Chapter 13 – Information Bartering
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me
Previously on Secret Keeper: Team 7 had been looking forward to a well-earned rest, and knowledge, only to discover that completing an A-rank and an Emergency Mission didn't qualify, and their only chance (currently) is to win the Genin Trials...
To say Kakashi was upset, was like calling the Sun a lightbulb. His poor, cute, little genin...What had the Village come to? It was completely absurd, denying genin the most basic on information. The funny thing was he could remember having access to all this when he was a genin – even though he had only been a genin for a few months. He was brought out of his internal musings by three pairs of eyes staring at him.
"Hmm? Did you say something?" he asked distractedly.
Sakura huffed.
"Sensei, you really need to pay more attention! Do you know which teams are competing?"
Kakashi rubbed his chin, an odd gleam in his eye.
"Maa, maa. I suppose I could tell you..." he hummed, causing his genin to lean in eagerly. "But where's the fun in that?" he shrugged, grinning as his genin fell over.
"Ne, Kaka-sensei," Naruto began, making use of his Secret Weapon – the Chibi-Kitsune-puppy-eyes jutsu. "Don't you want us to succeed?" he asked, pouting slightly and allowing a single tear to slide down his cheek.
Kakashi paled. He'd been trained to withstand all sorts of torture and interrogation techniques, but this! This was something else! How anyone could withstand this, Kakashi didn't know. He wondered, vaguely, if he should introduce his blond genin to Ibiki...he sighed.
"Alright. Here's the deal. I'll exchange some information with you – for a price, hmm? Give you three an idea of how information brokers work. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" the three genin chorused eagerly.
Kakashi nodded.
"Right. Here's my price list." he grinned, not that they could see it. "For big-ticket items, such as names, I want three D-ranks completed...for each of you. For medium-ticket items, like various known skills, I want training exercises. These will vary. And, finally, for small-ticket items, like hints and clues, I'll create an item list for trade, such as miso soup with eggplant, or maybe intel of your own?" he hummed.
"Yosh!" Naruto cheered excitedly. "So, what's the first clue worth?"
"Maa, how about," Kakashi paused for thought, before shrugging. "The contents list of Hokage-sama's top drawer?" he made a mental note to inform the Hokage of the situation later.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"And the first training exercise?"
"Three laps round the perimeter of the Village." Kakashi replied promptly, only to blink as all three genin immediately started running. "Ok, then." he shrugged.
They were on their last lap of the Village when Naruto had a brainwave.
"Ne, Sensei didn't say we all had to complete the D-ranks, did he? He just said three completed for each of us."
"Right? Not sure what difference that makes?" Sakura panted.
Naruto grinned.
"Simple, Sakura-chan! While we focus on the rest, I can make shadow clones for the D-ranks! Then, we get double the amount completed. We are on a time limit."
"Do it." Sasuke nodded. "The sooner we know who we're up against, the better."
"You got it, dattebayo!" the blond grinned, hands already forming the required seal.
"And, that's three." Kakashi eye-smiled once they came back into view. "Very good. Now, I believe I owe you a known skill, yes? Hmm, one of your opponents has lightning affinity." he eye-smiled.
Nodding, Sasuke added the information to his notebook.
"Alright! What's next, Sensei?" Sakura panted, attempting to get her breathing under control.
"Maa, I think next I'll have you run up ten trees." Kakashi mused.
Nodding grimly, the genin headed towards the trees. Just before he started, Naruto grinned.
"One down."
The others nodded, smirks in place, much to their sensei's confusion.
Running up and down the trees, while a lot easier from all their practice in Wave, was fairly exhausting, especially after their run round the Village. Once all ten 'laps' were completed, the genin flopped down, having finished due to their stubborn wills.
Kakashi hummed, observing his exhausted genin.
"Well, at least one of your opponents possesses a doujitsu."
"Great." Sakura groaned. "What's next?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her.
"You sure you want to continue?" he asked. At their agreement, he eye-smiled, before tossing a scroll and pen to each of them. "Our next training exercise will be writing a mission report. I want a report on Wave. The Academy should have covered this, correct?"
Confirming that this had at least been covered, the genin settled down.
By the end of the day, they had learned that one of their opponents specialised in genjutsu, that their Sensei was also giving them information about the other Senseis (as the entire team was considered a single unit), and there was at least one weapons expert.
"Right, I'm going after that clue. You comin'?" Naruto declared, once Kakashi dismissed them.
Sakura bit her lip.
"How? There's no way just asking the Hokage will work."
Naruto snorted.
"Who said anything about asking? Jiji'll be at the Academy in about five minutes ti pick up his grandson, he always takes Kono-kun out for yakisoba before dropping him home. Meaning, we have a window of roughly an hour. The ANBU don't guard the office when Jiji's out." he shrugged.
"How do you know all this?" Sasuke asked curiously.
Naruto grinned nervously.
"Er, isn't it part of being a shinobi, to know stuff like this?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"Perhaps, but you seem to know more than most." he sighed. "Well, if we have an hour, we might as well get to it." he shrugged.
Naruto grinned.
"Alright! Let's go!" Not waiting for a response, the blond raced off towards the Village.
"Oi! Baka!" Sakura yelled, giving chase.
"What took you so long?" was the surprised greeting on arrival.
Sakura glared.
"Not everyone has your energy levels."
The blond in question shrugged, before pushing off of the Tower wall.
"Whelp, scouts are reporting all-clear." he threw a salute.
"Scouts?" Sakura queried, surprised. "What scouts?"
Naruto blinked.
"My clones?" he asked slowly.
"Huh? What about them? They're just illusions?" Sakura found herself getting more and more confused.
"Um," Naruto stared. "They're solid, right? How else did you think they did all the D-ranks?" he quickly created one to illustrate.
"Solid?" Sakura's eyes narrowed, before she poked the clone in the chest. "I don't remember hearing about solid clones?"
Naruto sighed.
"It's called a Shadow Clone, and, essentially, uses chakra to form a physical copy. I can't use the Academy clone, as it needs exact chakra control, and a small, er, trickle? of chakra. So I learnt this version." he shrugged.
"So, other than being solid, what else can it do? You said it checked for guards?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"Er, yeah. It's an infiltration technique, really. Most can only make one or two clones." Naruto grinned, his eyes closed.
"So they can communicate with you?" Sakura asked.
"Yep!" Naruto stuck a pose, thumb up, like he'd seen Sensei's rival doing round the Village.
Sasuke nodded.
"Ok, new plan. Where's your clone now?" he asked, retrieving his notebook.
"Um," Naruto's eyes lost focus for a moment. "Jiji's office."
Sasuke smirked.
"Get it to check the drawer, and recite the contents. I'll write."
Naruto grinned.
"Ok."