Chapter 3: A long day

As Inosuke broke into the tree line a loud blast and flash of light went off behind him. Sensing the locations of the rest of his team he noted Shikamaru moving towards him and Choji rapidly moving further east. Asuma seemed to be hot on Choji's trail.

He transmitted over the link "Choji, he's still after you. The flash bang didn't slow him down."

Before Choji could respond, they both heard Shikamaru, "Good, he's moving as expected. Inosuke, fall in on me. Choji, alter your course. Begin moving southeast. Make it a fighting retreat, we'll need time to prepare the ambush site. "

Choji piped in "On it Shika. But you'll need to work quick, he didn't even need to stop smoking during that last exchange. I'm not going to last long on my own."

Still racing towards Inosuke, Shikamaru responded "Don't worry, you won't have to stall him for long. An elaborate trap isn't going to work on this guy. He knows exactly what we're capable of and will be expecting something clever, so we're going simple and dirty."

Inosuke didn't bother responding, just continued to rush in Shikamaru's direction while contemplating what he knew of Asuma. 'Most of my information is suspect at best. The Naruto series had made Asuma out to be an easy-going man with little ambition. The man we're dealing with now is proving to be the polar opposite of that. The guy had shown up, gave us a history lesson, lectured us about our future, and then proceeded to start kicking our teeth in.

Everything about Asuma suggests that we are dealing with a hard ass. The Sandaime Hokage's perfect soldier. That brief exchange told me exactly how accurate that is. His every move and statement are calculated. He overwhelmed us with a long diatribe of useful information, and then attacked seemingly out of nowhere.

Yet, his sucker punch, or rather kick, on Shikamaru had been aimed for the right side of his chest. Avoiding both his solar plexus and heart. No ninja, worth a damn, avoids vitals while attacking. Asuma wanted him winded and removed long enough for Choji and me to start the fight without him. After that his every action has been measured and reactive, assessing. He waits for us to act and then responds.

He only struck Choji after Choji's own attack missed. He could have easily avoided Choji's next attack, but he chose to use the shuriken I had thrown at him to force Choji back and then retaliated against me.

Even now I can sense him following Choji at a set rate. As a jonin he can easily out pace Choji but he's choosing not to. Instead, he's staying just close enough to pressure Choji without overwhelming him. He's anticipating a trap and plans to spring it. He is going to worm his way out of it and use it to punish us. Just like he has in response to our every other move. He thinks and acts like a soldier. Soldiers are rigid; they live and die by structure. Routine, command, and plans. When they leave the army, they lose their structure and with it their certainty. We need to disrupt his plan completely. Without it he will waver.'

As he reached the conclusion of his train of thought Inosuke fell in line beside Shikamaru. A smile grew over his face. Speaking up verbally for the first time since the fight had begun, he said "Shika, I've got a plan."

Asuma lazily followed after Choji, occasionally picking up speed to exchange blows with him before he would allow the genin to disengage and continue to lead him towards the trap the other two should be setting up. At the pace they were moving at he assumed they would be reaching it soon. He thought that the genin were doing alright so far. At least in terms of teamwork, they hadn't shown anything particularly impressive combat wise yet. They overcame their surprise and organized quickly, which was good. 'They'll need that adaptability in the field.' He thought.

As he was finishing his thought Choji led them into small clearing. On the opposite end of it he could just barely make out Shikamaru crouching in the shadow of a tree. Asuma thought to himself, 'He chose a well shaded position to initiate his clan's technique. From this distance his shadow techniques should reach me. Meaning that the Yamanaka should be setting up a distraction to give him the opening he needs.'

Choji had stopped in front of him and began to run through hand seals. Narrowing his eyes Asuma said "Signing right in front of me without ensuring I was occupied first? That's going to cost you kid." As he finished his statement Asuma blurred forward and sent Choji sliding backwards with a heavy punch to the stomach. To his surprise instead of reacting to the blow Choji let himself move with the blow and continued making hand seals.

Before Asuma could continue his assault, Inosuke possessing a crow swooped over him dropped a rock wrapped in a paper bombs towards his head. He leapt backwards just as the explosion went off blinding him with a cloud of smoke. He began weaving seals intent on firing a wind style technique, to clear the smoke and to disrupt whatever jutsu Choji was preparing, when the genin surprised him again.

Shikamaru, the one he least expected to face him head on, rushed through the smoke straight towards him. Once Shikamaru was within feet of Asuma he stopped dead in his tracks and launched the sickle end of a kusarigama at Asuma's head with all the force he could muster.

Asuma canceled his jutsu and dodged in incoming sickle. As it passed by him, he saw Shikamaru making a one-handed seal with the hand that wasn't holding chain of the kusarigama. As Shikamaru completed the seal the shadow of the chain writhed, forming several strands that launched towards Asuma. 'The shadow stitching jutsu' Asuma thought as he performed the substitution jutsu, leaving a log in his place to be skewered by the technique.

Instead of following up on his attack Shikamaru yanked the chain and dragged the sickle back into his hands as he made a break for the tree line. At this point the smoke had begun to clear and Asuma could see Choji again. The genin had swollen up like a balloon, his torso having grown to the point where it nearly consumed the rest of his body.

Asuma could make out Choji's lips moving "Fire style: bellows flame". With that utterance, fire burst free from the genin's mouth, his expanded lungs creating a veritable flamethrower. As Asuma dodged the incoming flames Choji shifted his head from side to side following the jonin's movements. Choji began to shrink as he fed the chakra and calories of his transformation into his sustained fire style jutsu.

Asuma, not shying way, swayed around the flames while making his way towards Choji for his counterattack. As Asuma got closer Choji's jutsu began to putter out, his shape returning to normal. Closing the last of the distance Asuma struck out, whipping Choji's head to the side with the force of his punch. Before he could continue his assault Asuma found himself transported into his father's office.

"Report jonin, have you been accepted into the guardians?" The Hokage asked. Asuma remembered this question, this moment in his life.

He had spent years following his father's plan. He worked himself to the bone every day in the Fire Force to prove his worth. He put in twice the effort of those around him. To show them the value of a Konoha nin. It paid off; he was finally accepted into Twelve Guardians. He had accomplished the goal his father had set for him as a child. He had been so proud of himself. He returned to the village, to his father, after years of struggling and toiling away.

In the face of his achievement did his father congratulate him? No. Did his father even bother to thank him for his sacrifices? No. The Hokage didn't offer his loyal son, who had done everything he asked and hadn't stepped foot in the village in years, so much as a hello. The Hokage demanded a report.

This was a moment that broke Asuma's heart. His fathered had changed with the death of his mother and this was the moment he finally recognized it. The moment that he realized that he had a commanding officer, not a father.

The flow of Asuma's chakra flickered and then burst back to life. The genjutsu fell away as Asuma returned to the burned clearing. Asuma recognized it as the Yamanaka clan's personal take on the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing technique, the Demonic Illusion: Trauma Viewing technique. A variation of the technique that forced the victim to relive a traumatic event instead of witnessing their fears.

His honed instincts sharpened as he prepared to counter whatever attack the genin had prepared in his moment of distraction. The attack never came. Asuma scanned the clearing, his genin weren't there anymore.

Inosuke laughed as he and his teammates made their way back into the academy. "I can't wait to find out how Asuma reacts when he realizes he got punked by fresh genin!"

"Are you guys sure this was a good idea?" Choji asked, still holding his cheek from Asuma's last blow.

"Of course it is. There was no way for us to win the fight so instead we had to win in terms of objectives. Asuma sensei's objective was to assess us. By escaping and denying him his objective we are essentially going above and beyond his expectations. After all, most missions could probably be summed up as denying an enemy their objective." Inosuke answered.

With a sigh Shikamaru said "Troublesome blond. You do realize this isn't going to be the end of it, right? Asuma sensei isn't going to just accept failure. I went along with this because it will give us more time to prepare but he's going to finish this combat assessment at some point, and we'll be lucky if he doesn't make it worse on us."

Shaking his head Inosuke responded "We out played him Shika. We did something completely out of his expectations. He's going to be reeling from this. That's a better showing than any simple display of teamwork in combat".

"In some ways you're not wrong." A voice Inosuke hadn't expected to hear so quickly uttered.

As a plume of ash burst into existence in front of him Inosuke felt his breath cut off as a hand constricted around his throat. He snatched the tanto off his back and swung it towards the offending hand but found that his own was caught in return. Inosuke's hand was twisted, forcing him to drop his weapon and before Choji or Shikamaru could move to help him his captor performed the body flicker technique. Dragging him back outside of the academy, the hand still not allowing him to draw a breath.

He stared up into the eyes of Asuma, who looked down at him in a detached almost bored manner. A lit cigarette still between his lips Asuma said "Your arrogance is showing Yamanaka. That was clever of you three. The three of you covered each other well and operated in a unified manner. You even put up a decent fight for a little while. Your plan wasn't bad either. Put me off kilter with your genjutsu and then abandon the exercise, leaving me confused and disoriented. But here's the part where you fucked up, I'm an elite jonin. There is no situation that I can't adapt to. The assessment only ends when I say it does. Not when you reach home base like a group of kids playing tag."

Inosuke could see Choji and Shikamaru rushing towards them out of his peripheral. Before he could transmit a message to them asking for help or form some kind of escape plan Asuma raised his fist and began to strike him in the face. Between the rain of blows and the lack of oxygen Inosuke lost consciousness.

When Insokue awoke his face and throat felt inflamed. Sitting up he looked around him to find that he was on the roof of the academy. Choji and Shikamaru were laid out to his right. Both looked as battered as he felt.

"You three have a nice nap?" Asuma's voice called out from behind them. Turning around Inosuke found Asuma leaning against the railing of the roof. Lighting a fresh cigarette Asuma continued "Want to explain where your plan went wrong?"

Thinking 'I outplayed him, a jonin, and he says my plan went wrong. I expected to get chewed out when he put himself back together, but that attack was ridiculous.' Inosuke, felt rage begin to heat his blood. But he was Yamanaka, his mind wouldn't be controlled by his feelings. Compartmentalizing his emotions as he had been taught, Inosuke put on a contrite face.

Appearing as if he were genuinely reflecting on his choices. He responded with a raspy voice "It went wrong, when I assumed I had a good read on you and made presumptions about how you would respond to our actions."

'That part is at least true; I should have taken follow-up steps. Something to truly leave him without a response. I'll be better next time, more thorough.' Inosuke thought to himself.

Asuma returned "Exactly. You thought you had me figured out and could get away with playing mind games with me. You thought that by escaping the situation you could throw me off and force me to dance to your tune. Honestly, it's not a bad strategy. Against an enemy it might even work. However, I'm not an enemy that you can distract and run from. I'm your commander and I had a goal that I was going to see through regardless of how you responded."

Inosuke couldn't argue with that. In a way he knew that Asuma was right. He had believed that by changing the parameters of the situation he could control the flow of events. He had grown used to manipulating his peers and thought that he could do the same with Asuma. While he had managed to throw Asuma off, the level of manipulation he used on his peers wasn't enough to handle a jonin. 'As they say, fuck around and find out. Well, I found out.' He thought sardonically.

Bowing his head Inosuke offered a partially sincere apology "Sorry sensei. It won't happen again." In the safety of his own head he thought, 'I'll be better at it next time'.

Asuma shook his head in return and said, "Don't just apologize to me. You made a bad call, and it had consequences for your teammates as well. In the field that could get them killed."

Nodding, Inosuke turned to Choji and Shikamaru and apologized to them with full sincerity. He truly felt bad that his plan had gotten them hurt as well.

"Don't sweat it Ino, I went along with you, so I'm just as much to blame. Sorry sensei." Choji said.

Shikamaru sighed and said "I made the plan around your suggestion so I'm just as complicit. Sorry sensei."

Asuma nodded and said "With that out of the way we're going to focus on the plans for this team's future. Our first mission has already been decided. In two months from now a company of soldiers and samurai will set out from the capital, bound for the Land of Sky. Their objective is to aid the Sky Daimyo in putting down his younger brother's rebellion. We will be joining them for the duration of their deployment, which will be registered as a long-term B-rank mission for us. This is a vested interest for our nation because the Sky Daimyo is desperate enough that he is offering an embassy and a military outpost within his borders. This will give us a foothold in the Eastern Continent. Opening new trade routes and opportunities to influence nations that have thus far been outside of our reach."

In Inosuke's memories of the Naruto movies the Land of Sky was less of a nation and more of a mechanical marvel crafted by ninja's. In this world it was mountainous land with villages and cities carved directly into the face of said mountains. The capital was even built under a cliff plateau like the Western Air Temple from the Avatar series. The nation's ninja village had apparently been wiped out a few generations ago by a mad man's attempt at unsealing a powerful yokai. He found that it was hard to depend on his memories when they were so inconsistent with his current reality.

Asuma continued "For the next two months you will be studying and training in preparation for this assignment. We will be getting you three up to speed on the current state of our nation's samurai and those of the wider world. You will need the information to work with them on a regular basis. In general samurai have very little regard for us. They don't respect the nature of our techniques. To help overcome this you three will be learning one of the few techniques that are shared between samurai and ninja. Elemental channeling. It is one of the only techniques ninjas have access to that the samurai respect. It will give you something to work with while you attempt to establish rapport with them."

Shikamaru balked at this "Those techniques take some people years to learn. How do you expect us to learn it in two months?"

Asuma raised his brow at Shikamaru and said "What's that Nara? You feel like the eight weeks I generously offered you is too much? You think that you should learn it in six? Well, that's the kind of go-getter, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, attitude I like to see in genin." Giving a pause to let his words sink in Asuma asked "Any more complaints?"

Despite Shikamaru's mutinous glare none of the genin spoke up. Taking that as license to continue Asuma said "I don't expect you to master the technique. However, I do expect you to learn how to visibly use it. Mastery will come with years of practice and use, for right now you just need to be able to display the technique in front of samurai. Two months should be plenty for that.

I've also spoken with your clan heads, during this two-month period they will be setting time aside to begin working with you on your clans' more advanced techniques. I wasn't joking before; our team is going to need to excel.

Do you think most fresh genin are given a two-month free period to train and prepare before taking missions? The fact that you are being given this time should impress upon you how serious the village is taking our team's assignment.

As this period will be dedicated to a prolonged mission prep you are each going to be paid for a long-term C-rank mission. You will report to Hokage tower weekly to collect your pay."

Finishing his address to the genin Asuma pulled out a scroll and rolled it out across the ground. As he channeled chakra into it the scroll released a puff of smoke, and three piles of scrolls appeared on top of it.

Looking back at the genin Asuma said "These will be your study materials for the next two months. They include reports on our samurai, those of the Land of Sky, and information on the geography and political landscape of the Land of Sky. Each of you take a pile. I expect you to memorize their contents and be able to recite it upon request. You are dismissed for the day. Go home and rest up. You'll need it for tomorrow." With that Asuma disappeared in a cloud of ash.

Turning to the others Inosuke said "I don't like him."

Shikamaru snorted "I get the impression that the feeling is mutual. Regardless, it doesn't matter if we like him or not. For right now he owns our collective asses. The sooner we reach chunin rank, the sooner we'll be rid of him. I'm going home to sleep and hopefully forget today ever happened."

Choji nodded, responding "Same, I don't even feel hungry anymore."

As they gathered their scrolls and separated Inosuke's mind replayed the days events. It could have gone a lot better as far as he was concerned. He admitted to himself that sadly, a significant portion of the day's problems were his own fault.

As he made his way home, he stopped at Yakiniku Q and picked up take-out for himself and Sakura. He figured if her day had gone anything like his she'd appreciate something good to eat when she got home.

A/N

Chapter three in the bag. What did y'all think of the fight scene and Inosuke's behavior? I feel like for a character to be interesting they have to grow and evolve. I think that having Inosuke start as a cocky sixteen-year-old and leaving him room to mature and grow will make him into a more dynamic character later on.

I plan to write this story mainly from the perspective of Inosuke with the occasional addition of Sakura and a third genin. Next chapter will be focusing on Team 7 and hopefully ending with a snippet from the third genin's perspective. Kudos to anyone who can guess who the third genin will be.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.