I own my OCs, nothing that'll get me sued yada yada berries my ideas are mine yours are yours blarg.
It wouldn't be an Uzumaki training session if none was giving it there all. Nagato and Shingo had really outdone themselves this time. Some would say it was because they were always trying to push the kids of the clan. Others(the Uzumaki quartet) would call it torture of the highest level based on the fact they were their children and clan heir respectively.
"I bet Tadashi never had to do this stuff." Karin said to her twin. Before he could reply Shingo appeared before the quartet. His smile was not one of good intentions and the group pick up on it.
"Oh your quite right my sweet daughter, Tadashi didn't have to. He was instead made to reorganize the entire clan library even ink faction scrolls. This because he failed his first U.S.A. and didn't want to become a shinobi. But you will be part of the long history of kunoichi in our family. After all you can't become The Twin Maelstroms overnight!" He said. It would've been a little bit more motivating if they were practicing chakra control in one of Uzu's more aggressive whirlpools. C'mon just one more hour and then we can escape! The quartet thought.
"That was the deadliest treadmill I've ever been on." Kyō said on the walk to school. It was graduation day and the group was expecting something hard but that was just plain cruel.
"Well we might've had it easier if SOMEONE didn't mouth off about how easy things would be once got out of the academy!" Kenshin said glaring at Kyō. The two went back in forth for a bit until they were halfway to the academy.
"Naruto! Back me up here you and Kenshin will get your new weapons blessed with the infernal kiss and-"
Naruto turned and gave him a look that could rival his mothers. Hair defying gravity and eyes glowing with anger he spoke slowly."You expect me to back you up when you not only got us in trouble but CHOSE THAT AS THE PUNISHMENT!!!" Before Kyō could make a joke about the apple not falling far from the tree or Naruto could pounce on his friend, the Ice Princesses showed up.
"Oh hey Hinata, I forgot we were gonna meet up today!" Naruto said with a foxy grin. The rest of the quartet let out a sigh of relief. They could always count on the Hyuga princess to calm down their most hot headed friend.
"Yes, it may be the last I see if you. Graduation is a big step and who knows if we'll all pass." She said with a smirk, causing knowing looks from the other two in her trio. Hinata was practically ice like the other Hyugas the undertone of gentleness was rarely displayed. The rest of the quartet was in a similar state of mind although they couldn't help but think Naruto oblivious.
"What do ya mean?! Your gonna pass for sure you've gotta be the best in our class, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed as they walked into the academy leaving her face almost as red as his hair. He didn't seem to notice and kept at it until the Hyuga princess made it clear she was confident in her abilities. They took their usual seats and class played out normally for the potential shinobi. Only differences were the lack of screeching fangirls and the other teacher in the room waiting for Iruka to begin.
"Alright everyone let's try and keep this short. Today may be the last day of the academy for some of you and while the class has gotten smaller over the years, I'd like to think this year's group will be my crowning achievement." Iruka said leading into a larger speech about work and other boring stuff the kids didn't want to hear. He finally finished with his speech and told the class of today's schedule.
"The rankings are still very much open to change. Your performance in the academy three will be just as important as the spars yesterday. Sensei Mizuki will be judging instead of participating like yesterday. Head in the next room in alphabetical order." Iruka said and pulled the other teacher into the room. One after another kids walked in the room.
As expected nearly all the civilians came back empty handed. It was unfortunate to think when the current Hokage was, himself a civilian born shinobi. The remaining students were Ino and the Uzumaki quartet. "Karin Uzumaki!" Iruka called out from the testing room. She stood and marched down the steps with silent confidence. Some snickered watching, thinking it was an Ice princess imitation. She was in for just over the standard minimum of five minutes so far. When she returned she had a green headband.
She looked to see if any doubts clouds her brothers mind before he went off. They couldn't control what team they'd be on but they DEFINITELY wouldn't be the next Twin Maelstroms if he failed now. He stood and nodded his head toward her acknowledging her doubt and responding with his own display of confidence. A display that was obviously a poor imitation of the Ice princesses. He waited at the door and entered after Mizuki called his name. He took 15 seconds longer than his sister but ultimately had the same results. He shyly waved a white headband.
Kyō, ever the impatient one, barges in right after. 6 minutes later and he came back out with a blue headband. His cheeky smile matched the one on Naruto's face who was ready to get it over with already.
Once called in Iruka gave another run down of what to do. "Show us the Henge no jutsu." Iruka said. Naruto nodded and with a puff of smoke turned into Mito Senju. He was docked a point for the smoke but scored high marks for all other factors. He held the jutsu for 3 minutes before being asked to stop. He was then told to move on to the substitution jutsu where he replaced Himself with Mizuki to dodge a kunai. Then he preformed the Shadow clone jutsu awarding him extra points.
"Now you can show us another jutsu for more points if you want. This should cover any demerits on your performance thus far." Mizuki said in a monotone voice. Naruto guessed that surprising his senseis would get the points he needed and decided on a suiton jutsu. "Suiton: Water Tornado" Mizuki was about to laugh and remind him that there was no water the room to use but was left totally speechless when a pillar of water surrounded the boy. It practically spun into existence and needless to say Naruto received top marks. And left with a blue headband.
The passing students were told to return the next day for team assignments something the Uzumaki quartet and Ice Princesses decided to celebrate later. They all had their families to tell and little things they'd like to do for themselves. "Oh wait I forgot my headband in class." Naruto was lucky enough to run into Iruka closing up for the day and got his headband with no issue. It was on the way out that he overheard Mizuki talking to Mizu about a special test.
"The fuck?! That's definitely not right Iruka would've said something. I need to tell dad!" Naruto thought frantically.
The father son duo planned to intercept Mizu to inform him of the deception but instead had been informed by the boy himself of their senseis treachery. They devised a new plan for Mizu to carry out but the boy was confused. "This sounds like a mission, I can't do that as a civilian…" he looked downtrodden but perked up when a blue head band was slid his way.
"I remember your grandfather his shinobi career was quite inspiring for me when I was a Genin. I've read the files for this years Genin pool and I saw what took you down in the exam. 'Failure to maintain henge for a decent period of time' I think we can get you a sensei that will help you with chakra control and levels respectively. So what do you say to your first mission Hagihara san?" Minato asked.
"I accept, thank you Lord Fourth!" Mizu said taking his headband and Naruto to help set up the traps for Mizuki.
Six hours later
Mizu was "wandering" the forest with the hopes that Mizuki was watching and gaining a sense of confidence. As a Hagihara he knew the importance of manipulation, wether you wanted someone to fall for your trap or pay obscene prices, a true Hagihara let their victim be confident in their blunders. Naruto is tailing behind me incase anything bad happens so we should be foolproof.
"So you managed to get the scroll after all? Wasn't expecting that from a FAILED academy student." Mizuki said from the trees.
Mizu looked up and mocked shock at the traitor. "But wait I learned a jutsu from the scroll like you said! So I-I pass right sensei?" Mizu didn't even let the traitor speak before shouting out "Shadow clone jutsu" a 'clone' popped into existence in a plume of smoke. "Look sensei I can pass now right?" Mizu and his 'clone' asked excitedly.
"Yeah sure kid now hand me the scroll so I can put it back!" Mizuki reached out but Mizu tossed the scroll to his double and feigned confusion.
"But, what about my headband? You didn't forget right sensei? Hahaha maybe I'm not the only failure then hahahaha!" Mizuki was beyond impatient by this point and leapt at the boy. He was unsuccessful in his assault though. The traitor was tangled up in a mess of ninja wire he seemed to have just enough mobility to reach for his kunai and cut himself free.
"Your gonna pay for that brat! I was gonna kill you anyway, it would be easy, but now…you'll die slow and painfully!" The traitorous Chūnin freed himself and threw his giant shuriken at the student. When the attack literally phased through the boy he knew he'd been duped. The traitor look around frantically. He checked nearly all directions, then up, then-
"Hey over here sensei! You want this right?" Mizu yelled from a nearby clearing but Mizuki knew better. He threw another shuriken of regular size at the boy and watched as it phased through him again. Then a snapping sound came from behind him. Footsteps heading toward the village.
"You can't get away from me BRAT!!" He bolted off after the kid and threw shuriken after shuriken at the boy to no avail. They were still to deep in the forest and it was darkening by the minute.Suddenly a gust of wind pushed Mizuki down, he listened as the footsteps got further and further away and in a burst of anger got up and started to sprint. He pumped chakra into his legs and finally caught the boy by the collar."No more tricks and no more running. NOW DIE!" He plunged a kunai into Mizu chest and watched him bleed for a for a few seconds before blue hair and brown eyes turned to red hair and heliotrope orbs. The boy snapped and poofed away.
That was when he was pushed into a pit full of bear traps.Mizuki was taken to the TI department for a special meeting with Junko Uzumaki about the reason for his treachery. Meanwhile the passing students had gathered in their old classroom for team assignments.
"Welcome back everyone, we have quite a large pool of Genin this year but we also have a larger amount of opens teams available too." Iruka said. Teams one through six were most of the civilians kids left and no one Naruto really talked to. He sat there waiting for his team to be assigned to him with a mix of dread and excitement. He took the time to talk to Labolas at first but found they were currently defending their territory in Inferno.
"Team seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno" the pink haired girl boasted about true love while the Uchiha took an even paler hue. "and Naruto Uzumaki. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Naruto perked up a bit, after all Kakashi would be the only person on this team he could tolerate it seemed.
"Team 8, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Mizu Hagihara. Sensei-oh god! Anko Mitarashi." And just like that the window was smashed in by a woman with purple hairy and aside from the trench coat a rather questionable outfit.
"Let's go maggots! Let's see if you're worth driving into dirt for a few hours." She said before marching up to her students and throwing them through the now open window. With a sigh Iruka continued.
"Since team 9 is still active, let's move in to team ten. Team ten will consist of Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Sensei, Asuma Sarutobi. Next team 11, Karin Uzumaki, Kenshin Uzumaki, and Kyō Uzumaki. Your sensei will be Kanata Uzumaki." A purple spiral appeared in the air and a tall short haired woman walked through it. Her red pixie cut and toxic purple eyes told the students one important thing about her. An ink faction veteran was hard to come by, most never took on students and opted for the Anbu route or were always away on missions.
"Hmm well I suppose a good performance isn't judge by looks alone. Meet at trading ground 11 in five minutes." She drew a seal into the air and left exactly how she arrived. The Uzumakis of team 11 rushed out to the chosen meeting spot.
"Team 12 is still active so the last team will be team 13. Hinata Hyuga, Rio Kaguya, and Yakumo Kurama. Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi." They girls nodded and left silently when said Jōnin arrived. Then there was team seven. Two hours after finding out their assigned team that the group started to really interact with each other. Naruto looked up from a book on fuinjutsu to see his two teammates staring at him. With a sigh he started the conversation.
"Look I don't know why he does this so if your looking to get a reason your lookin' at the wrong guy. We've been classmates for years so introductions seem pointless. Especially on the count of Sakura making herself known everyday and Sasuke being too busy brooding about whatever in the corner." He wanted to go back to reading his book so badly but life tended to be cruel at times and as Sakura screeched at him for the next hour about being rude to her and her precious Sasuke kun, he couldn't help but think this was one of those moments.
He had wanted to enter purgatorio and leave the two but had to keep appearances. Public use of faction techniques were very strict especially with anomalies and the Ink faction. Which is probably why so many feel justified in taking their first step or sealing away their abnormality. Naruto thought to himself.
Suddenly Kakashi appeared. "My first thought of you guys…boring. Meet me on the roof in 30 seconds or I'm leaving." Then he was gone again in a poof of smoke.
Sasuke and Sakura scrambled out of the class room, Naruto jumped out the broken window and walked up to the roof. "So who'd you lose to?" Naruto asked.
"What I can't just take another stab at teaching? You wound me Naruto." Kakashi said dramatically.
"Cut the crap, you know and I know what you think about teaching so tell the truth." Naruto said and his hair started to float up reminding the Jōnin all too much of his mother and that was enough to get talking.
"Your mother won a bet against me and Your father thought it would be good for you." He lied.
"Uh huh. For me, definitely." Naruto deadpanned. The door then burst open and out fell Sakura. Sasuke who had still remained silent all this time quietly stepped over her and went to sit in front the silver haired Jōnin. The girl came over a little down, but only because Sasuke didn't pick her up.
"Well I don't know you guys very well and all so why do we introduce ourselves. Im Kakashi and I have likes and dislikes. My dreams aren't grand and that's about it." The three sweat dropped at the lackluster example. It was both oddly said and uninformative. "You first Pinky." Kakashi said pointing at the girl.
"Oh well um I'm Sakura Haruno, I like traveling with my dad and studying. The person I like… well the boy is… eeek! I DISLIKE INO PIG and anyone that tries to wrong my Sasuke kun. My dream is" she looked over at Sasuke and let out another squeal.
So nothing to do with her ninja career and a fangirl as well terrific. Kakashi thought.
"Alright next Tomato he-" Kakashi tried to say but was interrupted by an intense wave of KI.
"Don't even think about it. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are training, my friends, my family, and ramen. I dislike cockroaches, crybabies, and quitters. My dream is to be the best Clan head in the history of the Uzumaki and at least an A rank in the bingo book." Sasuke seemed even more moody if it was possible and decided to speak up.
"I am Sasuke Uchiha and don't have many likes. I dislike idiots who don't know their place" he said glaring at Naruto before continuing "and a certain man." He grumbled once again going silent. Ok…that was something. Naruto and Kakashi thought in unison.
"Tomorrow meet at training ground seven. Be there at at 7:00 am and don't eat breakfast. You'll regret breaking the rules I promise now get going." And with that, he leapt away. The three students left shortly after for a chance to prepare and rest.
Naruto was the first to arrive and took it upon himself to scout the area drawing up a map that highlighted the best hiding spots. I'm not sure what the test will be and since my parents don't believe in handouts I've just gotta guess.
"The others on your team will you inform them of the seals as well as your map." Labolas called from Naruto mind.
"Well sure I don't know for sure but if we have to fight or show off some fundamental skill then it would be the right thing to do I guess." He looked down from his spot in the tree at the approaching teammates of his. Sakura was practically begging to have Sasuke go out with her at a frequencies that only dogs should be able to hear. He jumped just be fore they passed his position. Sakura shrieked at the falling body and further spooked Sasuke who was trying to pretend he wasn't scared.
"The two of you probably didn't have breakfast right? I brought some energy bars. We can leave it there for now we still have a whole hour to do whatever it is you guys plan to do." The other two looked at him weird and then sat by the tree. Naruto on his part wasn't confused at all. They weren't friends and they had no idea what the test would be. It made sense that they didn't exactly have anything to say to each other. The hour passed with Sakura making attempts to get attention from Sasuke and Sasuke blatantly ignoring her. All the while Naruto was reading about some of the new seals he could use after passing his U.S.A., at some point during the hour long cycle Kakashi made his way out into the field.
"Looks like your ready to go so let's begin. The rules are simple." Kakashi said drawing his students attention. He pulled something out of his vest and spoke up again. "The three of you have half an hour to get these bells from me. If you fail you won't be on the team." Kakashi said.
"But wait there's only two bells sensei. Also I thought we were already a team?" Sakura pointed out.
"Only some teams may pass on to be true shinobi. The academy just tells us who who has the ability to be one of us. If we just let anyone in our ranks we'd be weak and have high causality rates which is bad before the village. As for your other remark, the one who fails to retrieve a bell will be sent back to the academy. Anyway your time starts now if you plan to attack me do it with the intent to kill." The three Genin hopefuls disappeared into the trees.
Naruto set out to find Sasuke first. He knew that the whole bell thing was bullshit as soon as he counted them. The true test was something they'd all have to do together. At least that's what his instincts told him. Luckily for Naruto Sasuke was stalking Kakashi in a path he walked earlier, which allowed him to prime some explosive tags on the way. He spotted Sasuke in a tree about 30 feet from Kakashi. He jumped up to the same branch and pulled him away before he could say anything. "We have to work together. I know what the test really means. We have to work together or we won't pass at all." Naruto to said to an irate Sasuke.
"So I'm supposed to believe you why? Because of some supposed alliance between our clans or because your the Hokage's son?" Naruto wasn't pleased but expected something like this."Manipulation it is." Naruto nodded his head.
" You done projecting duckass? You should know the status of my father means jack shit to me. And as for our clans, I intend to respect that alliance. I know what happened to your family was…unfortunate and that I might be wrong. But if I am, at least you'll be working with me instead of Sakura." Naruto knew he'd sealed the deal when the other boy visibly shuddered. Naruto told him about the seals in the area and asked him to set of some explosives then dash off to find Sakura and tell her that the two of them would team up excluding him. Sakura went for it of course, fangirls will do practically anything for there obsession. Getting a direct conversation was practically worth a lifetime in some cases.
So through Sasuke, Naruto planned a coordinated attack. Sasuke shot off a Great fireball jutsu from the tree line at Kakashi. The white haired Jōnin has taken to reading a book in the middle of a clearing. Sasuke then jumped from the trees to charge Kakashi. While they were locked in battle Sakura threw a kunai with one of 'Sasukes' sealing tags. Kakashi had just gotten done dragging the Uchiha into the ground when an explosion launched him towards the lake. Sakura continued to throw tagged kunai. Shit they're really going for it, too bad it only happened at the last second.
"A brave effort but your time is up!" He jumped over the kunai and stood on the lake. I know Naruto's the only one out of the bunch who can water walk so I'll just wait for him here while the others waste the last two minutes. Unfortunately for Kakashi, Naruto had been practicing his beast within for several weeks and mastered his cuttlefish within. Naruto darted out his two tentacles and grabbed the bells when Kakashi dodged another wave of kunai. "And that's time. Looks like you fail. Come on out Naruto whatever you were planning, it's too late now!" Kakashi said putting away his book.
"Actually I do believe we passed." Naruto said from the water. In his hands were the bells.
"We? From here it looks like you're the only one with the bells." Kakashi said. "As fun as it sounds to be your only pupil, you know that's not really acceptable during a peaceful era." Naruto then tossed a bell each to his new teammates. "And don't get cheeky ya know. I had a hunch that this whole thing was never about the bells. Genin teams are always in threes. The fact that we also worked together means we should pass to. I'll spit the details at you later but the fact is you were fooled." Naruto said with a confident smirk.
Kakashi knew he couldn't trick the others into believing Naruto was wrong at that point so he congratulated them in their success. "I didn't expect this at all, but I've still got more to say before you can go. Today you were able to see underneath the underneath a skill all shinobi should have. You also twisted the rules. To some going against the rules makes you scum…but in truth there is something worse. If you should ever abandon your comrades for any reason you are worse than scum. Always remember that." Then he shunshined away leaving behind the Genin team.
Sakura begrudgingly walked back to her house with the two. CHAAA THAT STUPID NARUTO WONT LEAVE ME AND MY SASUKE KUN ALONE!! She walks in and told her parents the good news though and as she retold her story she was reminded of how Sasuke picked her talked to her and she was happy all over again. Later Naruto and Sasuke walked back to the Uchiha district silently.
"I remember when we first met, Sasuke. Our mothers were so sure we would get on like they did they completely ignored all of the fighting we did. You would say I didn't try hard enough to focus on the game and I would say you never made it interesting. And then we'd fight like mortal enemies." Naruto said.
"And what's your point."
Naruto sighed hearing this. "Right the thing is I know you only have a little bit of family left but you and the rest of the Uchiha can call on the Uzumaki for aid any time. Especially when we run them, believe it." Sasuke grumbled something about idiots who don't know their place before they parted ways. Naruto wasn't bothered after all the Uzumaki clan had some partying to do. He was right, like team seven all the other teams had been given tests and team 11 passed.
"You actually fought?! Lucky! All we did was play mind games with Kanata sensei. To be frank we were the ones being played with." Kenshin said. The Uzumaki quartet luaghed a bit and acknowledged that they'd have to be less of a quartet than usual something they prepared for but didn't want to happen so soon. "
That's enough of that let's start training. I need this after Kanata senseis test. She made us show all of our combat skills with the threat of feeding us to her Infernal partner! If that's not bad enough, she made us think we drank poison and had to fight her for the antidote before her infernal partner finished singing. You know what happened when we did? POISON RAIN, how bizarre and DANGEROUS is that!" Karin said. Kyō was the least bothered.
"I thought she was kinda cool." He muttered. Needless to say once the training session moved to sparring Kyō was heavily targeted.