun pierced through the dense foliage of the training ground, a sense of anticipation filled the air. Team 4 had gathered, ready for whatever their sensei would throw at them.
By a tree sat Daisuke, his black, curly hair framing his determined blue eyes. His headband covered his forehead, a symbol of his commitment to the path of the shinobi. The Uchiha's attire made use of practicality and personal style. He wore standard black shinobi pants and sandals, and a zipped-up light gray turtlenecked jacket that he'd bought the day before, which covered some shinobi-grade chainmail underneath.
Iruka stood by him, making idle conversation. His brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he looked more presentable for the big day. His forehead protector was tied tightly around his head. Iruka's outfit remained similar to what he wore in the academy, with his pouch full of kunai and shuriken along with his sandals. A plain white t-shirt covering his light ninja chainmail underneath. He wore some slightly uncommon white pants to match his t-shirt.
Away from the two boys stood Shimada, stuck deep in thought, her short black hair tied into a typical Nara-style fox-tail. Resolve radiated from her as she adjusted her black Nara jacket, cut to the waist. Her black shorts were accentuated by bandages above her knee. Shimada's headband was wrapped around her right arm, once again a common Nara choice.
Leading the young genin was their no bullshit teacher, Inuzuka Tsume, who had not yet arrived on the training grounds, instead choosing to observe her potential pupils before showing up. Her appearance was animalistic, as expected of the future head of the Inuzuka clan. Her long, spiky, untamed brown hair formed something similar to a mane on her head. Her elongated canine teeth added to her beast-like appearance, as did the Inuzuka clan fang markings etched on her cheeks. Intricate markings adorned her slitted eyes. Tsume proudly wore the standard flak jacket of a Konoha shinobi. Underneath, she wore a black suit with the sleeves rolled up, allowing freedom of movement.
Accompanying Tsume was her trusted partner, Kuromaru, a canine with a wolfish appearance. His black fur contrasted with his white underside. Missing his left ear, Kuromaru wore an eyepatch over his right eye.
As the team gathered at the training ground, the air was teeming with restrained tension and excitement. The stage was set for Team 4's test, their journey as a team about to unfold amidst the trials and triumphs that awaited them in their careers as shinobi.
—-
This was it. Despite the war raging outside the village's walls, Tsume-sensei was going to test us to see if we were fit to become genin.
I didn't sleep very well the night before because of all of the swirling thoughts in my head. I knew that even if I failed, I would simply graduate in the next year, but my time to make a difference would end up even more limited.
In order to save Obito and Rin, and in turn, in order to prevent the Nine Tails' attack and save the Uchiha, I needed every second I could get. Restlessly getting ready for the test, silent anxiety bubbled under my skin and took hold like a pit inside of my stomach.
Not only was this possibly the most important day of this life, but it was also the start of all of the pain and hardships that I knew I would have to overcome.
As I started into my now lukewarm breakfast, I wondered how my life had become like this. Just 9 years ago I was living a normal life as a student, my biggest concern being the upcoming exams.
I wonder, sometimes, how my death affected my friends and family from back on Earth. I hope I didn't cause them much misery or sadness, but I find myself missing them these days.
My heart ached thinking of my brothers and my mom in specific, how they would have been devastated at my death and how much I miss them. When I'm busy I don't have time to think about it, but on quiet mornings like these…
I sighed deeply, clearing my head of such thoughts. My life on the Earth is the past, and now is the present. Black Zetsu and Madara will not wait for me to stop sulking. An image of Izumi popped in my head as I hastily finished my food. The least I can do now is protect the people I love.
Since I didn't sleep very much, it was still rather early when I left the house. I would rather get up and enjoy the silent and chilly morning than waste my time pacing in circles at home. Plus, I've always liked silent mornings, where I never had to think much, speak much or do much.
I slowly made my way through the familiar yet fairly empty streets of Konoha, enjoying the cool breeze tickling my skin on the way to training grounds 11. I would have time to collect my thoughts and warm up before the test began, and perhaps even formulate a plan with Iruka and Shimada.
Finally reaching the training grounds, I plopped down on the slightly damp grass. I didn't check the time nor did I have a watch, but judging by how the sky looked, it seemed like it was maybe 10 or 20 minutes after 5 o' clock. I still had almost two hours until we would be tested by the Inuzuka tokujou.
I took a deep breath, chakra circulating through my body to warm me up. Some stretches and meditation would calm my nerves.
With each slow inhale I ran chakra through my limbs, up and down my arms and legs, into my fingers and toes, and with each exhale I carefully withdrew most of that chakra. Something about it was comforting and relaxing, the warmth reminding me of a loved one's embrace.
After much more than a couple of minutes of meditating, I began stretching my stiff muscles. The importance of stretching was often undervalued on Earth. The best case scenario if you didn't stretch out was that your muscles and joints would be weaker and stiffer, the worst case scenario was doing damage to yourself. Every shinobi in the elemental nations knew this.
I guess technically my status as shinobi was still pending, but it doesn't take a genius or shinobi to warm up.
While I was at it I practiced my taijutsu katas, my weapon throwing and my hand seals. My skill with bukijutsu was passable as a genin, and I still struggled with improving my hand seal speed. Micro movements of my hand are still my weak points, even after being reincarnated.
God knows that I'll need to be at the top of my game in everything possible going up against a tokubetsu jounin and war veteran.
During one of my sets of hand seal repetitions, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned my head and saw a nervously smiling Iruka approaching me. I got up and walked over to him to greet him.
"You're here early," Iruka remarked, blandly, "couldn't sleep?" he asked out of concern. "Yeah, I couldn't catch much sleep last night, so I thought I could clear my head if I came here early." I explained thoughtfully. "I'm really nervous, y'know?"
"I get it. Luckily I always sleep like a rock." he joked, patting my shoulder, pointing me to a tree to sit under. "Least one of us is well rested." I joked with a grin, though I was slightly jealous. I used to sleep like a rock in my past life, too, but I'm more of a moderate sleeper now. Pair that with racing thoughts, and…
"You gonna warm up, Iruka-san?" I asked with a tilted head. He turned his head to me, "No, I already warmed up and everything at home." I formed an 'o' with my mouth. "Let's make some sort of plan for the test, then." I suggested.
Iruka opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a familiar voice. "You dimwit, you can't plan for something you don't know!" The voice scornfully correcting me was Shimada. Woah, stealthy. I didn't notice her presence.
Iruka startled and let out a yelp. I will admit, it spooked me as well. "We don't know about sensei's test, but we can formulate some basic plans for a variety of different tests." I defended myself.
Iruka perked up. "Good idea! Let's get started. We have," He looked thoughtful for a second before speaking again "about 20 minutes until Tsume-sensei arrives." Shimada crossed her arms and faced the other way. "I don't need you two to pass any test she throws at us."
"But we're a team, we have to work together!" I protested in vain. "He's right, Nara-san!" Iruka agreed. She turned back to us, smirking. "You wish that I'll help the two of you, but I don't need anyone's help to become a ninja, let alone pass a stupid test!"
I frowned at her. She wouldn't budge on this, for some reason. "Fine…" I whined before turning to Iruka. "So, let's talk about our skills first…" I began.
As Iruka and I shared ideas and came up with plans, I felt Shimada's presence hidden nearby.
—-
Inuzuka Tsume POV
Was there no one else available in this village, damn it?! The Hokage couldn't possibly be in his right mind to make someone like me a squad leader responsible for these fragile little brats! I should be out on the field, defending the village…
Instead, I have to teach some naive brats with dumb hair! Did no one ever tell 'em to get a fuckin' haircut? And the mop heads are plotting ways to fight me, it's too obvious! If I cared to listen in, their plans would be worse than worthless!
The diva thinks she's all sneaky, secretly listening to what they're saying. Anyone could tell she's there, I bet that even the two boy wonders can tell. This damn war's shitting all over the academy's standards!
I want to fail them, but despite their shortcomings, there's something about them that's stopping me from doing so. Besides whatever mental problem makes them think there should be two ponytails on the team.
It's the atmosphere. The air they're projecting. They aren't bratty little kids who think being a shinobi is just some cool hobby. They're taking this seriously. I can see it in their eyes. Despite their annoying hollering and general inexperience, they are determined to become shinobi. And I'm not about to deny the village three potentially good shinobi.
Not to mention that I could already see poor Hokage-sama's disappointed frown and hear his damn lecture. That old fart can make puppy eyes, I swear! I hate to say it, but I'm caving. I'm giving them a chance with a test.
It's not my style to give some kind of complicated test to find a trait that makes them 'worthy of being shinobi', it's not my style to confuse them, either. I'm sure they have enough on their mind and don't need the burden of figuring out some kind of secret meaning to the test. Something like that is a job for chuunin.
All I'm gonna do is beat the shit out of them with Kuromaru and take on them as students if they impress me. It's not quite 7 o' clock, but they're already gathered up, so what's the harm in starting a bit early?
Winking at my partner, the two of us appeared in front of the trio with a shunshin, smirking wickedly. They all stepped back, startled. Hah.
"Good mornin', hope ya slept well, little runts!" I boomed suddenly. "I won't waste yer time with formalities! Today's test is an all out battle. Three pipsqueaks against Kuromaru and yours truly! Come at me with the intent to kill!" I announced before anyone could get a word out. I shared a glance with Kuromaru before racing towards the girl. "Begin!"
I noticed the two boys backing off together when I said begin. Kuromaru can fight em', I guess. For now, though…
I take pride in my ruthless and unforgiving taijutsu as an Inuzuka, but no matter how skilled this girl may be, it would be too much for her. I'm trying to see if they have potential, not kill them.
That being said, I threw an overhead punch from my right aimed towards her cheek. If she can't deal with a half-assed punch like this, then she's failed on the spot!
Her eyes grew serious as she weaved back and dodged the punch. Not bad, but not good enough! I continued pressing her with ferocious punches and kicks. High kick to the neck, a straight punch to a temple, a sweeping kick. Moving suddenly and meaningfully like a shadow, she managed to narrowly avoid each one. The Nara taijutsu style! Looks like I can step it up!
"Try this on fer' size!" I shouted as something of a warning, putting more effort into striking now.
Her eyes widened at the last moment, noticing my faster attack. She clicked her tongue in frustration. You can't avoid an Inuzuka taijutsu blow like this at your current level, can you?!
She moved to shield her face from my scratch-like swipe. She clearly wasn't used to blocking instead of dodging. Her body shot back from the force of my attack. Blood dripped from her mouth as she caught her breath.
Normally I might chase down an opponent like this, but I still need to see more of what she is capable of. "Ya done already?" I taunted, grinning from ear to ear and licking my lips. I wonder how she deals with intimidation?
She stiffened but her eyes still narrowed in retaliation. She still has fight in her! My grin widened. "Y-you just caught me off guard!" she stuttered out as a front to my intimidation. "Oh? Then how about a second round?"
I darted towards her at a speed that a genin couldn't replicate and she jumped back on instinct, throwing four shuriken directly at my charge. Too simple! I took a kunai and deflected them from the sky. One, two, three… Where's the last one? I turned around and knocked the last shuriken away.
Crafty! She guided it with wires! "Close one!" I shouted in glee, turning back around to meet her. She's taken the time to hide herself. Judging by her scent, she's behind that tree, just 10 meters away. As I viciously approached the tree, a dark line emerged from it, slithering its way towards me. I see, Shadow Possession Jutsu!
What will she do if I let her take hold of me? I ran into the jutsu and felt my movements immediately seize. What a strange sensation.
I felt my body take steps on its own towards the right as she came out from behind the tree, smirking. "Is this what a jounin sensei is capable of?" she proudly chuckled, reaching into her pouch and grabbing a couple of shurikens. My body did the same, "You said to come at you with the intent to kill, right!?" she jeered, voice laced with arrogance.
"Do your worst!" I taunted with my tongue out. Her expression was reddened with anger. "Take this!" she angrily yelled as both of us threw our shurikens at each other. Or, not? The shuriken weren't aimed at us at all, unless-!
The thrown weapons bounced off of each other, ricocheting into different directions until two remaining shuriken shot towards both Nara and I. The difference was that we had a height difference of about thirty centimeters, meaning that the shuriken were sailing over her head while barreling right towards my own.
Should a genin be capable of that kind of aim? I quickly flared my chakra, noticing the strained expression of the cocky girl before breaking free of the Shadow jutsu to swat the two shuriken before they would hit my face.
Her eyes widened, "No way…" she whispered to herself, jumping back. "Yes way! Tunneling fang!" I announced to her as I drilled through the air towards her tense frame. A fireball from my side flew towards where I was charging toward. I quickly stopped spinning and retreated back towards my partner who had also come towards that direction. Looks like he couldn't deal with those two alone.
Smoke was coming off of the dog. He might've been licked by some flames coming from one of the two boys, most likely the curly Uchiha. The two boys landed next to their shocked teammate, catching their breath from the fight they'd just had.
They managed to push back Kuromaru and retook the advantage of numbers. Three against two is bad odds for most, and it certainly increases their chance of victory. Not that they have a genuine chance of winning against me.
I saw them bicker in the distance as the scar-faced boy tried to say something to the girl. They can't be arguing in the middle of a fight, can they now? "Pay attention, ya dumb brats! Fang over fang!" I interrupted them as I zoomed through the air with Kuromaru towards them. Uchiha started weaving signs, but it's too slow!
He leaped away with the other boy as I closed in. That's not enough to stop us. We changed directions and continued after them. The boy was still weaving signs, his hands are awfully slow, aren't they? He threw his hands on the ground just in time and created a wall out of earth. Two chakra natures, is that right?
Oh, well. It'll take more than that to stop the two of us. "What's this gonna do, curly?!" I taunted while drilling through the wall. I saw him grimace as he tried to keep the wall up. The scarred one managed to get away, but you don't have time to get away after putting down that wall! "Daisuke-san!" I heard the other boy shout in worry. Good thing I pull my punches.
We drilled through the wall and altered our direction, creating a large cut on his right arm instead of cutting through his chest. I wonder if it's his dominant arm. I heard him hiss in pain as he retreated further back. We didn't chase him.
Even with his injuries, he still stared at me and Kuromaru with those determined blue eyes of his. He held up his fingers in a specific arrangement and his friend next to him nodded. A plan from before?
The brunette kid hid himself while the Uchiha sluggishly flipped through hand seals. You won't get me in time with such slow hands! I threw a kunai at him but it was deflected by another one thrown by the brunette boy. Damn.
Small balls of flame erupted from out of the blue-eyed kid's mouth. Shurikens emerged from the forest and mixed in with the fire. Fire shurikens! A powerful yet common combination, especially for genin, but it means nothing if it can't hit me.
A substitution jutsu swapped me out for a log as the flaming shurikens stabbed into it. I looked back at the brat and he's still standing there. What's he doing, just giving me an opening like that? Wait, that's a clone jutsu! Where did he go?
I can't smell him anywhere nearby. He's nowhere in the open, and I could pick up his scent if it were anywhere nearby, unless his scent somehow can't reach the air. He's underground, isn't he?! Kuromaru seemed to have come up with the same conclusion as we both leaped up into the air to avoid his hands, which appeared out of the ground about a second after we jumped away.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed a shadow racing towards where I would be landing. So she knows of their plan, too! This kind of combination attack might even work against a chuunin, but…
"Nice try!" I shouted into the air so they could all hear me. "But it'll take more than that to stop me!" I threw a flash bomb below me while closing my eyes alongside my partner. The shadow immediately dissipated as the light shined it away. The three kids covered their eyes a bit too late as they were temporarily blinded. I'll deal with you first, you troublesome Nara punk!
"Fang over fang!" my partner and I once again spun together towards her. Suddenly, she switched places with the pony-tail boy. A substitution like this takes some guts! No need to dampen this blow, I've already watered it down for the girl. "You idiot!" Nara shouted, running after me alongside the Uchiha. "Get away, Iruka-san!" his friend ordered in concern.
Kuromaru and I struck at his chest, still careful not to deal fatal damage. No harm in scratching him up a little, though. He spit up some blood as he was knocked away. We looked to see what became of him and he was clutching his wounds. Still conscious. Kuromaru ran after the other two while I approached the wounded genin to knock him out.
"Let us through, you damn mutt!" the girl demanded. The Uchiha went to fight the dog on his own to give Nara girl the chance to try to save him in time. I'll knock him out quickly, then. I heard them yell between themselves as I weaved by desperately thrown kunai, tossed at me by the panicking kid in front of me.
Before I could knock him out, I saw a shadow approaching me from the corner of my eye. 'I already know your range, and you're too far to reach me with that!', is what I thought before spotting a formation of earth creating another shadow to expand the jutsu's range. They actually outsmarted me!
As desperate and ineffective as the plan would be if this were a life or death situation, I wouldn't expect such fast co-operation between genin. The jutsu took control of me and before I had time to forcefully tear away from her control, the girl jumped me towards them as hard as she could.
Considering she probably didn't take into account the differences of our physical strength, she took me much closer to her and the Uchiha than she probably intended.
"Ya know, yer pretty cool for a buncha brats!" I praised them before dropping down on all fours. "Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All Fours Jutsu!" I boomed out in warning. I've already made my decision. Before they could react, I appeared behind the remaining two students and punched them across the faces with more strength and speed than I've used thus far.
The two of them went flying towards their bleeding comrade, exactly where I wanted them to land.
They looked up at me with wide, panicked eyes, likely dreading what my wide smile meant for them.
"Ya three morons are reckless!" I pointed at the scarred one. "Arrogant!" I pointed at the one with the fox-tail. "And full o' yerselves!" I pointed to the blue-eyed Uchiha. "These are traits a ninja should never have." Their expressions slumped in sadness. How cute.
"But yer also self-sacrificing, cunning lil' rats and damn skilled for some green academy students! You all pass!" I reassured them with jazz hands up in cheer. As much as I didn't want students, my intuition about their resolve as shinobi was correct. I'm gonna polish these pipsqueaks into fine gems.
They all breathed a sigh of relief before the scarred boy passed out. Possibly from blood loss. Maybe from pain or exhaustion? Oops.
Come to think of it, I didn't bother remembering their names since I didn't want to pass them. Maybe it's good to know their names now that I'm their teacher.
"Pups! Before ya take off, what're yer names again?"
—-
Daisuke POV
"But Sensei, we introduced ourselves yesterday already!" I said in bewilderment, locking eyes with a pissed looking Shimada. "Yeah, you're the one who asked us to introduce ourselves in the first place! Why did you even have us do that?!" she demanded, pointing accusingly at our brute of a teacher.
"I din' ask ya to become smartasses! Why should I waste my time learning the names of sum brats! Just say tha names again before I put a dent in eacha yer empty skulls!" she threatened wrathfully while cracking her knuckles.
"Don't you da-" Shimada spat angrily before I covered her mouth. I gave her the look saying 'now's not the time!' and I sheepishly turned to our sensei. "I'm Uchiha Daisuke, she's Nara Shimada and he's Umino Iruka!" I said hurriedly, before bowing, "I look forward to working with you, Tsume-sensei!"
Shut up, Shimada, I'm not getting hit by Tsume-sensei another time! Shimada ripped my hand from her mouth and stomped off, spewing nonsense. Ew, I got spit on my hand.
"Goodta see some manners on this team." she said, violently patting my shoulder with a not-so-sweet smile. "I'm off, but tell yer friends to come tomorrow at 7 o' clock for missions." She stepped back and waved us off with two fingers. "See ya!" she said as her body was replaced with a pile of falling leaves.
I walked up to the unconscious Iruka. Sensei said he may need medical attention, but upon closer inspection, he didn't pass out from blood loss or anything fatal. She clearly didn't intend to hurt us too badly if he's in this condition. Looks like he passed out as soon as his adrenaline wore off.
I could take him to the hospital or his home, but this feels like a good opportunity to have Iruka over for lunch, like Kaa-san herself asked. We could patch him up while we're at it. Surely his family won't mind.
I caught up to Shimada, who was walking around the training grounds picking up her weapons. "Hey, Nara-san, my mother wanted me to bring my team over for some lunch, and I thought we could go as a celebration for our team."
"No way, dumbass. Just because we're a team doesn't mean I have to get all buddy-buddy with you two." she said, dismissing with a wave. "Team members should be friends! And you can say all you want, but just earlier you tried awfully hard to defend Iruka-san!"
"I was just taking responsibility for him helping me, okay?! I don't owe him anymore! And I'm definitely not going to your house, so just shut up already!" she snapped, finally turning around to face me. Jeez, I get it!
"Okay, okay… I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow, Shimada-san."
"Don't call me by my first name, damn it!" she demanded, face flushed red with anger.
"We're teammates now, you know?!" I shot back, running towards my home with Iruka hoisted on my back before I could hear her response.
—-
"When I said to bring them here soon, I didn't think it would be this soon!" kaa-san chuckled, but couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. She brightened up and squeezed me with a hug. "That's my son for you! A social butterfly just like his Kaa-chan!" she clapped in delight before ushering me forward.
Calling me a social butterfly is a bit of an exaggeration…
"Think you can make something special today, kaa-chan?" I asked politely, then pointed to the unconscious Iruka with my thumb. "Iruka-san here got hurt pretty bad during the test… I'll try to patch him up in the meantime."
"Sure, Daisuke-chan! How about something fatty like tempura?" she offered holding up her index finger. "Or maybe something filling like ramen?" she put up another finger, tilting her head at me.
"Tempura sounds great! Where's Izumi?" I paced towards our rooms.
"She's been asleep the whole time! It's still only half past nine, and you know she loves sleeping in." kaa-san added conversationally, "You can try to wake her up. She can't just sleep away the whole day, can she?"
I guess children do need their sleep. Before I woke up Izumi, I took Iruka to the bathroom where we had our medicine cabinet. I cleaned and bandaged the cuts on his chest and then took out the guest futon in Kaa-san and tou-san's room.
I put a wet towel over his head and left a glass of water near where he slept. I'll try waking him up later. For now I have another sleepy head to wake up.
I snuck into my and Izumi's room on tiptoes, because who even needs ninja stealth training, and I slowly approached her quietly snoring form. Her peaceful expression almost made me rethink what I was about to do. I sneaked back out.
Confetti. Cold water. Blocking her nose. Flour shower. The possibilities were endless. My mind was set on a particular method of waking someone up. A classic, really. I went back to the kitchen and regarded Kaa-san with only a sly look before fetching some whipped cream. I then fetched our duster and gleefully skipped back over to Izumi.
I couldn't help but grin maniacally as I thought about the soon to be improvised alarm clock. As I approached her she fidgeted a bit but then stopped moving. Phew… I carefully placed the whipped cream on her hand, keeping myself from laughing early. This'll teach you to sleep in, you fool!
I gazed over her sleeping form to see if it looked like she would wake up. The whipped cream stirred her sleep up a little, but she's still unaware of me and my prank. I took the duster and started lightly tickling her nose.
She started shuffling around and groaning. That's right Izumi, scratch your face. It tickles, doesn't it? I saw her reach up for her face. This is it-!
I felt my face turn cold and wet all of the sudden. Wait a second. Before I realized what had happened, Izumi had already sat up and was laughing at me. "W-What the?!" I shouted, trying to wipe my face clear of the whipped cream. She shoved the whipped cream in my face!
"Nii-chan fell for it! Hahahahahaha!" she laughed even harder, doubling over. "How did you know?" I asked my burning question. I'm sure I was sneaky enough, and besides, who would expect a four year old to have the patience to pretend to sleep?
After some of her laughter died down, she answered me. "I just knew Nii-chan was there! You woke me up first!"
She noticed me coming in and woke up… doesn't that make her something of a sensor type? My exacerbated frown turned into a genuine smile. "That's amazing! As much as I hate the mess I've gotten myself into, I'm proud of you!" I beamed with a thumbs up,
"Really?!" she beamed back at me, "Then can you buy me dango?" she chirped shamelessly. The nerve of this girl… Still, I can't say no to that face. "Sure, but not right now." I agreed, patting her head. "Yay~!" she cheered.
For now, I may as well bring her to the living room to wait for the tempura. "Let's go see kaa-chan, okay?" I told her, "We have to use our inside voices, though. My friend was hurt during the test and he's sleeping now." I explained, with my index finger planted on my lips in a 'shhh' way. She nodded seriously and shushed herself with puffed cheeks.
We got to the kitchen and after Izumi got to tell Kaa-san about my loss against her, which she found VERY amusing after seeing my whipped cream covered face, we went to sit down and play in the living room. After I washed my face, of course.
We had a little while until Kaa-san would be done cooking and so by the time we finished playing Izumi's doll game (which turned into a drama that surpasses the likes of 'The Room') and I continued telling the story of Dragon Ball to her, Iruka groggily walked through the hallway into the living room-kitchen area of our house, where we were at the moment.
"... And when it seemed like Tien might be stronger than Goku, Goku revealed that he was wearing weighted clothes as a part of Kami's training." I recalled with childish cheer.
"Woah! Who won?!" she wondered with starry eyes.
"In the end, Goku was too fa-" I cut myself off from the story seeing Iruka looking at us from the end of the hallway. It's only been an hour.
"Oh, good to see you're awake again, Iruka-san. Come sit with us while Kaa-chan finishes lunch!" I ushered him over to us and he stared for a second before slowly coming to sit. His brain was still restarting, it seems.
"We passed," he said neutrally after a few seconds of sitting. It dawned on him. A smile formed on his face. "We did it, Daisuke-san!" he laughed happily, his memories processing in his head. I held out my hand for a fist bump, "Heh, of course we'd pass!" I bragged, "It would take an idiot to fail us." He returned the fist bump.
"Anyways, I appreciate you taking me here and patching me up but I should get going soon." said Iruka before a shadow loomed behind him. "Iruka-kun, don't you think you should stay to have lunch with us?" Kaa-san suggested politely.
Iruka turned around and thrusted his hands out in front, "Oh, no. I don't want to impose, Uchiha-san!" he yelped sheepishly. The atmosphere turned dark to contrast her glinting eyes as Kaa-san's smile widened wickedly. "No, you're gonna have lunch with us, Iruka-san. A teammate is family. Come sit down, the food's all done." She ordered ominously with no verbal warning, though her body language was sufficient in showing it. Scary…!
Iruka's eyes widened as he began shivering. "If you insist, then I have no choice…" he muttered.
"Rapunzel-san is a pushover!" Izumi giggled and pointed at Iruka. Pfft, so she remembers that story. I can't say that a ponytail is very common for men around here. "Lah-panzeru? What's that? Why are you laughing, too, Daisuke-san? What does she mean?" He asked hurriedly, looking between the two of us for an answer.
I shrugged, feigning ignorance. "Let's go eat already." Iruka begrudgingly accepted, if only because he was hungry. Very hungry.
We sat down at the table and Iruka and I didn't waste time to start digging in. As much as Iruka was shy about 'imposing' on our lunch, the two of us were very hungry to say the least after Sensei's test, despite how short it ended up being. I used several ninjutsu and Iruka was practically mauled.
"Mmmm, that was really good, Uchiha-san, thank you." Iruka said in gratitude after finishing the meal in record time. "No need to thank me~!" kaa-san responded with poorly hidden glee. She perked up. "Ah! Daisuke-chan! You didn't tell me about your teammates or test yet!" she suddenly remembered that I had, in fact, passed.
I finished chewing, "Oh, uh, yeah, we passed." I said lamely. "That's it?!" she cried out in outrage. "C'mon, tell your Kaa-chan about it!". My face turned red from the embarrassing way she phrased that. Right in front of a friend, too!
Iruka luckily responded for me, "Well, Tsume-sensei was pretty brutal while fighting us, but she definitely held back throughout the test." He rested his fingers on his chin, "I think she's a softy at heart."
"Really? You mean Inuzuka Tsume, right? They say she's suuuuper irritable and always upset at one thing or another!" kaa-san shouted in surprise. "What makes you say that she's a softy?"
I nodded my head in agreement. "I thought so, too. She was brutal during the exam, but it felt like she was holding back the whole time. We nearly hit her several times, and she's a tokubetsu jounin!" I argued. Kaa-san made an 'o' face and made an "oohhh?" noise.
"And not to mention," Iruka cut in again, "when she ended up landing a blow on me, it wasn't too bad. She only hurt me enough to knock me out for a little bit." he pointed to his chest where he was hit, which had admittedly been only weakly bleeding by the time we got here.
Kaa-san looked between us two and smiled. "Well, well well! I'm glad you like your sensei so much!"
Iruka and I felt a tinge of heat on our cheeks. "What about your other teammate? They didn't want to come?" We both looked down despondently. "They aren't that bad, are they?!" kaa-san asked in panic.
I looked up with a sad smile. "She isn't bad at all but… I think she'll take some time to warm up to us. Shimada-san is against getting along with us for whatever reason." My eyes lit up, "Ah! But she did save Iruka during the test!" I proclaimed with hope.
"I thought I was delirious at the time…" Iruka mumbled in awe, "She really did that?" he wondered, looking at me to answer. I nodded in return.
Kaa-san clapped with a bright smile on her face. "Your team may be a bit rough around the edges, but it sounds like you'll get along juuuust fine~!"
"I'm glad you have some faith in us, Kaa-chan." I said gratefully with a smile. She gave a pointed look to both of us, "My team was waaay less functional than yours! Your Tou-chan was the only thing keeping us from exploding!" she explained with a blush on her face.
"Really!?" Izumi interrupted in awe, "Otou-chan's the best!" she declared with her chest pumped out. She turned and pointed to me "Nii-chan, you have to be amazing like otou-chan, too! Kaa-san and I smiled at Izumi's innocence. I nodded to her and gave her a thumbs up. "Sure!"
"Yeah! Amazing, just like Popeye-san!" she exclaimed without any change in excitement or tone. Kaa-san and Iruka tilted their heads at us in confusion. "Eh? Are you sure?" I asked, caught off guard by the comparison. She nodded several times enthusiastically.
Comparing Tou-san to Popeye is kind of hilarious.
—-
"You've gotta believe me, Shimada-san, the only way to catch this god-forsaken cat is with your Shadow Possession jutsu! Please!" I pleaded to Shimada the moment Tsume-sensei left us to our own devices. She smirked, "It's just a damn cat! A genin is scared of a little kitten…! I hope you're kidding!"
"Maybe Daisuke-san has a point… He's encountered this cat before, after all." Iruka said sheepishly, mostly trying to break up the argument.
"Both of you are pretty cowardly for boys," she remarked with a bored expression, as she sneaked towards the infamous Tora, "Just watch this…!" she said, jumping out of our cover to catch the daimyo's demon.
Shimada raced toward Tora at a speed you may not expect from a girl who was just downplaying the situation. Iruka and I watched with bated breaths as she got closer and closer, almost like a slow motion movie clip.
The moment I thought Shimada might actually catch the monster, the moment her arms touched the cat's front legs, Tora reacted at light speed and scratched across our teammate's face, and then swiftly took the opportunity to fly off at an incredible speed.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH! MY FACE!" she shrieked loud enough that birds flew out of nearby trees in fear. She looked back at us with tears in her eyes, though they held an angry determination. "GET OVER HERE, IDIOTS! WE'RE GONNA MAKE THAT CAT PAY!"
It was clear to me, though, that nothing short of Hiraishin or the Raikages' Lightning Release Cloak would be sufficient.
So that's how our first mission went.
In truth, we did manage to catch Tora an hour after Shimada got slashed across the face. Tsume-sensei had a good laugh, but she can't fool me. She wouldn't be laughing like this if she wasn't reminded about her own experience in capturing the famous feline as a genin. And her almost certain numerous failures in doing so.
During the next couple of weeks, Tsume-sensei put us on a routine to 'make us less pathetic.' Apart from our normal D-ranks, we had team training. She talked about giving each of us an individual specialized program as well, considering our skills were somewhat unbalanced, according to her.
The most significant part of her training programs for all of us was the extreme focus on physical capabilities and offense, which reflected on her own fighting style as an Inuzuka.
She said that while I had good skills in Ninjutsu and physical conditioning, I lacked good enough taijutsu. Iruka was mentally a fine shinobi, being intelligent and decisive, but he was poorly physically conditioned and lacked a specialty. And finally Shimada was quite fast, had good aim and a good grasp of her clan's jutsus, but she needed to focus on taijutsu, strength and her hot-headedness in case her main fighting style didn't work.
She valued the endurance to keep up an offensive, the speed to catch an enemy off guard and most importantly the strength to crush your opponent one-sidedly. Tsume-sensei told us that she had no intention of sending us to war until she was satisfied with our abilities, which made Iruka and I breathe a sigh of relief and Shimada complained endlessly.
Before that, she told us that she was going to focus purely on our conditioning, physically and chakra-wise. She wanted to bring us from academy level to genin level, in her words. Personally I thought we were already genin level, but when I mentioned that, I found myself laying on the dirt face first.
Anyway, that's how Iruka, Shimada and I found ourselves constantly sore and exhausted. She would work us until we couldn't move. Despite having gone through Gai's training, I felt more exhausted than I'd ever been before.
I couldn't imagine how bad it was for Iruka and Shimada, who were not used to this degree of exercise.
And sensei wanted us to have greater chakra reserves, so we were put through the ringer to increase our chakra capacites. Not only were we training at Tsume-sensei's hellish intensity, which increased our physical energy, but we were also forced to tiptoe the line of chakra exhaustion every single day. A simple yet ultimately effective way in growing one's reserves.
Sensei wanted to make sure we were ready for the battlefield, so even while my bones were aching, my muscles were sore and my whole body refused to move how I wanted it to, I felt thankful.
Pushups, pullups, sprints, squats, you name it, we did it. She had me add weights as soon as she noticed that I seemed used to what we were doing. Thanks to Gai's present, I didn't have to buy any when Tsume-sensei demanded we buy the weights with our money from D-ranks. Iruka and Shimada would be put on them later, though.
And after only a week of progress, Sensei grew impatient and decided to finally tack specialized training onto the program.
Me and Iruka were often paired up in taijutsu spars to improve Iruka's reaction speed, taijutsu and defense and to help me develop my offensive taijutsu. At first he found it difficult to continue sparring as often as we did, but eventually he got used to the increased strain on his body and the fighting and started adapting.
I didn't know much of what Shimada was working on individually since she didn't want to talk with me, but I saw lots of spars involving her and sensei, probably to improve her agility and I overheard them talking about possible new weapons to add to her arsenal
Iruka himself told me that he was in the process of finding a specialization, and Sensei apparently told him that genjutsu or medical ninjutsu was a good idea because chakra control was something he was above average at. He was still considering other paths, as well, but he took an interest in genjutsu specifically. At the end of the day, it was important to find something that you felt would work.
Genjutsu is something that can completely change a battle, so I was all for it. That's not to say that he didn't have any other talents specifically.
Tsume-sensei was barely satisfied by my enthusiastic efforts to develop my taijutsu style, but she was completely unsatisfied by the speed at which I weaved hand seals. I tried to explain that I had been trying to speed up my hand and finger mobility for years now, but she didn't want to hear it and put me to work on it. Through practicing and actually casting the jutsus
I didn't mind. It ultimately helped me cast my jutsus easier as I committed the specific seals to muscle memory. She also gave me a scroll for Earth Style: Stone Pistol Jutsu, and I was still having trouble learning it.
Unlike the previous Earth jutsus I learned before, I had to create Earth in my stomach before spitting it out, and I had trouble concentrating and molding the chakra properly to achieve it. That being said, learning the jutsu would help me with my nature and shape manipulation skills, so I kept at it.
And with all of this happening, two weeks passed relatively quickly. We were finally getting our first full day off, which my restless sensei begrudgingly agreed to, seeing our declining performance firsthand for the last couple of days. She finally considered that we might actually need a rest day.
"Let's go get some dango on the day off tomorrow. I'm gonna invite a few of my friends just to relax. You in?" I asked, holding my fist out for a fist bump. Iruka's shriveled features came back to life as he fist bumped me back. "Sure!" he smiled gratefully, "When are we meeting up?"
"I know Obito's gonna wanna sleep in after their recent mission," I hummed mostly to myself, "so how about at around 13? At the dango place down by the Hokage Monument. The one with lots of seats. Y'know, Kobayashi Dango?" I explained carefully.
"I think I've been there once or twice," he mumbled to himself with a curious look, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, then." he waved me off as he walked away. "See you!" I shouted at his retreating figure.
I had some people to hunt down and invite today, I guess.
Now, let's see about inviting the antisocial Nara. I paced towards her, already pessimistic about the high chance of refusal. "Hey, Shima-" I tried greeting her before she cut me off, looking up with an annoyed face.
"I heard you earlier, and I'm not coming!" she snapped irritably. "When will you idiots get the message?" she pointed at me and then herself. "We're not gonna get along! And stop calling me by my first name!"
"Why not, Shimada-san?" I smirked to her annoyance, "But in all seriousness, why don't you wanna get to know us?" I asked genuinely, wiping my face of any smile.
She seemed taken aback by the question for a second, before averting her gaze so she didn't face me, "You think you know everything, don't you?! Like you're some great elder or something!" My face couldn't hide my surprise at how seriously angry she was.
She turned back around, face contorted with anger and pointed at me accusingly, nearly growling. "You try to be friendly and humble with everyone, but it's obvious you think you're hot shit and you're just validating yourself by being nice!"
"Those friendly words in the academy, your constant invites, how polite you act towards sensei, the way you go trying to be so nice and helpful…" her expression grew angrier as she clenched her fists so tight her knuckles turned white, "I don't know why you do it," she breathed in.
"But it all feels so damn fake from you! Sometimes I even like Umino, but I hate you!" She took a deep breath, straightening herself, before she stormed off.
Is… Is that how I seem to her? Despite everything she said about me being fake and the insults, it feels like she has some kind of point. But she's wrong about my motivations. I won't be deterred from my goals just because of her comments. There's a reason I do what I do.
I'll do what I must, no matter the price.
—-
Thank you for reading everyone! Tell me what you think about the various scenes, I would like to hear some criticism about how I'm writing certain characters and scenes. I don't like to use timeskips and a plot tool to improve the characters so much, but if I wrote everybody's powerups from Daisuke's perspective, I feel that it would clutter up the story a lot.
Below the stars is something of an explanation of the last scene with Shimada and Daisuke. I only separated it because I know that some readers prefer making their own analysis into the characters, and I know that I would personally be bummed if a note told me too much about a character's personality. I actually deleted some of the initial characterization I wrote below because I think it said too much lol
The last scene with Shimada and Daisuke was pretty hard to put together. Keep in mind that I didn't flip the script and portray Daisuke as some kind of heartless manipulator or anything, but it is true that at times he isn't fully genuine. There is a difference between him and a character like Aizen, obviously.
So for those confused, this isn't some grand unveiling of him being some kind of actor, this is Shimada noticing that some of Daisuke's behavior isn't always genuine, aka him being a little fake. He's not some edgelord who is always acting differently from how he feels, though.
Sorry about the VERY late upload. I've been job hunting for a bit and I also had a bit of writers block for almost two weeks out of nowhere, so I had less time to work on this. If you think the fight scene was bad, please tell me what you didn't like so I can improve next time! I believe that shit is going down starting chapter 11 or 12, meaning we can start seeing more plot, divergences and the fighting scenes that I've been idly thinking of for the past 5 months.
In this chapter, I tried adding some depth to both Shimada and Daisuke, since I don't want them to be so hollow. Do keep in mind that I've never written a story, though.
And for the third time (lol) in these end notes, I once again ask that you write about any criticism that you have, big or small, so I can improve for future chapters. Thank you for reading!