Ibiki shook his head and smiled as the genin filed out after Anko. The blonde kid was carrying the Hyuuga girl. Like he hadn't noticed she had fainted. And the boy probably would have quit if she hadn't been there. The genin on each team had been split up of course, but to have close friends from different teams sitting together was a quirk of the random placement. Ah well, luck was part of being a ninja too. So was making friends that would help you, no matter what the cost.
He looked at the blank test and laughed out loud. Naruto Uzumaki, eh? He was going to be one to watch!
Naruto and Hinata walked in tandem to the second test. Neither was saying much.
Hinata was in shock over how bold she'd been. She'd touched Naruto. Helped him, even. The content pride of that memory buoyed her even as it made her knees weak and head spin.
Naruto was in turmoil. He'd been told Hinata cared for him, had it exposed in such a vivid fashion that questioning it didn't even enter his mind, but he hadn't really seen it for himself. Now, though, now he knew whatever doubt might have eaten away at him, it was dead. Not even he was that clueless. But how did he relate to a girl that…that wasn't going to hit him? In the face of such a genuine affection, he realized his crush on Sakura was…was not enough. Sakura got his attention. Hinata deserved so much more than that. But he didn't know what that would be.
Naruto sighed heavily. This was a problem. And with a rather nasty looking forest on the horizon, he knew this wasn't the time. After pushing through the first test, dropping out now to talk to Hinata seemed…not like a terrible idea but Sasuke and Sakura would disagree. So would Kiba and Shino. He looked to Hinata. "Hinata?" he asked.
Hinata looked up nervously. "Yes?" she squeaked.
Naruto grinned and offered her a nice guy pose. "I'll see you in the finals, dattebayo!"
Hinata felt a bit of disappointment that he didn't want to talk more now, but she knew why he wanted to put it off. They were ninja, and this was a mission of sorts. It was their lot in life to put feelings for later.
Besides, he was convinced they would meet in the finals. She couldn't let him down, right? She smiled weakly. "Yes!" she chirped.
Naruto had a moment of panic when the permission sheets came out, thinking this was another written test with the crazy snake lady poised to poke them with those sticks from her dango if they couldn't answer a question, but he relaxed when it was just a waiver for some kind of liability. He signed it without looking and handed it back.
The chunin looked at the signature of Naruto Uzumaki. Written in the wrong place. Upside down. Yeah, that was one genin who had mastered Missing The Point No Jutsu. Also he was setting up a small fire and cooking ramen to pour into a thermos while the other genin read the sheets.
Every genin from Konoha rolled their eyes at the infamous knucklehead over that one. Even Neji and Sasuke seemed unable to resist the urge.
Naruto looked around. "What?"
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered.
Anko curled up behind Naruto and played with a kunai. "Silly boy," she drawled. "Do you think this is a campout?"
"Were you planning on serving lunch?" Naruto asked nervously.
"Mmmm, maybe." Anko poked Naruto's cheek with a toothpick and drew blood, which she then sucked off the bit of wood. "For me, anyway."
Naruto decided it had been far too long since he pranked someone. As Anko stalked back to her place, Naruto looked around. He needed a mark…someone distinctive but not detailed…he'll work. Naruto ran through a couple handsigns.
"Alright naggots!" Anko roared. "Turn in your permission sheets and walk into this tent," she pointed at a tent, its flaps down. "Inside you'll be given a scroll." She held up two scrolls. "This is a Heaven Scroll. This is an Earth Scroll. You need one of each to pass the test."
"Which one do we get?" a genin from Cloud asked.
"It's random," Anko said simply.
"And how do we get the other one?" another genin asked.
Anko grinned widely. "Any way you can," she said menacingly. "Now, who's first?"
Gaara shoved his slip at Kankuro and pointed silently at the tent.
"Right!" Kankuro enthused. He took Temari's slip and headed over to Anko.
Anko held out her hand for the papers and suddenly vanished, getting behind Kankuro with a kunai to his throat. "Oooh? Did you really expect that to work?"
The tent opened and a chunin stared at Anko. "Anko, what are you doing!?"
"Really?" Kankuro gasped. "Again with the behind-neck-thing?"
Anko gestured at the papers. "Exploding tag…a small one with a long delay built in. Makeup boy was trying to…wait." Anko stared at Kankuro long and hard, then slit his throat.
Kankuro turned into an ice statue in a heartbeat.
"An ice clone?" Anko asked, surprised. "I thought he was a shadow clone."
"So did I," Naruto whispered under his breath. "When did I learn to make ice clones?"
"Zabuza," Sasuke answered.
"Really?" Naruto thought that over. Yeah there had been ice clone statues when they left the cave. "Wow, I'm awesome."
Sakura hit him. "Why did you do that?"
"It was a prank?"
Kankuro walked onto the scene from a grove of trees and stumbled as he saw a Kankuro that was neither him nor Crow. "Wha? That's it, no more bathroom breaks."
"Eh, whatever," Anko said, pushing over the ice sculpture and tossing away the mini exploding tag. "Would the real Sand genin please get your ass over here?"
"Heaven scroll," Naruto reported, nearly silent.
Sasuke nodded. A few weeks ago, Naruto would have been the last person he'd choose to guard their scroll. That was before he'd gained such incredible jutsu. Now, Naruto could power through these genin teams. Let him be saddled with protecting the scroll; Sasuke preferred a more mobile style anyway. "Hnn," he said, indicating their need for an earth scroll.
"How do we figure out who has an earth scroll?" Sakura fretted.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:35)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.