"Eh?" said Hinata, brightening and straightening. A smile began forming. I'm on the same team as Naruto-kun?!
"Team 8 under jonin Kurenai Yuhi," continued Iruka. "Shino Aburame. Kiba Inuzuka, and Choji Akamichi."
"Good luck, Choji," said Shikamaru Nara, a little surprised that they weren't trying to recreate the last generation team.
"Team 9 under jonin Zack Fair. Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, and Yuffie Kisaragi."
"Team 11. Jonin is Strago Magosu. Locke Cole, Shadow Inuzuka, and Terra Branford." Shadow looked down at his dog Interceptor, who nodded. They'd have to hide their money somehow.
"Team 12 under Asuma Sarutobi. Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Sakura Haruno."
"What a pain," came the completely predictable response from the class number one slacker.
Somewhere outside local time and space:
"When did I put THEM in?" asked a black cat as he scratched his head. "Oh well. They're the right ages here and all, and it could be interesting."
Hours later:
"So why don't you introduce yourselves?" asked Kakashi Hatake. "You first."
"Ah no, uhm, I'm H-Hinata Hyuga, and I'm-" (fidget, blush, look shyly to the side, blush some more, fidget lots) "I..."
Naruto checked something in his book, then spoke up. "Her name is Hinata Hyuga. Sasuke's Uncle Genma made a bet with her father to engage her to me. She's got her family's kekkei genkai of the Byakugan, allowing her to see nearly three hundred sixty degrees around her and through objects. She's a practitioner of her family's martial art style of the Jyuuken, which allows her to shut down an opponent's chakra system or inflict massive damage to internal organs with a single strike. She likes sweet but not strong flavored foods."
"Okay, thank you Hinata," said Kakashi sarcastically. "That was summed up fairly well though you sound like you might be getting a cold or something."
"What's that book say about me?" asked Sasuke.
"You sure you want me to look?" asked Naruto. "I got permission from Hinata earlier cause I was curious."
"Sure, go ahead," said Sasuke, curious.
"Bok Ov Omenene, Scan. Subject: Sasuke Uchiha. Overview only," said Naruto.
[Active. Scanning. Permission recorded. Displaying.]
Naruto started reading. "Sasuke Uchiha. Doesn't like to admit there are things in this world he likes, but he's fond of the melon bread they sell by the West Gate."
"Oh, I've had that, it's very tasty," said Hinata, offering a shy smile to the startled Uchiha.
Naruto continued. "His goal is to avenge his clan and destroy his elder brother Itachi, a missing-nin who killed almost every Uchiha except his younger brother. Sasuke has a number of fire jutsu, good throwing and taijutsu skills, and has the Sharingan. Currently it's trauma-locked until he can activate it again."
Sasuke was staring at Naruto with his mouth slightly open at this point.
"Sasuke has read the hidden story of the Sharingan and knows that while it's powerful, there are prices for its power and details that comprise the Secret of the Uchiha clan. Despite the claims of various girls in the class, Sasuke does not favor any of them - because he's entirely focussed on revenge and knows that there is a very good chance of his dying a painful and tragic death. That, and a detail of the Secret, have managed to keep him from getting close to anyone."
"Stop," said Sasuke, blinking. "What? How?"
Naruto stood, revealing his extra height and mass. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Mage. This is my Artifact, Bok Av Omenene. It has several uses but one of them is it can scan any writings within its range and store the knowledge of it. It can also read minds, though I have to know the name of the target and they have to be within a line-of-sight. Between me and Hinata, we make a heck of an information gathering team. My likes are ramen and magic."
"'magic'?" asked Sasuke, still in shock.
"A form of jutsu," said Naruto. "Sort of. Anyway, without using my Artifact: I know a flight spell, three barrier spells, two binding spells, and two general enhancement spells, a healing spell, a find objects spell, and six combat spells. Oh, and six spells that are just kind of general utility."
Kakashi blinked a couple of times.
"As for Sakura and Ino, they're over on that rooftop watching Sasuke and trying to determine whether or not he's making a move on Hinata," said Naruto, reading further.
Everyone slowly turned their heads to look at the rooftop in question. A set of planters seemed to look back when they suddenly made a dash for the stairs.
"Okay," said Kakashi the next day. "This is your real test. You have to get these two bells off my... where did they go? I'm sure I had them right here a moment ago."
Three genin with innocent expressions looked back at him.
Kakashi rubbed his head as if getting a headache. "Why do I have a feeling that someone started early."
"Well, ano," said Hinata, managing to look embarassed and proud at the same time. "Actually we started on time."
"Yeah," said Naruto. "You were the one late, Kakashi-sensei."
"Hnnn," grunted Sasuke, though his smirk said LOTS more.
Kakashi sighed and held out his hand. "Give them back. I can't give you a test if I don't have the target."
"I dunno, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto thoughtfully. "Can you describe these bells?"
"I could try using my Byakugan," said Hinata, managing to look bashful with a side order of impish humor. Something that would have utterly SHOCKED anyone of her household. "M-maybe you dropped them somewhere?"
"Guys, I'm losing my patience," warned Kakashi. Honestly though he was seeing some teamwork, and intelligence gathering. Plus he was a ninja, you HAD to give them points for being sneaky.
"Oh, what do you know, I have a bell in my pocket," said Naruto, faking surprise and not doing a very good job of it. "Wherever did that come from?"
"Oh, that IS strange," giggled Hinata.
"Oh, Hinata, you've got another one there," said Naruto, reaching two fingers out towards her ear and producing a bell that absolutely could not have fit there.
"Hmph," said Sasuke, holding up a bell of his own.
"...I'm really beginning to hate you guys," said Kakashi as he gathered up the three bells and wondered how long they had prepared in order to find one more bell of the exact same type. "Naruto?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" asked the boy who was trying to hold back some snickers.
"When did you use your artifact on me?" asked Kakashi.
"Yesterday, right after you announced we'd be having survival training," admitted Naruto. "I was curious as to what kind of survival training would make us throw up. So I tracked you down long enough to get a reading."
"And you bought an extra bell then?" asked Kakashi.
"No, I waited until you were thirty minutes late this morning and then checked again, at which point we decided to change the conditions of the test," admitted Naruto. "Your fault, Kakashi-sensei. You gave me time to start setting up pranks."
"G-gomen, sensei," said Hinata, ducking her head.
Sasuke snorted.
"Let me guess," said Kakashi. "You used Hinata's eyes to find out where I was, you then used your book to find out what the test was about, and then you got together with Sasuke to cheat on my test."
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow on that. "I don't like no-win scenarios."
"Hear that," said Naruto.
Kakashi shook his head. "Naruto. Never, ever, scan me again without permission AHEAD of time."
"So?" asked Naruto.
"Come on, let's go get lunch," said Kakashi finally after reviewing the situation for a few moments. "I guess you pass."
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(Posted Mon, 24 May 2010 18:22)
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