Chapter 2: Team 10

Asuma Sarutobi looked over his new students. They would be the next step in a plan he and his father had invested nearly a decade into. Hell, this began even further back than his own involvement. Ever since the second Hokage had convinced the previous daimyo to allow ninja into the Daimyo's Fire Force his father, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had been plotting this. His father trained and prepared him specifically for the Fire Force. His plan for Asuma was always to get him into the Twelve Guardians. To get a ninja he could trust implicitly, into the inner circle of the Daimyo.

That alone had been a monumental task. Even though Kojuro Rengoku, the daimyo during the shodai hokage's era, had passed long ago his descendants had been no more lenient with Konoha than he had been. His grandson Shinjuro Rengoku is a shrewd and suspicious man. It took years of absolute obedience, a nearly perfect mission record, and seemingly unquestionable loyalty for him to allow Asuma into the Twelve Guardians.

Upon gaining the position Asuma immediately set about pushing the village's agenda. As a Guardian he had a say in the people recruited to the Fire Force and he began to recruit heavily from the ninja forces. Entrenching shinobi presence deeply into the force. For a time this resulted in the other guardians curbing his influence, attempting to stem the ever-increasing presence of ninjas. However, their efforts were wasted.

What ninja lack in direct combat they more than make up for in versatility. The convenience and resourcefulness of their techniques began to have a significant impact on the missions of the Fire Force. Showing the various members of the force their value. While the other guardians were hesitant about the ninjas the rest of the Fire Force began to depend on them, especially during the course of the Third Great Nations War.

As the members of the Fire Force completed their enlistment within the force and returned to their respective military branches they brought with them tales of the ninja's usefulness. As these tales spread the wariness of the branches towards ninjas were reduced and they began to send more mission requests to Konoha. Like a snowball rolling downhill Konoha's influence grew, giving Asuma the opportunity and justification to plant a seed in the Daimyo's ear. Wouldn't it be ever so helpful and convenient for the military branches to have more regular access to ninja? How much more successful could they be with ninja units attached directly to their forces?

It took years of plying and convincing for the Daimyo to consider it. But in the end, he couldn't deny the potential of such an arrangement. He agreed to the suggestion on the condition that they would attempt a small trial run first. They would take a team from Konoha and have them act as an attaché unit for the various forces. If the team was successful then they would begin incorporating such teams on a larger scale.

Asuma jumped at the chance, offering to see to the team himself. And now here it was, the team he spent years laying the foundation for was stood before him.

Shikamaru Nara, a young man with an IQ that eclipsed even that of Asuma's father who was known as The Professor. Shikamaru specializes in strategy and tactics. His testing showed that his ability to plan far outstripped his sensei's, experienced war veterans. On top of this according to his father, Shikaku Nara the current Jonin Commander, Shikamaru has an almost instinctual grasp of their clan's techniques. This grasp of the clan techniques and his own intelligence allows Shikamaru to overcome opponents with more training and more power at their disposal. He also shows great potential in terms of teamwork and collaboration. His greatest flaw is his lazy personality. His lethargic habits are so severe that he has been tested for narcolepsy. The current conclusion regarding his behavior is that it is a result of his intelligence. Lacking mental stimulation, he is prone to apathy and indolence.

Inosuke Yamanaka, a young man known for his social acumen and love for mind games. Like Shikamaru he took to his clan's techniques with great ease. Unlike Shikamaru, he was not satisfied with only the basic usage of his clan's techniques. He is known to find creative methods of applying the techniques and even altering them to better suit his needs. He often spent spars more focused on how he could better manipulate his opponents rather than on defeating them. He has an in-depth understanding of human behavior and psychology. This understanding makes him very suited for teamwork and interpersonal relations. His greatest flaw is his overinflated ego. Inosuke is arrogant. He believes his understanding of the mind gives him superiority over those around him. He tends to express this arrogance subtly, using mind games to help him win paramours and manipulate his peers.

Choji Akimichi, a young man well on his way to becoming a juggernaut. Even more than the other two Choji excelled at his clan's techniques. His father and teachers reported that he wields them more like an Akimichi veteran than an un-blooded genin. It usually takes years of experience for an Akimichi to truly understand the versatility of their techniques. Choji didn't need that time. He elongates his legs to more easily step into an opponent's guard, alternates the growth size and rate of his arms so that his opponent can never adapt to his attack flow, and alters various body parts to diffuse the force of his opponent's attacks. He is intelligent and sympathetic, making him suited for teamwork and for forming connections with others. His biggest flaw is his tendency for passivity. Growing up with friends that had more domineering personalities like Shikamaru and Inosuke he had grown used to being a follower and not acting of his own volition.

Asuma was generally pleased with them, but they were still far from reaching the standard he planned to hold them too. And as for their personality flaws… working them into shape was going to be fun.

A sadistic grin split Asuma's face. "Now that you know the purpose of our little team, we're going to start focusing on what steps we'll need to take to get you genin ready for this assignment. I'm going to be teaching you how to operate as a unit, how to best work with personnel from the other forces, and how to influence the other forces for the sake of Konoha's agendas. You will learn how to handle yourself in political arenas and how to carry yourselves as dignified ninjas of Konoha. We will also be working on my favorite aspect of our profession, wet work.

According to your files each of you are more than competent as rookie genin. However, as the first team of our kind, competency is not enough. We will need to be exemplary, beyond reproach. We will need to set a precedent for the teams that will follow. As I will be leading you from today, so too will you be leading future attaché teams."

Grinning around his cigarette Asuma continued "With all that in mind, we'll begin by working on your coordination under pressure and insurmountable odds. Try not to die kids, we've put a lot of planning into this team." The moment after Asuma finished his statement he dashed forward, his figure a blur to the genin, and planted his foot in Shikamaru's chest.

Mind still reeling from the barrage of information that Asuma had just dropped on them, Inosuke was unprepared when Asuma struck Shikamaru. For a moment he stared blankly as the kick launched Shikamaru into the distant tree line, separating the team instantly.

Shaking himself out of his stupor he jumped backwards away from Asuma, trying to gain distance. As his mind raced Inosuke thought 'He targeted Shika first, our strategist. That dick put us on the backfoot before we even knew combat was coming.' Activating the Mind Pulse jutsu, he opened his senses to the brain waves of Asuma and his teammates. He then threw a brace of shuriken and began racing through hand seals as he watched Choji respond by roaring and lengthen his legs to step into melee range with Asuma.

He found Shikamaru's brain waves firing rapidly. 'Good, the sneak attack didn't take him out instantly. If Shika went down that easy, we'd never let his lazy ass hear the end of it' he thought as he finished his hand signs, creating an ethereal spike of mental energy. Silently intoning 'Mind Spike jutsu' he launched it in the wake of his shuriken.

The mind spike jutsu was a distraction technique of the Yamanake clan. Striking a target with an ethereal spike of mental energy disrupts the opponents' thought process with a lance of psychic pain. Giving the user an opportunity to disengage or begin their counterattack. As the technique is primarily composed of mental energy it cannot be physically blocked, only dodged. Inosuke hoped that the jutsu would distract Asuma and give Choji an opening as he began running through a longer set of hand seals.

As Inosuke ran through hand seals he watched Choji open his attack on Asuma with an uppercut from his enlarged right fist. Asuma tilted his head out of the way and countered with a left jab to Choji's nose. The blow flashing faster than he could follow. Instead of pressing his attack Asuma followed it up with a back step that allowed Inosuke's shuriken and mind spike to pass through the space he had just occupied.

As they passed Asuma snatched one of the shuriken out of the air and holding it between his fingers thrust it forward towards the retaliatory punch that Choji was throwing. Thinking fast, Choji canceled the elongation of his legs. The move pulled him back out of immediate melee range and prevented him from impaling his fist on the shuriken. Not willing to let Asuma continue to control the pace of the fight Choji rushed through three hand signs and transformed into a large ball that proceeded to race towards Asuma.

Inosuke finished his hand signs and silently intoned his next technique, 'Mind Body Transmission'. As he finalized the technique, he felt his mental energy form a bridge between his brain waves and those of Shikamaru and Choji.

The moment the telepathic link was created he and Choji received a message from Shikimaru, "Flash bang tag incoming. Disengage. Choji head east. Inosuke, south." As he received the message the shuriken in Asuma's hand was flicked in his direction, even as Asuma swayed out of the way of Choji's jutsu. He noted the wind style chakra sharpening the shuriken and increasing its velocity.

He cursed across the transmission, warning his team, "He's opening up with fucking elemental channeling, dodge his weapons don't block them."

Inosuke used the substitution jutsu both to evade the shuriken and to reposition himself towards the south. As he initiated the jutsu he saw Choji, still in boulder form, roll past Asuma heading towards the east.

He made a break for the southern tree line as the shuriken ripped through the log he had left in his wake. A tag seal strapped to a kunai came flying out of the tree line that Shikamaru had been launched into. Shielding his eyes with his arm from the flash of light that he knew would be coming he thought. 'Seconds into the fight and we're already scurrying away with our tails between our legs. Today is going to be just wonderful.'

Sakura Yamanaka hid under a bush and thought, 'How did what was supposed to be one of the best days of our life go to shit so quickly?' Their day had started wonderfully and then everything went downhill.

Firstly, Inosuke was assigned to a different squad than them. Rationally they knew that this was most likely going to happen, but it still stung. Inosuke and them had been inseparable since the day that they had joined his clan. Their parents, civilians working in a Yamanaka owned business, brought them to Inoichi Yamanaka in hopes of enlisting his help in sorting out Sakura's multiple personalities. To the surprise of their parents instead of suggesting a form of treatment the Yamanaka clan head introduced them to his son and offered them a place within the clan. Both sides of Sakura cherished the memories of that day. Instead of their condition marking them as a problem they had found acceptance and even approval from the Yamanaka clan. More importantly to them, they met Inosuke. He had accepted them without a second thought and took them under his wing. He taught them the ways of their new clan, protected them from the kids that mocked them for their condition and admittedly oversized forehead, and he had helped bring them out of their solitude. He is their best friend and as of a year ago their lover. The thought of being on separate teams from him distressed them.

Secondly, the wrong blond was assigned to their team. Having Naruto Senju assigned to their team was a further point of distress for them. Inosuke had often told them that their dislike of the boy was a bit over the top, but what else could they feel for him. Like them he was adopted into one of Konoha's noble clans and not just any noble clan, the Senju clan. The most prestigious clan in Konoha. Yet did the boy appreciate it? No. Instead of taking full advantage of the opportunity granted to him like they had, the boy spent his time being disruptive and crowing about how he was someday going to become Hokage. The boy went on and on about gaining the most honored and respected title the village had but never seemed to be working towards his lofty goal. Naruto frustrated them on a fundamental level. Their ways of thinking were just too different.

Thirdly, their new sensei literally read porn in front of them. Enough said.

Fourthly, having Sasuke on their team hadn't turned out to be the dream they expected either. Inner found herself drawn in by the boy's trauma and dark personality. It awoken a nurturing feeling inside of her that made her just want to fix everything for him. She also knew that outer believes that, and she quotes "His red flags are hawt." Despite how unhealthy they knew that their infatuation with the boy was, Sakura had still hoped that they could get something going between them, Sasuke, and Inosuke. The image was perfect too them. Insouke's light to Sasuke's dark. Yin and Yang with a nice pink swirl in the middle. However, instead of getting to lay the groundwork for this relationship with Sasuke, they had found themselves being ignored by him. Regardless of how they tried to start a conversation he answered in one word or with a grunt. When the bell test had begun he had launched away on his own, showing no signs of being interested in working with them.

All this combined brought Inner back to her question, 'How did today go to shit so quickly?'

Inner's question was answered by Outer 'It's the crazy, "I read porn in public", cyclops' fault! Scratch that, it's the fault of men in general. First the Hokage assigned us to learn under the crazy cyclops. Then Inosuke's refusal to accept destiny caused him to be put on a separate team. To put a cherry on top of the shit pie, the most obnoxious Senju alive had the nerve to be placed on our team in Inosuke's place.'

Inner retorted, 'You do understand how irrational that train of thought was, right? The Hokage and his aides put the teams together based on who would be most suitable. Having two Yamanakas on a team would be redundant. Despite our shared aversion for Naruto, his wood release techniques and force multiplication via shadow clones, pair well with our techniques and those of Sasuke. As for the Kakashi Sensei…no you might be right there, that perverted cyclops is crazy.'

Outer snorted 'Of course I'm right. Who's ever heard of a team being decided by whether or not a genin could steal something from a fucking jonin? It's a set up, we literally have no chance. Even if we teamed up with Sasuke and Naruto, we would never be able to steal the bells from Kakashi.'

Inner couldn't help but find herself agreeing with Outer. Even if they teamed up with the other two stealing the bells would be next to impossible. Also, there were only two bells. If they somehow managed to team up and get them, someone would still have to sacrifice their chances of being accepted on the team.

To even get to that point they would have to swallow their distaste for Naruto and somehow convince Sasuke to join them when the boy clearly wanted nothing to do with either them or Naruto. Despite this they found themselves further contemplating joining forces with the boys on their team. What other choice did they really have? They had no trick up their sleeve that could overcome a jonin, but maybe working together the three of them could at least impress the one-eyed asshole enough to let them pass.

Running through hand signs Sakura locked on to the brain waves of Naruto and Sasuke, silently intoning 'Mind Body Transmission'.

A/N

Woot! I got this chapter done a lot sooner than I was expecting. I was planning to finish it on Sunday like the last one but once I started typing I kept going. Only two chapters in and I'm already having a lot of fun with this.

I wasn't originally planning to put more of Asuma and Sakura's perspectives in this than Inosuke's but it worked out that way anyways. The next one should be more Inosuke focused.

My first attempt at writing a combat scene was interesting. I could picture it in my head but putting it in writing felt strange. Hopefully it reads well.

Thanks for reading.