Naruto, Ino, and a tired Shikamaru made their way to the training field for 8Am. While they tried not to show it, they were all nervous, getting sent back to the academy was a fate no one wished on their worst enemies. Shikamaru also didn't want to get an earful from his mother if he failed so the lazy Nara was at least going to put some effort into today. From 3 different directions the new teammates met and walked together without saying a word. They were too nervous to say anything, besides with Ino there, the boys didn't want to catch her ire.
"You're late." Asuma called out. The three looked around and saw their sensei sitting on a limb high up in a nearby tree.
Naruto looked at his watch confused. "Uh Asuma sensei, we still have a minute until 8."
Asuma glared at his new students. "If you're not early you're late. As representatives of your village you need to be at least 30 minutes early for every mission. What image does showing up right before the mission convey?" This lesson needed to be drilled in early, especially with how young they were. "If you arrive early you can make a plan and decide if any necessary changes need to happen. Also, if you forget something it gives you some breathing room to check your equipment again."
The kids nodded along and looked like they understood what he was saying. Taking a long puff, he decided to see what they were made of. "Today you're all going to take one last test. If you fail, I send you packing back to the academy. Since you have 2 capture types your test is capturing me by any means possible."
Shikamaru studied his teacher as Naruto and Ino both exploded. "You can't do that. You're a JONIN sensei, how are we supposed to capture you." Ino complained and Naruto nodded along with her assessment.
"Not my problem, good luck." Asuma said with a smirk and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Ino threw her hands up "Well that's it, I'm going to get sent back to the academy, with nincompoop and shit-for-brains I'm screwed."
Naruto clenched his hands, he wasn't that bad, was he? "Ino, we're teammates right now, could you not make fun of me for 2 seconds?"
"Whatever Naruto, what do you have to say for yourself Shikamaru?" Ino asked with her hands on her hips. Shikamaru opened his eyes from his pose and thought of a response. When Ino was like this it was better to just go with it but he also needed to get Naruto to follow a structured plan and sit still, the complete opposite of how he normally operated.
"Shut up both of you, you're being too loud." Ino's anger rose and before she could explode again she was stopped by Shikamaru holding his hand up. "The goal isn't to capture him, realistically we have no chance. So there's obviously some other objective to pass." It made no sense to try and win by brute force, a Jonin wouldn't get caught by a group of graduates. He didn't know for sure yet but he had a idea. Even if they had no chance they would try to see if he could get a better idea of what he really wanted. "Look, I have a plan that might work but for it to have a chance we need to work together for a little while. We can go back to hating each other after okay."
Ino and Naruto looked at each other for a minute until Naruto extended his hand. Ino stared at it until she broke and shook it. "Fine, only until we pass."
"Great now listen up…"
Scene break
Asuma leaned against a tree that had been his chair for the past half hour. It was odd, he had never had a group of graduates that didn't just rush him as soon as they could. Teamwork wasn't something you could really teach, it had to be learned amongst themselves and the academy didn't do a good job of helping that along. If it was any ither group he would've assumed that they gave up, but not Naruto. Naruto just wasn't the type to throw in the towel like other genin.
Asuma felt eyes on him but they didn't seem to be doing anything, so he took out another cigarette and went to light it. But as soon as both his hands were occupied Naruto jumped from his hiding spot with a shadow following closely behind. Asuma didn't even have to put down his cigarette as he jumped away, he knew if the shadow got him it would be trouble, he would probably be jumped with dozens of clones so he made sure to keep his eye on the shadow. But as he jumped back on tree to tree he heard a sizzling noise.
The branch he was on had a paper bomb kunai attached to it from Ino. He looked around and saw many of the trees nearby had paper bombs somewhere on their branches. He had to give them some credit, because of Naruto's clones he could attack without worrying about collateral damage, decent plan but what if I change the game.
Asuma left the forest and went into the clearing, without tree coverage Shikamaru was at a disadvantage. He felt a burst of chakra meaning Naruto probably made more clones, he was too much of a one trick pony already.
Naruto and Ino entered the clearing flanking the Jonin blocking off 2 escape routes. Asuma chose the middle of the clearing for a reason, the lack of shadows meant that Shikamaru's clan jutsu was near useless because he could easily outrun it. With the burst of chakra he felt earlier, Naruto had probably made clones stopping him from leaving the clearing so they could keep sight of him.
And with that Naruto and Ino rushed him choosing to engage him in melee. At least they are attacking together but that's not enough. Naruto threw a low kick as Ino went for a punch, expecting Asuma to jump over the kick. Asuma merely took the kick and dodged low making Ino miss. He punched Ino in the stomach while grabbing Naruto's foot and threw him to the ground.
He thought that he broke them as they stopped moving on the ground, no way he knocked them out right. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that they were clones, wait clones. The Naruto and Ino on the ground considering the damage they took began to lose their features and turned back into 2 chunks of wood they were made from. Asuma looked around all alone wondering why they would make an attack like that.
His question was answered as nearly 20 clones from all around him jumped into the air not attacking him just surrounding him but 30 or so feet in the air. "What the" Asuma started as he saw a shadow creep toward him. "Not gonna reach me kid, I thought you knew your limits." He laughed out but Shikamaru knew what he was doing. The distance to Asuma was too far for him alone but with the clones Naruto made he could make it. His shadow jumped from shadow to shadow that the clones made being up in the air. The shadow possession jutsu was limited but with all this fuel it could go longer and faster than before.
Shit, I didn't know they could do that thought Asuma as he backpedaled away from the incoming shadow. Then from behind him he heard Ino "Mind Transfer Jutsu" Shit if that hit he was done, he jumped into the air so she would miss and turned to face her, only she wasn't unconscious, she was smirking. She had faked him out by yelling out her jutsu but not casting it. With Asuma now in the air Naruto and a legion of clones jumped towards him now that he was airborne and couldn't jump away. The legion all grabbed Asuma and brought him down in a heap and they dogpiled to keep him down.
"GOT HIM!" Naruto shouted as he held onto his foot. He waited to be immobilized like the plan was but that never came. Shikamaru was supposed to hit his group with his jutsu and catch Asuma sensei with him. He looked at the leg he had a hold of and realized it was just a branch.
"Shikamaru what the hell, we could've got him." Ino yelled out looking for the slacker.
"No we couldn't, he was just playing with us." Skikamaru added, only he wasn't walking towards them he was being carried, tied up, by Asuma. When he substituted, he grabbed him and tied him up like a pig.
"All right kiddies, take a seat and lets go over what happened." Asuma felt proud "For a newly graduated rookie team you all did very well. The clones and the shadows were a great idea and Ino, nice job faking me out with faking your clan jutsu. Anyone less than a Jonin probably would have gotten caught." With that the 3 Genin sat up straighter, proud of their work. "Unfortunately, you didn't catch me, so I can only do 1 thing." Shikamaru raised his hand "Um yes Shikamaru?"
"Catching you wasn't the goal right, it was for us to work as a team. No way you expected us to actually catch you, and the way you talked about how well we did makes me think that was the whole point, right?" Of course, this kid had to inherit the Nara intellect, that means he failed his tests of purpose, gotta iron him out more it seems.
"Way to ruin the good news Shikamaru, yes, the goal was for you three to work together as a team. Even if one of you got lucky and caught me by yourself you would all fail. Konoha shinobi work as a unit, we work together as a team o achieve our mission. We don't leave each other behind of sacrifice others to succeed. From now on you 3 will train as a team, work as a team, and eat as a team."
"So, we pass right?" Naruto asked. Asuma sighed and nodded. And with that they all celebrated in their own way. Ino and Naruto jumped and hollered, happy to not be going back to the academy, Ino stopping early and looking embarrassed. Shikamaru gave a small woo and laid down on his back to stare at the sky.
"Yea yea congratulations you three, as of right now you are all officially ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Let's get some food to celebrate, you all are probably hungry. Where do you want to eat, its my treat?"
As a form of habit Naruto blurted out "RAMEN." His mouth started to water, ramen was godly but free ramen, that was even better.
"Ramen it is, lets get going." Ino's stomach grumbled, she was starving but she was on a diet. Sasuke wouldn't want a fat pig, she had to keep her figure. Maybe she would have a small bowl, as much as she hated to agree with Naruto, ramen sounded really good right now.
Scene break
Naruto led them to his all-time favorite place, Ichiraku Ramen. Techie, the owner of the business, saw Naruto coming so to be safe he put on a few extra pots of water to boil. If it was like usual he would need it. "Naruto, good to see you. Who are your friends here?" Naruto usually only showed up by himself, or with Iruka or the Hokage one time.
the Hokage and Iruka so it was weird seeing him with other people.
Naruto picked up his speed "Hey Mr. Teuchi, these are my newest teammates, Ino, Shikamaru, and our new sensei Asuma." He gestured to his teammates to take a seat at the bar. "I wanted to show them the best ramen shop in the world as our first team meal." Naruto smiled, hoping he could share something he loved with his team.
Teuchi laughed "I should be paying you for the free advertising Naruto, I'm assuming the usual Naruto?" he nodded "Good, now what can I get for you all, first bowls on the house for Naruto's new team." Asuma smiled, it seemed like Naruto had a few he could fall back on, even just a little bit. His father always hated how the village treated him, but in the end you can't change how people think.
"I guess I'll have what Naruto's having." Shikamaru said.
Ino scoffed. "Are you really too lazy to order your own food?"
Tuechi laughed "You must have some appetite kid, do you think you can put down 20 bowls?"
Asuma audibly gulped, of course he had to offer to pay. If his usual order was this much there went his date money this week. Thank god Ino and Shikamaru couldn't put down that much food, could they?
Shikimaru looked at Naruto and paled. "Actually, just give me 1 bowl of his usual."
Ino looked at the menu, nothing was super healthy for her figure but she needed something. "Um do you have anything less, caloric on the menu?"
Teuchi didn't bat an eye "Ah of course young lady, Ayame could you please help Ms. Ino for me please." His daughter was trying to get into the healthier side of ramen to attract more customers, and this young lady could be her test subject, he didn't want to eat any more of that healthy stuff, better her than him.
As the team gave their orders and they waited on their food Asuma decided to get this talk out of the way now. "That reminds me, while I somewhat have your attention. Ino, I know you're on a diet but that's going to stop once we get training." Ino paled, she knew she wasn't strong enough for Sasuke yet so her figure was all she had. If she was fat and weak Sasuke wouldn't even look at her.
"But I can't I have to-" Asuma stopped her.
"I promise you're not going to get fat Ino. Once we begin in earnest you're going to be training and completing missions almost every single day. You need those calories to get stronger. Strong enough for a special somebody maybe?" He planted the bait and from the look on her face she took it hook line and sinker. "Now Naruto, from what Mr. Teuchi said you eat a lot of ramen right?"
"It's the food of the gods Asuma sensei, of course I eat it a lot." He said like it was common knowledge.
Asuma planted his face in his hands, this kid was going to kill him. The kid had probably been eating nothing but ramen for years, and that wasn't exactly healthy. "You Naruto are going to do the opposite of Ino. She ate too little, you eat too much. Starting tomorrow ramen is no longer your main food group. So enjoy this last hurra because your cleaning out your stash tonight. I want to see some vegetables in your diet that don't come in a ramen cup."
Naruto looked like he was going to pass out. Life without ramen, was that a world worth living. He looked down at his first bowl, if this was the last time he ate it he was going to go all out. He was going to eat 50, no 60 bowls to get it out of his system. "Old man keep em coming." And he got started working his way through his record.
"Finally, Shikamaru, I know you failed on purpose in the academy. You don't have to be like Naruto." Naruto hmphed because his mouth was full at the insult. "But like today I want to see some effort in training and missions. Be lazy on your own time, but when you're with me I expect you to act like how smart you are, at least a little bit."
"Fine, deal." Shikamaru didn't bother arguing, it would've just been wasted effort. And if there was one thing a Nara didn't do, it was waste energy needlessly.
After a staggering number of bowls for the team they left Ichirakus. Asuma looked at his wallet, the kids had cleaned him out, Naruto could rival the Akamichi appetite it seemed. "I need to go report that you all passed so take tomorrow off. Before I leave do you have any questions for me?"
Naruto patted his comically large belly with a satisfied smile. "Sensei, are we meeting tomorrow? I'm having some trouble with some training and need some tips."
"Sure, lets meet tomorrow in the same place and time we met today." And with that he headed off to report to his father about his team. Hopefully he wasn't the only person who passed their teams this year. If Kurenai passed it would give them a lot more time together not away on missions. A guy could hope, hopefully his bet about Kakashi would pay off, he needed cigarette money, badly, if this was a normal day with them he needed some outlet. He needed to ask his dad what training Naruto was doing to see if he could help. Maybe he was cut out to be a sensei after all.