Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Naruto wasn’t pouting. He really wasn’t!
“So we’ve got to work with them? Even with the teme?” he asked, just to be sure.
After they arrived at the clearing he’d had his clones trapping, they’d spent a few minutes resetting the two traps that one of his clones had accidentally set off before they’d all been dispelled when Kakashi-sensei had made them crash before giving them the slip.
When that was done and he’d shown his brother the location of each trap ―glad that he’d honed that skill with his pranks and could put it to good use―, his brother had explained the whole purpose of the test.
Well, Akira said it was only a theory, but Naruto didn’t doubt he was correct. His twin was smart like that. Even if the stupid teachers didn’t want to see it. It was fine, though: he knew. And so he trusted that he was right. Of the two, Naruto was the muscle and Akira the brain. It’s just how it always had been and how it would always be.
“Yes, even with Sasuke. Unless we want to end up in the Academy again.”
“No way!”
“Right, then we need to find Sasuke and Sakura and get them to work with us.
“But you said one of us would fail. Wouldn’t it be better to leave the teme to himself…?”
“We don’t know what will determine which of us fails.” Answered Akira shaking his head, a few of the bangs of his hair having come loose off the ponytail and sticking in every direction, framing his face. “But if the purpose of the test is really teamwork, we’d all absolutely fail if we left someone out. Remember we’re supposed to be a team of four.”
“So we have no way of knowing who will fail.” Sighed Naruto, looking down. “What… what if it’s one of us?”
From the way Akira pressed his lips together when their eyes met, he knew he was worried about the possibility too.
“There’s no sense to worrying about that now.” Finally said the rehead. “We must focus on getting the bells.”
“You talk to the teme, then. He won’t listen to me. I’ll find Sakura.” Decided the blond.
“Alright. Unless we come across the other first. Be careful, nii-chan.”
Naruto, as always, felt warmth fill him at the familiar fom of address. He smiled.
“You too.”
With that, the twins split apart to search for their teammates.
HPNHPNHPNHPN
Kakashi came across Sakura first. The girl was searching through the forest ―looking for Sasuke, he bet, and abandoning all thought of her other two teammates.
Placing her under a low-level genjutsu was all too easy, but her fainting outright at the illusion of a wounded Sasuke was a bit unexpected.
‘Maybe I went a bit overboard… as a genin, she can’t really be used to the sight of so much blood… But a genjutsu is really something she should notice being placed under.’
At least her scream should serve to spook the others a little…
But not Sasuke, apparently.
“Second Shinobi Battle Skill: Genjutsu. Sakura was easily lured.” He explained to the Uchiha.
The girl didn’t know how close she’d come to finding him.
“I’m different from them.” Said the boy, voice dark.
“Why don’t you say that after you get a bell… Sasuke?”
His book had already disappeared from sight, tucked safely back in his pouch after his last confrontation with the twins. Instead, he stood before the Uchiha with his hands in the pockets of his pants. It still seemed to infuriate the child.
‘Doesn’t he think highly of himself… But, of course, everyone’s told him how good he is since the cradle… The twins never had that.’
“It’s no use using straightforward attacks.” He said actually disappointed.
Jumping back, he run into a length of rope, as the child wanted, and wasn’t surprised when a barrage of kunai rained on him. The trap had been too obvious, the rope at a height that made it easily visible.
‘It would’ve been better if he’d strung it higher and attacked from below, but he is still a genin.’
He hadn’t even finished the thought when Sasuke slipped behind him and attacked with a kick. His taijutsu was good, had to give it to him, but his moves were too impatient, too reckless.
When the boy reached for the bells, he pushed him back before he could even dream of touching them.
‘Since he only needs to get the bells to end the test, he’s risking himself too much. If this had been a real battle, he’d be dead.’
When he started the sequence for a fire jutsu, Kakashi was at last surprised.
‘Katon no jutsu sure aren’t common amongst genin. Can he truly put it off? Does he even have enough chakra?’
Soon enough, he was faced with the evidence that, yes, he could, as a decent-sized ball of fire engulfed the place he’d been standing at a moment earlier.
It was gratifying to see his face when he pulled him under with an earth jutsu, burying him on the floor but for his head.
“Can’t move?” he asked crouching down in front of his head. “I’ve used a secret jutsu from the Third Shinobi Battle Skill: Ninjutsu. You’ve talent and you were right: you’re different. But different doesn’t necessarily mean better. They say that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down, so…”
After hearing so many people gushing about the so-called ‘Uchiha prodigy’, he was disappointed. He’d expected more. His suspicions of Sasuke being an above average student who just so happened to be the last Uchiha and thus immediately binned in with the prodigies were proven true.
He was good, above average as he’d said, but his skills just weren’t on the level of the true prodigies that Kakashi had met.
And, being one himself, he reckoned he knew what he was talking about.
Not to check whether he’d be proven right one more time…