"Okay, Kakashi is now officially late. Again." Hiruzen Sarutobi considered the four genin before him, one finger tapping on his desk for a few seconds as he weighed possible methods of handling this. "New orders. Hinata - you are already in Team 8. I will contact your sensei and discuss things with her tomorrow. Until then, try to keep all abilities secret. Go home to your clan compound and inform your father that I request his presence at his earliest convenience tomorrow. I'll send for you when I need to speak with you."
"Yes sir," said Hinata, understanding the various protocols for behavior in this instance. She bowed lightly and left at normal speeds.
"Team 7. You have to meet with your sensei, and there is a hidden test to become genin. Until he officially starts the test, you will keep all events and abilities secret even from your sensei. Once he does - feel free to be creative."
"So, basically, we're pranking our sensei for being late," said Naruto, a gleam in his eye.
"Indeed," said the Hokage. "That we are currently in peacetime is no reason for indulging someone slacking to this extent. This might serve as a reminder to take deadlines and appointments a bit more seriously."
A window shuffed open.
"I was delayed by a little black cat in a hat," said Kakashi as he entered. "Had to go all the way around the village to avoid it. So you guys finally showed up?"
"Problem with a storage fuuinjutsu," explained the Hokage. "Go ahead and get the introductions out of the way."
"Ah. On the roof then," said Kakashi.
"Kakashi Hatake. My interests are entirely too adult for you. I don't really have any hobbies."
"Naruto Uzumaki. My dream is to be Hokage, and my hobby is breaking physical laws and common sense."
"Sakura Haruno. My dream is... to serve the village and become an excellent medic-nin. And to fix Naruto and Hinata up so that Naruto will leave me alone."
"Aw, come on, Sakura. I still think you're imagining stuff. Hinata's just a nice girl."
"Sasuke Uchiha. Who saw a program on learning disabilities and thinks that Naruto could use some counseling on such."
"Damnit, Sasuke!"
"I have no dreams, but I do have a few goals. Killing a certain someone, renewing my clan, and then we'll see what else comes up."
Kakashi paused as he considered the three. Had something happened during the three hours between the destruction of the classroom and when he'd gotten that message?
No, surely not.
"I have business with the Hokage," said Hiashi Hyuga.
"He is expecting you," said the chunin at the desk.
Hiashi nodded. This was all very much odd for the Hokage to extend a veiled command for a meeting with a clan head. The policy had been to allow the clans their autonomy, following laws written back at the time that the First Hokage had been trying to form the first village.
Upon entering the office, Hiashi found the Hokage quite relaxed and felt a tiny amount of relaxation himself. Whatever it was - it was not something to threaten village security.
Which he'd suspected due to the non-immediacy of the summons. Still, nice to have that confirmed.
"Hiashi. It's been awhile," said Hiruzen. "Take a seat. How have things been going with your clan?"
"Is this something pressing?" asked Hiashi, not sitting down or engaging in small talk.
"Code 17D," said Hiruzen after the chunin had closed the door.
Hiashi quickly flicked on his Byakugan. Nothing to indicate eavesdroppers or some other problem. "Clear."
"Hinata has come into possession of two S-Class secrets, and was part of an event which is currently also an S-Class secret. Details will be made more available later, but I'm going to ask you to help keep those secrets."
"Three S-Class secrets," repeated Hiashi.
"It involves the events yesterday afternoon," said the Hokage. "When all the details have been properly mapped out - I will ask you here again and will share more details with you as this does concern a member of your clan."
"You think that she will compromise these secrets?" asked Hiashi, a bit more stiffly than usual.
"Not intentionally, but she IS a twelve-year-old genin who is currently getting her first D-Rank mission," said the Hokage. "She is not going to be nearly as sophisticated and capable of keeping secrets as someone more experienced."
"I see," said Hiashi. That made sense and it did not particularly cause his clan any loss of face. "Anything else?"
"Hinata may display some odd talents she has picked up," continued the Hokage. "A time/space jutsu went awry. These will also need to be concealed until the proper time."
That actually cause one of Hiashi's eyebrows to raise slightly. "How bad?"
"Potentially quite... interesting," hedged the Hokage.
Hiashi nodded. "Very well. As long as I am brought 'into the loop' in the near future."
Naruto glanced at Sasuke and then Sakura, before returning his attention to their sensei.
"Come at you with intent to kill?" asked Sasuke.
"Take those bells from you by ANY means necessary?" asked Sakura.
"Right," said Kakashi.
"He hasn't said 'start' yet," cautioned Naruto.
"Sakura? You want to go first?" asked Sasuke.
"Hmmm," hmmmed Sakura thoughtfully.
"I got no objection," said Naruto, holding up his hands and taking a step away.
"And you only have an hour to get the bells or all three of you fail," said Kakashi.
Sakura came to a conclusion. "Okay. I'll do it."
"Awfully confident," said Kakashi. "Start."
Sakura took a stance. The ground cratered underneath her. Grass and tree branches whipped around as if she were the center of a downburst. Waves crashed in the nearby lake.
"Eh?" asked Kakashi, suddenly getting a BAD feeling about this.
Sakura smiled sweetly as she straightened just a little bit. Then she vanished.
Instincts honed through a ninja war suddenly blared alarms and Kakashi twisted back and out of the way. Sakura was briefly visible there, fist thrust forward. Kakashi substituted and had a brief glimpse of half a log disintegrating with the remainder quickly becoming a gleam in the sky.
Deidara stepped out of the outhouse and adjusted his new robes. One of his main objections to the criminal organization he'd just joined was their dress code.
"I hate waiting for-" began Sasori before something streaking down from the sky crashed through his puppet with a spray of gears and grease. From the debris field, it appeared to be a log or piece of firewood.
Deidara blinked. "That was actually fairly artistic. Well done."
"That wasn't me," grumped Sasori as his remaining limbs began gathering up pieces.
"Pull yourself together, man!" said Deidara. "Now I've got to wait for you!"
Kakashi Hatake was a survivor of a ninja war where he had made quite a name for himself.
Right now he was trying to avoid getting crushed by a twelve-year-old girl.
He managed to dodge a charge, and the girl went THROUGH three trees.
She's a mini-Tsunade! What the hell?! Why is my flak jacket ripped?! Aw crap here she comes again!
Sakura vanished and Kakashi felt his instincts go off. An axe kick struck the ground where he'd been less than a second ago. Kakashi was pelted by rocks and dirt exploding outward from the impact point, got a glimpse of the crater, and did another substitution at high speed.
The blur that was Sakura, moving at least at low-jonin speed, was abruptly there. Kakashi went underground and went deep. Normally one only went two or so meters below the surface. Considering the size of the crater she'd made just a moment ago, he went six meters down. He needed a moment to work out this development.
Okay, mini-Tsunade. The other two were letting her try because she's the most dangerous, so they obviously knew. I just glanced at her file but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if the Academy instructors had put down PINK-HAIRED TSUNADE CLONE anywhere in there.
*THOOOM!*
A shockwave went through the ground around him.
Oh crap. She's figured out where I am.
*THOOOM!*
The ground fissured around him, and he looked up through tumbling bits of dirt and rock into a pair of amused green eyes. Somehow through the noise of the ground being ripped apart he could hear her voice sounding entirely too sweet and innocent.
"Found you, Kakashi-sensei."
What the HELL are they teaching Academy students nowadays?!
"Do you suppose he's realized yet that she already got the bells?" asked Naruto.
Sasuke considered that briefly as their team-mate ripped a tree out of the ground and threw it at the tree their sensei was hidden behind. "No, she's not giving him that much time."
Naruto watched as Sakura's fingers grazed Kakashi's flak vest and reduced it to tatters.
"She's enjoying herself," said Naruto, idly deflecting a chunk of broken tree rather than let himself get smacked with it.
"Hn," indicated Sasuke.
Ka-Boom! went a line of trees.
"Hope she doesn't drag this out too long," noted Naruto. "Gonna be a pain rebuilding all this."
Kakashi appeared behind Sakura and lashed out with a kick to the back of her head. Sakura's head went forward about an inch.
"Wow. He can hit harder than Stilt-Man."
Sasuke snorted. "You say that like it's a hard thing."
"Well, yeah, some villains are lamer than others," admitted Naruto. "Some of 'em - they kinda had some flair even if their powers were lame. Obelisk for example."
"Hn," sort-of-agreed Sasuke.
Sakura managed to grab one of Kakashi's legs, swung him around in a high speed spin and then launched him nearly straight up.
"Be right back," said Naruto.
"Take your time," said Sasuke.
"Well, at least I have a moment to figure things out," said Kakashi as his forward momentum gradually gave out. "Of course this has its downside."
"You willing to concede yet, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi blinked and twisted in mid-air to regard Naruto. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"You seem to be falling, sensei. Do you have a cool jutsu to get you out of this?"
"Of course," said Kakashi. "This isn't the first time I've fallen from..."
"Roughly two miles up," said Naruto. "Much further and there would have been troubles breathing."
"Ah. Well, it's a trivial problem," said Kakashi. "The leg injuries are the real problem."
"Ah, thought so," said Naruto. "By the way. Where's those bells?"
"Bells?" asked Kakashi, checking his belt. No bells. "Ah. Well, you three are still going to fail."
"Okay," said Naruto. "Do you want me to catch you before you hit the ground? Since I'm here and all."
"Well, if it doesn't put you out," said Kakashi. "I'm still evaluating you. You don't seem to be put out by the possibility of failing the test and being sent back to the Academy."
"Oh, didn't you know?" asked Naruto as he moved next to Kakashi, taking the other's hands in his own and slowing their fall slowly. "If you fail us, there's a pretty good chance we'll be put in ANBU apprenticeships."
"I see," said Kakashi. "How are you doing this anyway?"
"Oh, just something I picked up," said Naruto.
"Ah," said Kakashi, going silent as the two slowly approached the ground. At least slow compared to how he'd gone up. "Well, I was going to recommend dropping you from the ninja program altogether."
"I think Sasuke would abandon the village and hunt down his brother on his own," said Naruto.
"You may be right," admitted Kakashi.
"Sakura would probably follow him, whether he likes it or not," said Naruto.
"Still my turn?" asked Sakura as they came closer.
"You can let go now," said Kakashi as they came near the ground.
"Okay," said Naruto, figuring the older ninja had a better idea of his own capabilities.
Kakashi vanished in a shunshin. Sakura blurred briefly in a high speed dive to land and create another crater not far from Kakashi's own landing point.
"Whatcha gonna do now, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura, apparently relishing this.
"Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique," responded Kakashi, though this was one of those techniques you usually didn't announce.
Sakura stopped, her expression changing. "YOU KILLED SASUKE, YOU BASTARD!"
Sakura's chakra flared and the ground cratered further. Trees shattered. Waves crashed in the nearby lake again. Sasuke blocked the wave of force. The posts, the clock, and the lunches did not fare so well as they collectively became something called a "debris field" in an instant.
"Uh oh," said Kakashi and Naruto as Sakura became a blur again.
Naruto started blocking attacks as Sakura genuinely went after their potential sensei with the intent of reducing him to fine particulate matter. "DAMNIT SASUKE! SAY SOMETHING!"
Kakashi did NOT whimper as the force of a missed attack took out a line of trees and went on to leave a wake across that nearby lake. He didn't have the breath for it due to the shockwaves going out from the attacks.
"Hn?" indicated Sasuke.
Sakura paused. "Sasuke?"
"Ah. Yeah. Alive. That was a genjutsu," said Sasuke.
"Oh," said Sakura, sagging in relief.
"She dispelled the genjutsu when she flared her chakra but didn't notice Sasuke still alive?" asked Kakashi, not saying a darn thing about hiding behind the Kyubi container.
"Something like that, I suppose," said Naruto. "Do we pass yet?"
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(Posted Sat, 18 Apr 2015 17:08)
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