The afternoon sun was beating down on the young Uchiha's head as he continued his walk to his friend's house. He brought a hand up to his eyes to stop the rays from blinding him and saw the faint outline of a familiar ponytail in the distance. Rather than calling out to him, Mirou picked up the pace to a light jog in excitement. Shikamaru paused briefly after seeing movement out of the corner of his eye before recognizing his friend.
"Shikamaru, you're done too?" Mirou asked as he caught up to the Nara.
Shikamaru gave an exhausted sigh as he recalled the endlessly boring briefing, preferring not to think too much about it.
"It sucked but at least it's over," he paused to turn to Mirou. "Not that I'm upset or anything, but why are you here? Wouldn't you want to go home or whatever?"
Mirou stilled and turned slightly to look behind him. Ever since he left the training grounds he felt as if someone's eyes were stabbing into his back, and Mirou could guess whose eyes they were. The change in demeanour did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru, who was able to fit the pieces together in an instant.
How troublesome
Shikamaru lazily placed his hands behind his back before turning back in the direction of the Nara Clan's Residence. "Well, whatever. Since you're here there's no point in leaving," he spoke.
Mirou didn't hide the relief he felt - not that he would need to, Shikamaru would have known anyways - and followed his friend back to the Nara compound. It had been a while since he'd been back here, he noted, not in over half a year. Back before his mother's death Mirou would be over at least once a month to play a game of Shogi or just hang out. Oh how times had changed, but he decided not to think about that.
Just as the two were about to cross into the Nara territory, a voice comic from inside made them stop.
"Hold on you two."
Mirou saw who he recognized to be Seiji Nara come speed walking towards them before standing in front of the entrance, blocking their path.
"Something wrong?" Shikamaru asked with an eyebrow raised.
Seiji seemed hesitant, looking back and forth between the two boys. "I'm sorry but, the Uchiha can't enter the premises."
Mirou and Shikamaru both looked at the man in shock. What the hell was he talking about? Why couldn't Mirou enter all of a sudden? What was going on? Shikamaru decided to vocalize these questions.
"The hell are you talking about?" He asked, his voice laced with a frustrated twinge.
Seiji hesitated once more before answering. "Someone of another clan cannot enter the premises without the permission of the clan leader," he tried to explain.
Shikamaru was already starting to grow exasperated with this conversation. "Come on, this is Mirou we're talking about," He stressed, "Choji comes over all the time, it's not like you make him stay outside like a dog" but Seiji still wouldn't move.
"Shikamaru," he started carefully, "I don't expect you to understand, but this is... different."
The younger Nara sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Fine, whatever. Where's my old man?"
"He's... out on business with the Akamichi and Yamanaka clans."
Shikamaru sighed once again, knowing that this translated to he's out drinking with his pals. "Come on Seiji, you and I both know that he would say yes."
"I'm sorry Shikamaru, but the Uchiha-"
"His name is Mirou," he snapped.
Both Mirou and Seiji were taken aback by the sudden outburst. It was rare for Shikamaru to snap at anyone, let alone at his own clan member. But Shikamaru was beyond frustrated, he was pissed. He couldn't understand why this was happening all of a sudden, it wasn't like Mirou was a stranger, he'd been coming over for years, and what did being an Uchiha have to do with anything? There was only him and Sasuke left anyways so it's not like they could do anything to hurt anyone. Shikamaru grumbled before shoving past Seiji, who was still in shock.
"This is dumb. Wait here, I'll be right back," he called back over his shoulder.
Mirou nodded and started shifting his feet, now feeling out of place. Seiji still hadn't moved from his place by the gate, making the silence turn tense and awkward. After some time had passed Seiji broke the silence.
"Look, I'm sorry kid, but-"
"I know," Mirou interrupted. "Rules are rules, I understand," he said quietly with a polite smile.
The look of disappointment on the kid's face made Seiji feel flooded with guilt. He knew Mirou. Hell, everyone in the clan knew Mirou. He was a polite and kind boy who was a delight to have, and it baffled everyone that he somehow befriended the lazy, stubborn, sarcastic Shikamaru. To be the one to have to tell him that he isn't welcome, Seiji hoped that the young boy wouldn't hold it against him.
Before the situation could become more tense, Shikamaru came back out with a short box and a game of Go. He briskly walked past Seiji before roughly slamming the box down on the ground between himself and Mirou.
"If my old man is gonna go get drunk with his friends, then I'll just wait until he comes back to get his permission," he turned sharply towards Seiji. "And I don't need you to babysit me, unless that's also some bullshit rule," he snapped.
Seiji knew that Shikamaru was beyond frustrated already, so instead of reprimanding his attitude, he let it slide, it wouldn't do him any good anyways. With one last apology, he walked back inside the compound, leaving the two boys alone.
Mirou only stared with wide eyes back at his friend, his sudden outburst was surprising to say the least. On one hand, Mirou felt his chest flutter with appreciation for Shikamaru, standing up for him against one of his own clansmen. On the other hand, he felt repentant for being the reason that his friend was forced to fight with his own clan.
Shikamaru finished setting up the game on the short box and looked up to Mirou's penitent face. What a drag.
"You've done nothing wrong ya know," he said as he moved the first tile,"it's just a stupid made-up rule that the old man will turn over anyways, nothing's changed."
That was a lie, and they both knew it. They both wished that it was real, that things were still the same, that the stares of the people weren't a mix of awe and contempt, that blood didn't matter when it came to friends, that they were still those same kids that would sit in the park and dream about the future.
Mirou moved his own piece, not that it mattered, he had already lost the moment he had started playing.
"Yeah, nothing's changed," he lied. It tasted like rot on his tongue as he swallowed his words.
The game continued in silence as the day slipped away, hours passed by and - rather predictably - Mirou lost every match he played. Usually, the Nara would have groaned about winning becoming too boring, but his mind was too busy wandering elsewhere to find the chance to be bored. Just as Shikamaru stole another win, Mirou finally decided to speak.
"I should head back now, it's getting late," he said while standing up, though it sounded more like an excuse.
"My old man should be back any time now," Shikamaru reasoned, but Mirou just shook his head, refusing to meet his friend's eyes.
"Sasuke's probably wondering where I am by now anyways."
Another excuse.
Shikamaru tried to search for a reasonable offer to make him stay, but instead he sighed away the thought and lazily stood to meet his friend.
"Whatever," he mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Mirou's face fell seeing his friend look so dejected. With a dry smile, he held out his fist and mustered up the courage to look Shikamaru in the eyes.
"Till' next time?" He offered.
Shikamaru hesitated, but rolled his eyes and held out his fist as well. "Till' next time."
--
Walking up to his house, Mirou found out that Sasuke was indeed wondering where he was when he saw his cousin interrogating one of his teammates, Emiru Takenaka by holding the younger boy up by his shirt against a nearby building. As Mirou neared, the two locked eyes and Sasuke casually dropped Emiru like a sack of hammers and walked toward the younger.
"You're late," he stated bluntly.
Mirous eyes shifted between Sasuke and Emiru who still hadn't moved from his position on the ground.
"I met up with a friend, sorry. I'll make sure to tell you next time."
"Hn."
Mirou was thankful that he wasn't pressing any further. He knew that Sasuke was already fed up with all those fangirls at school, there was no need to talk about her at home as well.
As the two entered the abode, Sasuke could tell that something was wrong with Mirou, not that he was any good at hiding it in the first place, but this time it felt different. He contemplated asking what was wrong, but decided that there was no point. If Mirou wanted to tell him that something was wrong then he will eventually.
As if on cue, Mirou turned tentatively towards Sasuke.
"Hey... can I ask you something a bit... strange?" He asked.
"Hn?"
"How do you do it?"
Sasuke paused and gave him a questioning look.
"How do you deal with being treated so... different?"
Oh. This wasn't expected. Sasuke knew that Mirou had been having trouble adapting to life as an Uchiha, but he had always just let him be. It was better for Mirou to adapt at his own pace, and it saved him the trouble of sticking his nose in someone else's business.
Sasuke paused as he thought back to when he was first on his own, his brow furrowed at the memory.
"You need to find your resolve, your purpose in this world. Focus only on that and block out any distractions," he finally answered.
Mirou was looking at Sasuke, but Sasuke's eyes were looking at something far beyond, something past the walls of the village, something dark in his future. It scared him.
"My... resolve?" Mirou asked, deciding to move past the dark look in his cousin's eyes.
Sasuke seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was stuck in. "The thing that drives you in this world, your goals, your dreams, what are they?"
Mirou thought before answering. "Well, I want to become a good Ninja that my mother would be proud of-"
"Not good enough."
Mirou snapped back at the interruption. "What?"
"That's not good enough," Sasuke repeated. "If you only focus on growing for the approval of others you will never be able to deal with everyone looking down on you."
Mirou paused in thought, a pensive look overcoming his face. The goal of becoming someone who his mother could be proud of had been his ambition since he was little. But he had to admit that Sasuke was making sense, he knew that he had issues with disappointing people, but always pushed them aside because they were never important. But if what Sasuke was saying was true then perhaps it was time for a change in perspective.
Sasuke watched as his cousin's face changed from one of confusion to understanding, and felt a twinge of pride in himself for being a good caretaker.
Mirou then turned to Sasuke with a sheepish face. "I can't really think of anything else to be honest," he admitted.
Sasuke said nothing, but patted Mirou on the shoulder as he walked past. There was nothing more to be said, if his cousin was destined to be a part of something greater then it will come to him naturally.
--
Mirou yawned as he stood at the entrance to training ground 9, it was 6 in the morning and his entire team was waiting for whatever this exercise was to start already. The three kids were so exhausted that Anri hadn't even made fun of Mirou for putting his shoes on the wrong feet. Just as the young Uchiha was about to fall asleep again, Hagura appeared from behind the trees, not sharing a single ounce of exhaustion on her excited face.
"Rise and shine kiddos! It's time for Hagura-sensei's awesome team exorcize!" She cheered, placing her hands on her hips.
The kiddos in question only responded to their teacher with half-hearted cheers and groans. Hagura led team 6 into the heart of the treating groups before allowing them to stop, turning to face her students with an almost crooked smile.
"Alright! Now that we're here, I guess it's time to explain what the deal here is."
Haruga's face took a more serious turn, causing her students to snap out of their sleepy spell and pay close attention.
"I wasn't very clear about what this exercise was about," she started, crossing her arms across her chest. "And for that I'm sorry. This isn't a regular training exercise, in fact, you could consider this your true final test."
Team 6 looked back at their teacher with both confusion and concern, trying to make sense of what was happening.
"So the final exam at the academy was to simply find out who had the skills to qualify for this 'true' test?" Emiru concluded.
Hagura beamed at the young Takenaka. "Hayyy, you catch on quickly!" She praised before turning serious once again. "But yeah, that's basically it. The final academy exam is made to weed out the ones who don't stand a chance, while this test is here to separate the blossoms from the buds so to speak."
Mirou suddenly had a thought that he didn't like. "If this is meant to separate us, then what happens to the ones who fail?" He asked.
Hagura gained a wicked smile that sent shudders down the kid's spines.
"Out of the 30 graduates out of the academy this year, only 15 of you will pass."
The three gennin's eyes were wide with shock, not a single one of them was prepared for this revelation, especially not Anri.
"What the hell!?" She shouted, "I didn't train my ass off for this you know! I could have a better chance at passing if I flipped a coin!"
The other two couldn't help but silently agree, even if Anri's math was a bit off. Hagura sighed and waved her hand dismissively.
"If that's how you really feel then feel free to quit right now, makes my job a whole lot easier. Your only options are to either pass or go back to the academy, it's your choice." She said passively, her gaze shifting to Anri as she finished her sentence.
All three of the students chose to remain quiet, Anri crossed her arms with a huff and grumbled about how it wasn't fair.
"Well, now that that's out of the way," Haruga continued, "let me explain the rules."
The Sensei paused to get 3 different coloured balls out from her pouch, a yellow, a blue, and a red one.
"You will each get a ball, the goal of this test is to hit me with each of these balls before noon."
Mirou chimed in, "So we're going up against you Hagura-sensei?"
Hagura smirked. "You bet, Uchiha, you can use whatever tools are at your disposal to get me, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, you name it... however," she paused to lean forward. "I get to stop you from hitting me using whatever tools are at my disposal.
Emiru and Mirou gulped, but Anri just looked even more pissed than before.
"But that's not fair!" She yelled, "You're a Jonin, and we're just Gennin, how do you expect us to beat you!"
Haruga simply rolled her eyes in response. "Toughen up butter cup, you think that an enemy will go easy on you just because your kids?" She challenged.
Anri didn't have anything else to say and instead just silently fumed in place.
Emiru decided to break the tension with a question. "So when exactly does this test start?"
Haruga smiled a great big grin.
"Right now!"
And with that the Jonin vanished into thin air, leaving the three balls behind in her place. The three kids scrambled to claim their ball and hide, Emiru grabbed one and dashed backwards, vanishing into the thick trees. Anri didn't even take a ball and simply ran forward to find and presumably beat their teacher. Mirou decided to take his ball and run to the left, keeping low and he did so, trying his best to hide his footsteps. He paused only after hiding behind a thick bush to catch his breath. Looking down at his hand Mirou saw that he had taken the blue ball, not noticing before in the panic which colour he had taken. Gripping the ball tight, Mirou decided that he needed to come up with a plan, though he knew that this would be next to impossible to do by himself.
Nearly an hour had passed in silence, nothing but the sounds of the forest to accompany Mirou's thoughts. The boy let out a huff as another plan was rendered useless due to the fact that he had no idea of his sensei's abilities. Just as Mirou was going to try again, there was a short sound coming from his right. The sudden snap of a stick kicked all of Mirou's Instincts into action, he took out a kunai in his right hand while positioning his body so that he could be prepared to run at any time. He knew that he could never beat his teacher, at least not by himself.
As a figure came closer in the distance, Mirou was almost ready to run away when he realized that it was a familiar head of white hair. It was not his teacher coming in for an attack, but rather his teammate Emiru, equipped with a light teal umbrella that he had been too tired to notice beforehand. Emiru stopped before Mirou, keeping his head low and looking all around like a mouse scurrying away from a hawk.
"Emiru, what are you mmfff-"
Mirou was cut off by the latter putting his hand over the Uchiha's mouth. He put a finger to his lips, conveying that they needed to keep quiet. Mirou nodded slowly in understanding and Emiru removed his hand, allowing Mirou to speak.
"Emiru what are you doing here?" He whispered to his teammate. It wasn't like him to come and seek Mirou out unless it was for trouble, they both knew that.
Emiru paused his eyes shifted awkwardly before answering. "I want to team up with you, I want to pass and I need your help and..." The Takenaka sighed. "I... wanted to apologize for being mean to you for all these years."
Mirou was dumbfounded by the news, his jaw hung limp in shock.
"You're... apologizing? Here? Now?"
Emiru rubbed the back of his neck, his face turning pink from the embarrassment that usually came from an apology.
"Yeah, I was a dumb jerk who was just following whatever Anri said instead of doing what I wanted. I never wanted to take things as far as I did and I feel awful so... truce?"
Emiru stuck out his hand, his face was soft and full of both shame and hope. Mirou stared at the hand for a good long while, wondering if this was some sort of trap, but looking into Emiru's eyes he could tell that he was telling the truth. Mirou shook the boy's hand, causing him to smile briefly before turning serious.
"Alright, now we need a plan" Takenaka whispered. Mirou nodded.
"Right, but we don't know anything about Hagura-sensei's skills or abilities, so what are we supposed to do?"
Emiru crossed his arms in thought, Mirou was right, attacking an enemy blindly would cause more harm than good, plus Anri was still out there on a rampage without even having taken a ball.
"Well we don't know her abilities, but we can take a guess at what they are based on our team setups," Emiru explained.
Mirou looked at his teammate quizzically. "Team setups? What do you mean? Like how Naruto and Saduke were teamed up because they had the lowest and highest grades?" He asked, quite confused by Emiru's train of thought.
Emiru shook his head, "I mean that each of our assigned teams were made to deal with specific jobs" He paused to take out his Kuni and draw a diagram in the sand. "Take your friend Kiba's team, his clan uses ninken, and have a great sense of smell, and he's partnered with Hinata who has the Byakugan, which has enhanced vision, and Shino, who uses bugs and pheromones for combat, the thing that all of these have in common is that they are used for tracking," Emiru concluded.
A lightbulb went off in Mirou's head, it all made perfect sense now. "So if we find out what our team's purpose is, then we can come up with a countermeasure for her based off of that," he concluded.
Emiru nodded briskly. "Exactly, but first we need to understand each other's abilities in order to come to that conclusion." He put away his Kuni and rested his hand on his umbrella. "I am from the Takenaka clan, we specialize in using umbrellas as both our weapons and means of genjutsu that help us go unnoticed by our enemies. My strengths are intelligence and precision, and my weaknesses are Stamina and drawn-out combat."
Mirou nodded and made a mental note of this information. "Right, I'm from the Uchiha clan, we - er - Sasuke and I? Well we specialize in Ninjutsu and Doujutsu the Sharingan. It can cast Genjutsu without the need of hand signs and gives us Enhanced perception, as well as the ability to see chakra. My strengths are speed and Ninjutsu, my weaknesses are physical strength and defensive abilities."
Emiru nodded back, starting to put the pieces together. "Alright, I doubt that Anri will willingly become involved in any plan we make that involves you - no offence"
"None taken."
"But just in case, Anri doesn't belong to a clan, but I know that she has the ability to 'swim' through Rock and earth by making it soft to no one but herself. Her strengths are power and improvising, and her weaknesses are intelligence and speed."
Mirou already knew that Anri was blessed to have discovered such a powerful ability, she used to brag about it to him before it was revealed that he was an Uchiha.
The two boys sat in silence, both stuck in their own heads trying to put the pieces together. Genjutsu, Sharingan, earth swimming. Intelligence, speed, power. But what did it all mean? Mirou's face then lit up with an idea.
"What if... our team was made for stealth, or infiltration," he offered. "Think about it, My Sharingan can cast Genjutsu without hand signs, and your clan's abilities focus on making you go unnoticed, as well as Anri's earth swimming technique. All of these are very good for getting into places unnoticed."
Emiru couldn't help but agree. Kiba's team was good for tracking, Shikamaru's team was good for trapping, and Sasuke's team was an offensive one. The other competing teams were unimportant to Emiru, because he knew in his mind that if any other teams were to pass, it would be those ones. He just needed to make sure that this team did too.
"Alright, I think I have a plan"
--
Red eyes scanned the looming forest, not letting a single fly slip past his Sharingan. His partner had his umbrella opened and covering them in the Takenaka clan's genjutsu, rendering them completely unnoticed to the outside world. Mirou had his Sharingan out to look for chakra signatures, either Anri or Hagura would do, they had a plan for both.
"All clear," Mirou whispered, releasing his doujutsu. He knew that having it going continuously would do nothing but drain his chakra, and he needed to conserve his energy for the fight ahead.
Emiru nodded and the two moved their positions, keeping low as they ran quickly to their next location. They were careful not to make a sound, the Takenaka clan's Genjutsu was made to erase one's presence completely, though Emiru was still young, and still learning, so they needed to take extra precautions. Time was passing by at an alarming rate, the boys knew that they had less than two hours to pass this test and the dread was starting to set in.
"Here," Emiru whispered, grabbing Mirou by the arm to stop his movements.
Mirou nodded and activated his Sharingan once again. His eyes were starting to burn, but he pushed past it, there were more important things at stake. He looked around the area as carefully as he could; bird, mouse, squirrel. Something caught his eye in the distance, so he leaned forward trying to focus in on it. It was a person, and they were hiding up in a tree, around 120 meters away. Mirou relayed this info to Emiru.
"That can't be Anri, she won't climb some tree to hide, she's too proud for that. What else is there, anything odd?" Emiru asked.
Mirou focused closely on the figure, "I can see her entire figure-"
"Pervert."
Mirou sputtered, a bright red coming over his skin as his hands went up to his face in embarrassment.
"N-no! I didn't- I meant that-"
"I'm kidding"
The Uchiha calmed down and took his hands away from his face, turning back towards the figure in the distance.
"R‐right," he cleared his throat, "I mean that usually when I look for chakra, I can't see someone's whole body, and it's not easy to see when they aren't using it. The only logical conclusion is that she's using chakra either inside or outside her body to completion."
Emiru nodded and thought about this new information carefully.
"So she obviously has stealth-related abilities, and whatever that entails involves her surrounding her body in chakra," Emiru concluded. "Could it be a Genjutsu?"
"I can't tell from here, she's too far away."
The Takenaka nodded and grabbed Mirous shoulder to move him to a closer location, he needed to keep them both under the umbrella in order for the Genjutsu to work. The boys carefully walked closer so as to not disturb the figure still in the trees, who hadn't yet moved. It occurred to the boys that this might be a trap, only for a second, but the fact of the matter was that they didn't have a choice. They were running out of time, they could wait to see if this was a trap, they needed to act now before they lost her again. They were now 50 meters away from where their teacher was and hunkering down once more.
"What's her status, Mirou?"
"50 meters at your 2 O'clock, 8 meters up."
Emiru looked as hard as he could, but their teacher simply wasn't there. "Is it a genjutsu?" He asked.
"No, not a genjutsu, something else I can't entirely make out."
Not a genjutsu? Emiru let those words roll around in his head for a moment. This... complicated things, but he was smart, his brains were his biggest ally. Emiru looked over to his comrade, his red Sharingan eyes shined brightly against the green forest, focusing solely on the figure in the distance. Well, perhaps it was his second-best ally.
"Alright, this makes things more complicated, but let's just stick to the plan and if we have to improvise then we'll improvise."
Mirou nodded for a moment, never taking his eyes off of their teacher. "But... what about the third ball? Anri didn't take it?" He whispered.
Emiru smirked and took something out of his pouch. In his hand was both the yellow and red balls.
And then all hell broke loose.
In an instant, Hagura leaped from her place in the tree and towards the two, her body now visible to the naked eye. Mirou immediately reacted, grabbing Emiru and ducking down, throwing some kuni in the direction of his teacher as he threw his teammate over his shoulder and booked it southeast, just like the plan.
Just as the Jonin caught up to them however, an unexpected crash coming from the left. Anri broke through the ground with a cackle and crashed into the dumbfounded teacher with considerable force, causing them to go tumbling down into the grass.
"Now Mirou!" Emiru yelled.
Mirou dropped his teammate off his shoulder and grabbed shurikan attached to a wire, throwing them just above his stunned teacher. Then he took out another couple shurikan and threw them to the opposing tree, causing the wire to tighten, pinning Haruga to the ground.
At the same time, Emiru tossed aside his umbrella and threw one of the balls, the yellow one. Hagura replaced herself with a nearby Boulder, however Emiru wasn't aiming for the wires. Just as Hagura had freed herself from her entrapment, she felt the soft impact of the yellow ball graze her heel.
"Touchdown!" Mirou yelled.
But before they could activate the next phase of their plan, Anri finally decided to join them by attacking under the trees, causing them to fall over the boys' sight of their teacher. Hagura used this opportunity to hide herself once again, slipping away in plain sight.
"Crafty little buggers, aren't they," She thought.
"Crap she got away, time to go to plan J" Emiru yelled to Mirou.
"What?" Snapped Anri, who was now covered in dirt and sweat.
Mirou grabbed a stick off the ground and looked back to his partner. "Plan J? I thought this was plan G?
"What are you guys talking about!?"
"No, we had to scrap plan G because it led to plan H?"
"Plan H was the fireball right?"
"No that was plan K"
"What happened in plan K again?"
"Anri gets knocked out in plan K"
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Anri screeched.
Mirou and Emiru paused to look at each other before continuing with what they were doing.
"We came up with a plan to trap Sensei using the visual prowess of the Sharingan," Emiru explained. "Mirou and I divided the area into quadrants, and scanned each quadrant using the Sharingan to look for Sensei while I hid us using my genjutsu. Then we started coming up with a plan for every scenario for Hagura-sensei's previously Unknown stealth abilities-"
"Stealth abilities? What stealth abilities? What are you on about dumbass?" Anri interrupted.
"We found out that Hagura-sensei has stealth related abilities-please keep up," Emiru huffed. "During our planning, Mirou saw you under the earth and we made a plan in case you decided to de-rail our other plans. After we found Hagura close by I took out the balls knowing that she would come out of hiding, and that you would attack her once that happened. Then Mirou trapped Hagura-sensei-"
"But you didn't trap her smart ass, she got away," Anri interrupted once again, earning her a glare from Emiru. He was about to continue but Mirou decided to jump in, his newfound confidence from the battle giving him the courage to speak out to Anri.
"It wasn't meant to trap her, it was to keep her in place so I could cast a genjutsu with my sharingan, just a little one so she wouldn't notice."
Emiru nodded and walked towards the Boulder that their Sensei replaced herself with. "We concluded that this unexpected attack would leave her temporarily frazzled and that her first move would be to get herself free and escape, since her specialty was in stealth I doubt that she would want a head-on fight." Emiru paused to lean down beside the rock. "So Mirou used his sharingan to make it seem like all the other debris had vanished, leaving just one."
Emiru turned the Boulder around to reveal a scratch that was made with a kuni. "This one. I never intended to hit her where she was, I was aiming for where she was going to be."
Anri for once was left speechless, having no idea what the hell any of these two idiots were talking about
"Right, we should head out now. Plan?" Mirou asked after gathering his stuff.
"N through S, but we'll have to be on double time," Emiru answered.
And with that the two of them were off, leaving Anri behind in the dust. There was no time for stealth anymore, only speed. Mirou brought out his sharingan once again and scanned his surroundings as he ran, his eyes were burning now but he pushed the pain aside, he couldn't afford to lose now.
"Before... you said that Sensei's abilities were 'previously Unknown', so you figured them out?" Mirou asked, his eyes never leaving the field.
"Yeah, I believe that she channels chakra throughout her body to render herself invisible," Emiru explained.
Mirou nodded, not bothering to comprehend how such a thing was possible, he probably wouldn't understand anyway. "And how much time do we have left?"
The Takenaka furrowed his brows at this. "Less than an hour by now."
Mirou silently cursed at this. It was tight, but perhaps it could work with enough desperation. They continued to run until Mirou caught a glimpse of chakra to his right and immediately changed his course. Emiru followed close behind before running ahead, placing tags along the trees as he went. Mirou threw more shurikan wires at his teacher, however this time Hagura danced around them with ease. Mirou didn't let up his barrage of attacks, keeping up the shurikans until his teacher was too close for comfort.
"Now Emiru!" He yelled.
Emiru released the chakra stored in the tags causing them to explode not with fire, but with smoke. Now that the area was completely covered in the thick smoke Emiru could see the absent space of what should be smoke in the shape of a person, and more importantly the smoke caused Hagura to close her eyes and impair her vision. Mirou took his chance, his sharingan allowed him to navigate through the smoke without problem and he ran up to his teacher as fast as he could. With all the adrenaline pumping through his body Mirou threw the blue ball through the smoke, landing the second hit on Hagura's torso. The Uchiha gave himself I silent cheer for pulling through, but that cheer was short-lived when a sharp punch to the gut sent him flying straight out of the smoke and against a tree. The boy cried out in pain as his back hit the wood, a feeling of nausea overcame him and he doubled over, feeling like he was going to throw up.
"I gotta admit, I underestimated you kids," Hagura spoke. She raised her hand filled with kuni. "But now I'm afraid that I'll have to-"
Hagura tried to to throw the kuni, but found her hand entangled in wire, the same wire that was attached to Mirou's shurikan. From the opposite side of Mirou, Emiru smirked and took out the final ball.
"We win"
He threw the ball with what little energy was left in his body, filling him with a sense of relief that he had just barely made this work. Just as the boys were about to celebrate their victory, a tree came falling down between Emiru and Hagura, stopping the ball and snapping the wires holding the Jonin in place.
"What the hell is your assholes problem! You dipshits left me behind back there when you obviously needed me!" Anri yelled, emerging from the earth below.
Emiru stared in shock and defeat seeing his plan crumble to pieces before him, he should have accounted for this, in hindsight it was obvious, he had known Anri for years and he knew her behaviour, but he was so caught up in trying to make amends with Mirou that he had completely pushed her aside. Emiru's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a timer going off signifying their failure. Hagura used a wind jutsu to blow away the smoke and casually dusted herself off as if she wasn't just beating up a couple of 12-year-olds.
"Alright guys, that's enough, gather yourselves up and go to the entrance of the training grounds, I'll give ya tour final assessment there."
And with that Hagura had completely disappeared, proving to the kids that they never stood a chance against her in the first place. Emiru glared at Anri for the first time, causing her to flinch lightly. He shoved past her and made his way to Mirou who was still on the ground and held out his hand, which the Uchiha took gladly. Emiru put his arm around him to support his teammate and they started walking towards the entrance. There was an uncomfortable silence among the two boys, who decided to walk ahead of Anri.
"Emiru?" Mirou asked, his voice sounded strained from the injuries. His eyes stung from overuse and smoke, while his stomach felt like it was punching him from the inside, not to mention the cuts and scrapes on his legs from travelling so close to the ground.
"Can I ask you a question?" Mirou didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Why were you friends with Anri in the first place?"
Emiru hesitated before answering. "To be honest, I never really wanted to be friends with her. Our parents were friends so I just felt like I had to get along with her you know?"
"What changed?"
"I couldn't stand the way she treated people anymore." He looked Mirou directly in his eyes. "She was especially cruel to you, I simply couldn't stand it anymore."
Nothing was said after that, nothing else needed to be said. Mirou was sure that Emiru understood how grateful he felt and Emiru knew how much Mirou appreciated someone understanding his blight that is Anri Ono.
The kids eventually made their way back to the entrance where their Sensei was waiting to heal their wounds. After that was done they sat down in the dirt, their minds were drained and their hearts in the gutter. Anri was silently fuming while Emiru and Mirou were too defeated to show much of a reaction.
"You guys were an absolute mess out there," Hagura started. She first pointed to Anri. "You completely went off on your own out there instead of cooperating with your teammates, as a result you ended up delaying them till the very end and first leave them with enough time to carry out their plan."
Before Anri could argue Hagura already moved on to Emiru. "And you, smarty pants, didn't even try to find your teammate or include her in any of your plans, and as a result she ended up ruining your chance at victory."
Eniru looked down in shame and Hagura moved on to Mirou. "And you, Uchiha, didn't try to take the initiative and stuck only to your friend's plan. The result was that you froze after your role was complete and you got hurt bad, you became a liability."
Mirou flinched at her words, but he knew that she was right.
"Well, after assessing all of you, and the way you applied yourselves during this test, I have to say that you all-"
"Passed"
The kids were dumbfounded passed? Did she just say that we passed? There was no way, that had done everything wrong and had failed the task that Hagura had given them.
"What?" Mirou managed to stammer out.
"You all passed!" Hagura repeated, a toothy grin spread across her face.
"But how?" Emiru asked. "We failed at everything, just like you said."
"Not quite," Hagura said with a cheeky hand wave. "Perhaps Anri didn't listen to her team, but she was the first to go against an enemy, and that takes guts. And maybe Emiru didn't try to get Anri, but he still came up with many plans that ensured both victory and the safety of his team. And while Mirou didn't take the initiative, he did stick to the plan as a valued member. Maybe you all messed up in your own way, but I think that with a little bit of discipline you lot could become a fine team of Ninja."
Mirou could jump for joy if he wasn't completely exhausted at the moment. All the fear had left his body in an instant when their teacher said that they passed, and now he needed a good nap.
"But first," he thought.
"I need to go tell Sasuke."