As Umino Iruka walked to the front of the academy classroom, holding a file with the genin team assignments, Naruto could not contain his grin. His hand instinctively went up to his forehead protector over-and-over again, almost verifying if it was real.
'It's happening. It's finally happening!' Naruto grinned
When Iruka finally got to the front, he cleared his throat. The twenty-seven academy students all turned their attention towards him. The chūnin took in a deep breath for a moment before a smile developed on his face.
"From this day forward, you are all genin of Konoha. As one of your academy teachers, I just want to let you all know how proud I am of you." Iruka admitted to the class with a smile on his face. "You've all done excellent in your studies and training. I believe with all my heart that this may be one of the finest classes Konoha has ever produced, and I can't wait to see what extraordinary shinobi you all become!"
Nearly every student in the classroom smiled at their now-former sensei's words. Naruto was grinning more than anyone else, however.
'Finally...I really am a ninja now! Finally!'He thought to himself excitedly.
"Now, I'm going to start reading off the team assignments! Pay attention carefully, because I willnotrepeat!" Iruka informed everyone. "Now, starting with Team One!"
Everyone tried hard to pay attention to Iruka's words. It proved too difficult, however, to listen to every name that was called. Everyone seemed to only notice when their name was called or when their friends were called.
"Now, Team Three." Iruka said as he shuffled some papers in his hands. "Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto lifted his head-up in response to his name.
"Hyūga Hinata." The chūnin continued.
'Yes! Of all the people I could get, I got Hinata!'Naruto cheered inwardly, grinning even larger.'I at least got one of my friends on my team!'
Hinata's thoughts were less coherent, but even more excited. 'Naruto-Kunand I are on the same team? Naruto-Kun and I are on the same team! HE'S ON MY TEAM!'
Her rather-loud, repetitive thoughts were a strong contrast to her outward reaction, which was merely a silent, but large, smile and a red blush.
"… And Nara Shikamaru!" Iruka concluded.
The Nara blinked: "Huh?"
"FUCK YEAH!" Naruto couldn't hold in his thoughts any longer. "The top three shinobi here! We are so going to kick ass!"
"Naruto, you idiot, shut up!" Sakura hissed: "Some of us are trying to concentrate here!"
Naruto barely even registered her words; he was just too happy to care about anything else. He was on a team with Hinata AND Shikamaru. This was everything he had hoped for!
Hinata, too, was pleased at this revelation. Although she was still more excited about being partnered up with Naruto, having Shikamaru as the third member felt like an amazing bonus. He became a great and important friend to her and their friendship was growing each day. If nothing else, she knew that their third member would be something she could interact well with, and not be someone who would put neither herself nor Naruto down.
'I could have sworn they would have put me on a team with Chōji and Ino. Our parents' teamwork was legendary, and I know my Dad and Ino's dad at the very least mentioned talking to the Hokage about this. What prompted this?' Shikamaru brought his right-hand to his chin in thought: '… Maybe the incident with Mizuki? Maybe we impressed him and he felt we should stay a team? That's-"
His thoughts came to a halt as he felt an arm around his neck. He blinked as he turned to face Naruto, who had gotten out of his seat and gone over to hug his friend.
"Hey, hey, you excited too, huh?" He asked. "We're gonna be the most badass team of all time, y'know?"
"I mean-"
"NARUTO!" Iruka's shout interrupted Shikamaru: "For the last time, please sit down and remain quiet!"
Naruto grumbled to himself as he went back to his chair. Despite the reprimand, though, he still had a grin on his face. Hinata, too, was still smiling. Shikamaru's eyes focused on both of his newly-assigned teammates for a moment before he turned back to the front of the classroom, a smirk forming on his lips.
'Well, whatever. Being with them should still be pretty fun.' He noted.
When the classroom got quiet again, Iruka continued reading off names, moving faster through the next three teams without much event.
"Team Seven: Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke!" He read. "Team eight-"
"HELL YEAH!"
"HELL NO!"
Sakura's and Ino's simultaneous shouts caused everyone to turn their attention towards them. Sasuke's eye twitched momentarily in response to the noise, but that was his only noticeable reaction to the team assignment.
'You got to be fucking kidding me. I got to work with that jackass?' Kiba groaned as he placed his head on his desk. 'And Sakura would be fine by herself, but with Sasuke? This sucks.'
Akamaru whined in sympathy as the ninken jumped off his spot on Kiba's hoodie onto the desk and gave his partner a gentle lick to his face. The tension began to ease in the Inuzuka's body language, but he still laid down, unable to look up.
After another lecture from Iruka about interrupting him – resulting in a sheepish look from Sakura and a deep scowl from Ino – the classroom quieted down as Iruka went to the end of his list.
"And finally, Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji, and Aburame Shino." He stated.
"Not only do I get separated from Sasuke-kun, but you're putting me with food boy and bug boy too?" Ino, once again, shouted. "That's not fair-"
"Stop shouting! You haven't been dismissed yet!" Iruka, for the third time, shouted, his eyes twitching so badly that they threated to escape his head entirely.
This time, Ino had the decency to look a little bashful about her outburst. The Yamanaka huffed to herself, turning to look outside the classroom window.
"That's… got to be rough." Shikamaru mumbled as he turned to face Chōji."
Chōji gave his friend a sad smile: "I'm… not going to lie. A little jealous of you all."
Hinata's smile immediately faded as she bowed her head: "I'm s-sorry, Chōji-kun…"
"Yeah… same. I really wish we could have just been a four-man squad." Naruto noted, rubbing the back of his head as a frown crept onto his face as well.
"You all don't need to be sorry." The Akimichi said with a sigh. He was quiet for a moment as he reached into his bag of chips and pulled out a handful. After quickly eating them, a small smile developed on his lips: "You know, I don't know Shino very well, so maybe he's good to be with. And while Ino says things like that… well, our Dads are best friends, so maybe we'll get closer."
"I'm… I'm sure th-they'll be good t-to work with." Hinata nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah. At least Shino should be. He's supposed to be super smart, right?" Naruto noted before he turned to look at Shikamaru: "Almost as smart as you, right?"
The Nara shrugged his shoulders in response before he focused on his best friend.
"You want to meet up after all of this? Cloud watching or something? Discuss how the team things go?" He asked.
Chōji's smile widened a little bit more as he nodded his head in agreement, which in turn caused Shikamaru to smirk back, the two now formally affirming that their friendship will not end here.
A few more moments passed while Iruka waited for the class to fully quiet down. With the chūnin now calmed down from his previous shouting sessions, a small smile developed on his lips as he turned to address the graduates.
"Now that you all know your teams, you are free to take an hour break for lunch. You will come back here to meet up with your jōnin-sensei, in which case you will be under their care." He noted. "So, for the last time, coming from me at least… you all are dismissed!"
"Don't leave just yet you little brats!"
Just as the students were all about to leave the room, they were stopped by a rather loud, powerful voice that was seemingly being amplified via chakra. Before anyone could ask about who was speaking, a black banner flew through one of the academy windows. When the banner reached the center of the room, a figure jumped out from behind it and threw kunai at its edges, pinning it to both the floor and the ceiling. The entire banner could now be seen, and the words "The Sexiest and Strongest Sensei in all of Konoha" were visible to all.
Now standing directly in front of the banner was a purple-haired woman who tied her hair up in a spiky ponytail. She was wearing a large tan coat over mesh armor that did little to hide her figure and an orange skirt. She wore a pair of shin guards and also had a pendant worn around her neck.
"You're all looking at the sensei to Team Three, Mitarashi Anko!" The woman introduced herself to everyone, a large, almost insane grin on her face. "Now, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata, and Nara Shikamaru! We will begin our meeting and discuss protocol. Let's go!"
The room fell into silence. Nearly every student was gawking at the woman standing in front of them in surprise, annoyance, or fear.
Hinata couldn't help but fall in the last category: 'She… That's our sensei? She's… oh dear…"
Naruto, in contrast, was probably the only person in the room staring at her in amazement: 'She's our teacher, huh? That entrance was so cool! This is going to rock!"
Shikamaru's thoughts were extremely simple compared to everyone else: 'She's… troublesome. Very, very troublesome.' A sigh escaped his lips: 'This is gonna suck.'
"Anko-san, right?" Iruka spoke-up, causing the woman to turn to face him. "You, uh… do realize that the genin are allowed a lunch break, right? The meeting with their sensei isn't until an hour from now after that is over."
The woman immediately began to sweat in response.
"Well, uh… you see, I decided I was going to take my kids out to lunch instead! It would kill two birds with one stone: their lunch break and our meeting! And it would be a good way to get to know them. After all, it's the duty of the sensei to take care of their kids and shit, so what better way to start than by taking care of their meals? Am I right?" She asked with a laugh as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly: "… Right?"
This only caused Shikamaru to sigh again: 'Oh god, and she's just like Naruto.'
"Very… well." Iruka mumbled before clearing his throat: "Alright then. Team Three, you'll report to your jōnin-sensei directly. The rest of you, be back here in one hour."
Anko sighed in relief, feeling as if she 'nailed' her excuse, before turning her attention towards her students: "Alright brats, follow me! Lunch is waiting!"
With those words, she proceeded to run over to the window that she had broken and jumped right out. Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru rushed over to the broken window as well and looked down, seeing their sensei on her feet, brushing off some dust on her coat. She then looked back up, making eye contact with the trio.
"I'm not gonna wait all day. Get your asses down here!" She shouted.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Naruto said with a grin as he jumped out of the window as well.
"W-W-Wait for us, N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she followed him out the window.
Shikamaru blinked for a second as he wrestled with the idea of just ignoring whatever happened and going home. Unfortunately, he felt as if his mother would probably slap him for skipping on his first 'real' day as a genin.
"This is such a drag. It's way too early for this shit." He grumbled as he finally followed his teammates and jumped out the window.
"Wait, this is supposed to be lunch?" Naruto nearly shouted.
Once the trio of genin had caught up to their sensei ,Mitarashi Anko dragged them over to a food stand of her choosing: a sweets and dango shop called Dangoya. Shortly after arriving and getting seats, the three genin quickly realized there was nothing but desserts on the menu.
The worker took Anko's order and the genin, all feeling out of their depth, simply placed the same order as her.
"I… actually h-haven't ever had d-dango before." Hinata admitted.
"Same, but like, it's just a treat, isn't it? It's not supposed to be a meal or anything!" Naruto stated, crossing his arms: "Oi Sensei! Why take us somewhere like this for lunch?"
"The prices also weren't really cheap either, so this can't be a money thing." Shikamaru added, rolling his eyes slightly: "So what gives?"
'Mmm… I love how this place just smells like dango all day.' Anko sighed in contentment, not even registering her students' complaints.
"Umm… S-Sensei?" Hinata asked.
'I think the menu's a little bigger too. I have to try some of newer options too.' A little bit of drool began to come out of the side her lips: 'God, I hate when missions take me away from here, but the first order after coming back is just so worth it-'
"Hey! Sensei!" Naruto shouted.
The blond's loud-voice was enough to snap her away from her thoughts. Anko shook her head for a second and rubbed away the drool from her lips before turning to face her students.
"No need to shout; I'm right here!" She hissed: "Now what do you want?"
"What do we want?" Shikamaru blinked in response: "Shouldn't we be going over team protocol or something? It's what you said we'd be doing when you picked us up."
"Yeah, but I was gonna do that after we eat-" Anko abruptly stopped her thought as she began to think about the time. She shrugged her shoulders: "Eh, I guess it's fine. By the time we finish it, we'll have our plates."
"Okay." Naruto nodded his head in understanding: "So, what do we do?"
"Well, team introductions would probably be a great start." She stated.
"… We already know each other." Shikamaru replied with a sigh: "Very well, I might add."
"Yeah, and I don't know shit about you all other than what Iruka would tell me!" The purple-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Introduce yourselves to me then! Tell me about yourselves."
"W-What do you want to know s-sensei?" Hinata asked.
Anko immediately brought her hands together and stared into Hinata's eyes: "Your life story. Every detail. Don't lie to me about anything in it. I hate liars."
"Eep!" The Hyūga shuddered in response, nearly falling out of her seat.
"Ha. Hahahaha." Anko immediately started to laugh in response as she shook her head: "Nah, I'm fucking with you. Just tell me the basics. Name, things you like and dislike, hobbies, dreams. The general icebreaker shit." She finally stopped laughing and, while her gaze softened, she still remained focused on the girl: "How about you go first?"
"Um… o-okay…" Hinata took in a deep breath as she began to poke her index fingers together: "M-My name is Hyūga Hinata. I l-like spending t-time with my friends. I also l-like cinnamon rolls. I dislike p-people who are r-rude to others, and s-some of my clan's traditions. My hobbies are t-training and s-spending time with my friends and f-flower pressing." She paused for a moment: "My dream… w-well, I guess I w-wouldn't mind having a family one day…" She began to blush heavily as she took a glance towards Naruto's direction, who seemingly did not notice. She took in another deep breath before she turned her head away and the blush began to fade: "B-But before that, I-I want to be a s-strong clan head and ninja t-that can f-fix the problems in the Hyūga Clan."
'Yup, that report was right. She's got a crush on the Kyūbi boy. Cute.' Anko chuckled to herself: 'But hmm… wants to change things in her clan, huh? She's definitely not a strong-willed type of person, so that's a pretty challenging and remarkable girl for her.'
"Well, thanks a lot Stutters-chan!" Anko said, smiling.
Hinata blinked in response: "S-Stutters-chan?"
"You were stuttering really badly, so that's what I'm going to call you from now on until you fix that." She explained, her smile not faltering.
"F-Fix it?" Hinata's eyes widened.
"Hey! Don't make fun of Hinata-chan! She's just probably intimidated by how weird you are!" Naruto shouted at the woman, defending his friend.
"Ah, be quiet Whiskers!" Anko rolled her eyes: "If you wanna talk so much, why don't you introduce yourself?"
"Whiskers?" Naruto repeated the name with a scowl. "Don't you know our names?"
"I do, but I like giving nicknames, especially to little bratty genin who don't follow orders." She replied with a smirk. "So, your turn Whiskers."
His scowl deepened for a moment before he sighed.
"My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like spending time with my friends, training with the Nara clan, and learning new jutsu. I also like ramen, especially miso ramen! I hate the time it takes for ramen to cool down and arrogant bastards who think they are better than everyone else like that bastard, Sasuke." Naruto said: "My hobbies are training, pranking people, and gardening. And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage! That way I can earn the people's respect in this village and not be looked down on like I'm something else!"
'Earn the people's respect, huh? That's… probably going to be difficult.' Anko noted, resisting the urge to frown: 'But I guess there's no harm in dreaming big, and this kid's clearly got high aspirations. Hokage, huh…'
"Well, nice to meet you officially, Whiskers." She stated. Naruto's eye twitched in response, but before he could shout back, she turned her attention to the last student: "And now, you."
Shikamaru's only response was to sigh. Anko looked at him for nearly a minute, waiting for him to say anything, before he finally rolled his eyes and began to speak.
"Name's Nara Shikamaru." He said. "I like being with my friends and doing things that don't require much effort. I don't like doing most things and things I find troublesome. Hobbies are cloud watching, star gazing, playing shogi, and sleeping. My dream is to become an average ninja and have a wife that's neither pretty nor ugly and have two kids, a daughter and a son. I'll retire when my children become successful shinobi of their own and live the rest of my days playing shogi and watching clouds until the day I die, before my wife."
All Anko could do was blink in response. She stayed in silent thought for nearly two minutes, processing her feelings on that answer, before she decided to simply glare at the boy.
"Lazy ass." She said.
The Nara blinked in response: "What?"
"You complained about doing this intro for me, you hate doing things with effort, and you seem to have gone out of your way to have the most basic dream imaginable! Because thinking of something more interesting would have required work, wouldn't it?" She scoffed: "You're a Lazy Ass, thus you are now Lazy Ass."
Immediately, all of Naruto's and Hinata's bad feelings about their own nicknames went away. The Uzumaki was laughing extremely loudly and nearly fell out of his seat at the cart. Hinata, meanwhile, was trying her hardest to contain her own laughter to not offend Shikamaru. Unfortunately, she couldn't fully contain it and a single giggle escaped her lips.
"… What a pain." Shikamaru scowled: "All of you."
"Well, regardless of that, thanks for sharing. Now, since you all introduced yourselves, it's only fair I do the same. Listen well brats!" Anko started as she brought her right hand to her chest. "I'm Mitarashi Anko. I'm a tokubetsu jōnin and serve as the second in command in the Torture and Investigation Department. I like dango, tea, sake, traveling, training, and working at the T Department. I dislike spicy foods and I hate people who take things too seriously." A scowl then formed on her face: "I also hate a certain snake I've met in my life."
Her students immediately blinked in response. The moment 'snake' escaped Anko's words, a large amount of killing intent began to leak out of her body, paralyzing them. A few seconds passed by in the painful silence before the killing intent dropped and their sensei's mood went back to normal.
"My hobbies include hosting tea ceremonies, training my ass off, and torturing detainees." She said. "And my dream… well, I have three actually. First is to kill that snake I mentioned. Second is to make sure I can keep my friends safe and protected. And third is just simply enjoy life!"
"That… I-I agree." Hinata said with a smile, focusing on the end of her sensei's speech. "I-I also want t-to keep my friends safe."
"If your hobby is training your ass off, then we'll get along just fine, Anko-sensei!" Naruto added, a grin forming on his face.
"Are… Are we all just going to gloss over the killing intent from a moment ago?" Shikamaru asked, looking at his teammates with a confused look: "Also the fact that she said 'torturing' was a hobby of hers?"
"Well, now that we know each other, let's get straight to the business part." The purple-haired woman stated.
'And we're just going to ignore all of that. Cool. Cool.' The Nara sighed.
"Anyway, let's just get the worst part over with this. You three technically aren't genin." Anko said.
"What!? That makes no sense!" Naruto shouted. "We passed the stupid test, so that makes us genin!"
Anko snorted in response: "That test is bullshit. It's like a 'pre-test' to make sure you guys are good enough to be genin. Basically, tomorrow you all have to take another test that has a thirty-three percent pass rate. Fail and get sent back to the academy."
"Are… Are y-you s-serious?" Hinata asked.
"Dead serious." The tokubetsu jōnin replied.
The three genin all grew silent as their own thoughts began to race. Shikamaru was groaning about the thought of another test, Hinata was worried about failing and disappointing her father, and Naruto was scared of not being able to become a genin.
Anko seemed completely oblivious to her students' frustrations. As soon as she informed them of the second test, the attendant finally came back with their plates of dango. Immediately, her drool returned as she grabbed the first serving of dango on her own plate.
"Food's here! Yes!" She shouted in joy as the plates were put on the table. "Let's leave the test discussion until after we finish lunch!"
The purple-haired woman did not wait for her students to respond and began scarfing down her dango.
The three students all blinked in response before they all quietly reached for their own portions, their minds too focused on her earlier words to properly communicate.
When "lunch" was over, Anko told the students to meet her at Training Ground Seventeen tomorrow at 8:00 for their second exam. After that, she left to for the Konoha T Department to get to some assigned work.
A couple of screaming victims later, she hurried over to a nearby bar alongside her friend and boss, Morino Ibiki. The two did not speak until they placed their order and continued to remain quiet until the first round of drinks came out. Both immediately reached for their newly-brought cups of beer and chugged the entire thing. They then sighed in relief as the bartender knowingly took the empty cups and proceeded to get their next drinks.
"God, I needed that." Anko mumbled to herself.
"One of those days, hmm?" Ibiki asked.
"Yup." She sighed, relaxing further into her seat: "You too?"
"Today was easy. Too easy." He said: "It is obviously in Konoha's best interest for us to gather our information easily, but I need someone who is more of challenge to break."
"What about that new prisoner? Mizuki, wasn't it?" Anko asked: "Was he boring to work with?"
"To be determined. He's apparently still unconscious. The medics believe he'll wake up soon and I'll get to work on him, but it's probably going to be another few days." Ibiki sighed: "Incidentally, I was told that the reason he's currently knocked out is thanks to the group of brats you have."
"I heard that too." Anko shrugged her shoulders.
The bartender came back over, this time bringing an ornate blue bottle of sake and two shot glasses. Anko's eyebrows raised as Ibiki reached for the sake glass and began to pour into her cup first.
"Thought we were doing another beer round." She noted: "What's the occasion? Cause that bottle looks way too expensive for just a casual round of drinks."
"You're forgetting I make more than you." Ibiki reminded. Anko raised her middle finger in response, earning a scoff from the man as he finished pouring her drink and moved onto his own cup: "But yes, consider this me treating you as a sort of congratulations on your new assignment as a jōnin-sensei. I know your availability to work in T is going to change drastically, so I wanted to treat you at least once to something more high-grade than usual."
"My, how considerate." Anko snorted in response as she picked up her shot glass. She held it out from her, her eyes focused on the liquid: "Course, that's all I assuming I end up passing these brats."
"They took down a chūnin-ranked shinobi on their own before officially becoming genin." Ibiki reminded as he finished his pour: "They're going to pass."
"Hmm…" Anko hummed for a second as she took her first sip of the cup. "You know, no matter how good they supposedly are, I'm the one who decides if they pass."
"You're not the kind of person who'd fail them on purpose." Ibiki said.
"You sure about?" She asked: "Cause I definitely do not want to be jōnin babysitter for an indefinite amount of time."
Ibiki's eyes narrowed: "Then if you do fail them, I'll have severely misjudged your character."
Anko's only response was to finish her drink, opting to chug the remaining sake in her cup. She then reached for the bottle and poured herself another drink, doing her best to ignore her friend's glare. She brought the cup back to her lips once more before she finally acknowledged his disapproval and sighed, bringing her drink back to the table.
"Look, I'm sure they're great kids. The sweetest kids. The ones with the most potential. They'll do great work in a few years. Whatever." She crossed her arms: "Just why does it got to be me assigned to them?"
'Seriously. Why me?' Anko bit down on her lip hard at thought as she recalled her conversation with the Hokage where he told her that team he chose for her was one that could only flourish "under her guidance". Every counterargument went over his head. The fact that she's not good with kids? Did not matter. The fact that she was only a tokubetsu jōnin and not a regular jōnin? She "wouldn't be the first", according to him. The fact that she did not have the time or motivation to just wait around babysitting genin for years? "Oh, I'm sure they'll be chūnin very quickly" was the only response he gave to that.
… The fact that her only reference for what a jōnin-sensei was supposed to be like was her former sensei? The Sandaime looked sympathetic in response, but he still brushed it off: "Then you know exactly the type of person you do not want to be like."
In the end, it all went back to one singular idea he kept repeating: "Only you can train these three to their truest potential."
"Only me? Bullshit." She grumbled.
"What was that?" Ibiki asked.
"Nothing. Nothing." Anko sighed as she propped herself up to look at her friend in the eye properly: "Look, I'm not in the mood for a lecture. I'm just pissy and complaining. I'm not going to intentionally fail the brats, okay?"
"Hmm." Ibiki nodded his head in approval as he took a sip of his own sake: "It was never in my intentions to give you one. But it does seem like you need to work out some of your grievances."
"Yeah, yeah. We'll see." She shrugged her shoulders as she took a sip from her drink as well.
"Regardless of what happens, you know my door is open should you need to rant. And your job in the T Department is still yours no matter what." He said with a scoff: "God knows the headache you'd give me if I tried to replace you."
"Headache? I'd kill you if you even considered anyone else!" Anko said with a smirk.
Ibiki's eyebrow raised slightly: "Go ahead and try if you'd like. We'll see what happens."
Anko's smirk only widened in response, which prompted Ibiki to smirk back as well as he raised his sake cup. Anko raised hers as well as they both took another sip of their drink.
The two continued to drink long into the night. Anko could not recall how long. But despite the head-splitting hangover she woke up with the next day, she appreciated Ibiki and the long-night of drinking before she dived head-first into her time as a jōnin-sensei.
Hinata woke up feeling more anxious than usual. Sleep had done very little in quelling her worries and, to be frank, it was a surprise to her that she was even able to fall asleep last night in the first place! The girl could barely think straight as she got dressed for the day and gathered her belongings and weapons. All she could focus on was the upcoming test.
'Sensei never said too much about it. Only the time and place of it. I wonder what it could be on…'Hinata mumbled to herself as she rushed out of her room. 'There's nothing we really could be tested on… other than… maybe combat?' She bit her lip slightly: 'We're all taking the same test, right? Does that mean if I fail, then both Naruto-kun and Shikamaru-kun would fail?'
A shiver went down her spine at she shook her head, pushing those thoughts away: 'No, I can't let that happen! They need to pass. I… I need to pass!'
The Hyūga rushed to the Main Family Compound's dining area and had a brief breakfast before leaving. As she neared the exit to the compound, she passed by her father, who was walking into the building.
"Ah!" She stiffened slightly before bowing her head: "G-Good morning, father."
"Hinata." Hiashi nodded his head in acknowledgment: "You are leaving somewhere?"
She nodded her head back in response: "Yes. I-I have t-to-"
Hinata's words died on her lips as she noticed the small frown on her father's face beginning to form. Her hands tightened into fists as she shook her head: 'Don't stutter, don't stutter!'
"… I have go take my secondary test. Th-The one administered by my sensei t-to see if I qualify as a genin." She mumbled.
"Oh yes. Forgive me, it's been some time since my own days as a genin that I forgot about it." Hiashi noted. His eyes then narrowed: "This reminds me: you failed to tell me who your team was composed of."
"Um…" Hinata poked her index fingers together. "I'm with Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki N-Naruto. Our sensei is M-Mitarashi Anko."
Hiashi's eyebrow rose in response: 'A random grouping. I was aware she was training with those boys these past few weeks, but are their skillsets compatible. I was under the impression she was supposed to be under Yūhi Kurenai's tutelage in a tracking team.' He then frowned again: 'And the sensei chosen was Orochimaru's former student? Was is Hokage-sama's goal with this team?'
"Um… f-father?" Hinata spoke.
Hiashi's expression softened at the sound of his daughter's voice. He brought his hands together as he nodded in acknowledgement to his answer.
"A unique grouping to be sure. Remember that you are a Hyūga and most perform accordingly." He said: "Do not disappoint and fail the test."
Hinata stiffened in response. She was still for a moment before she nodded her head: "Understood. G-Good day, then."
Hiashi stood still, watching his daughter hurry out of the compound as a sigh escaped his lips, realizing that his words were a lot harsher than he had intended: 'Hitomi, how were you able to speak so easily with her when you were here?'
Hinata, meanwhile, felt herself nearly tear-up at her father's words and seeming lack-of-faith. Before any of the tears could fall, though, she took in a deep breath and rubbed at her eyes, brushing them off as she steeled herself.
'Naruto-kun and Shikamaru-kun are taking it with me. I can't fail. We all need to pass! I…' Her hands tightened once more into fists: 'I won't let them down!"
With that thought echoing in her head, the Hyūga picked up her pace as she continued on her way to the meeting-spot for the exam.
Anko blinked at the sight in front of her before she rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was seeing things correctly. Sure enough, she was not; all three of her genin students had arrived early for the exam.
She was not quite exactly sure why she was expecting them to be late. Maybe it was because the Nara seemed overtly lazy to the point of it being ridiculous. Maybe it was also her lack of desire to be a sensei in the first place. Regardless, the three of them were already there and ready for the exam to begin.
"… I'll admit, I'm pleased to see you all give a shit about this. Good on all of you." She stated, her eyes focusing on Shikamaru for a moment: "And especially good on you, Lazy Ass. Maybe there's hope for you yet."
Both Naruto and Hinata laughed to themselves in response while Shikamaru scowled.
"Well, we're here, so are you going to tell us what the exam is already, or not?" He asked.
"I'm going to, don't worry." Anko replied as her eyes moved away from just him to the three genin as a whole: "So, just making sure; you all are ready for this time, right?"
"Obviously!" Naruto stated.
"Alrighty then." Anko noted as she began to crack her knuckles: "The test is actually going to be really simple. It's just going to be spar. You three against me."
"A spar?" Naruto repeated.
"S-So it's a combat training." Hinata said, her body tensing slightly: 'I knew it.'
"You can call it combat training, yeah. Another word choice you could use is 'survival training'." Anko said as she began to grin: "I'm just going to keep coming at all of you until I decide to pass or fail you. I'm obviously not gonna go all out on you all, but I am going to be evaluating your strength and skills during this, so I'm expecting you all to fight at me at one hundred percent, got it? You need to come at me with the intent to kill."
"T-To kill?" Hinata's eyes widened in response.
Anko's grin widened in response: "Trust me, if you don't come at me like that, there's a realistic shot I'll be the one to kill you!"
"So, just making sure, you did say 'three on one' right? Not individually?" Shikamaru asked.
"Correct. Look, even when I downplay my skills during this battle with you all, you're still going to need to work together to beat me. Otherwise you brats don't stand a chance against me." Anko noted: "Now, having said that though, I'm not going to be exclusively grading you all on your teamwork. Majority of the time, these tests are testing the academy students on their teamwork. But I've already been told that you all have good teamwork, so while I want to see you all do some impressive shit together, I'm going to be more focused on just how well you all fight in general and your potential."
"So, we just got to impress you, huh?" Naruto noted as be brought his hands together, his left palm covering his right fist: "Easy enough. We'll pass this test in no time!"
Anko chuckled in response: "Well, I admire your bravado, but before we all start I should just give you all some advice. There is definitely something you all will need to in order to pass my test."
The blond tilted his head in response: "What's that?"
"Survive."
The three genin proceeded to stiffen in place as they felt the world around them completely vanish. The air began to thicken, feeling almost suffocating, as an overwhelming sensation of unease surrounded them. It felt like nothing they had ever experienced; even the battle against Mizuki did not compare to the feelings they were experiencing right now.
In an instant, the air turned to normal though as Anko began to laugh. The tension finally dropped the and three genin all began to breathe heavily in unison.
"Oh come on, you all can't get scared that bad from just a little killing intent. That's not even a fraction of what I'm capable of doing, and it's also nothing in comparison to what an actual battlefield is like." She stated.
Suddenly, her laughter died down again and her eyes narrowed harshly on the three genin. Immediately, they all stiffened in response once again.
"Consider this my first lesson to you three, whether you pass this test or not." Anko said. "You all will need to get used to fighting despite your opponent's killing intent. You must never succumb to it. Do you understand?"
The three genin were still for a moment as they worked to try and compose their breathing. After a few seconds, all three appeared to pushed past Anko's killing intent and nodded their heads.
"W-We understand." Hinata spoke-up for the group, causing Anko's eyebrows to raise: "We… We'll not let you beat us that easily."
"… Heh. I'd hope not." A smirk developed on her face as the tokubetsu jōnin as she brought her right hand to her mouth: "So… one last time. You brats ready?"
This time, Naruto spoke-up for the group as he took a step forward: "Bring it!"
"Good. Very good." Anko's smirk widened into a grin as she bit at her thumb, causing it to bleed. She then started doing hand signs. "Then let's get this over with. Your true graduation exam starts now!"
Anko immediately slammed her hand down on the ground, causing it to erupt in smoke. All three genin pulled out a kunai and stared attentively, waiting for their sensei's first move. When the smoke cleared, to their surprise, Anko was no longer in sight. In her place, a giant camouflage-colored snake was curled up. The second it saw the three genin, it hissed and attacked.
The giant snake moved faster than the genin could react; it slammed its large tail straight into the stomachs of each genin, sending them backwards and knocking the breath out of them.
"Damn… that hurt…" Naruto hissed in response as he pulled himself up.
"Well… what were you expecting? We're… we're going up against a jōnin after all!" Shikamaru said, still out of breath, as he pulled himself up. He kept his eyes on the approaching snake.
"We… need to be careful…" Hinata added, joining her teammates.
The snake, seeing that the kids were starting to recover, struck again with its massive tail. This time, however, the genin had the chance to react and disappeared in poofs of smoke, being replaced by logs with the Substitution Jutsu. They then moved further into the surrounding forest around the training ground, creating distance between them and the snake.
As the group placed distance between them and the snake, Hinata brought her hands together and activated her Byakugan. A frown developed on her face.
"Th-The snake is already after us. It's g-getting close." She noted.
"Getting close, but it's not here yet." Naruto said with a grin with as he turned to face Shikamaru: "You have exploding tags on you, right Shikamaru?"
"Already ahead of you." Shikamaru chuckled as he reached into his bag and pulled out a few tags: "I can get these set up for when the snake comes after us. We just need to lead it into the trap and then I'll activate the tags. After that, we just pound on it until it's taken out."
"We d-don't have much t-time before it's here." Hinata warned: "Go get the trap s-set up quickly!"
Shikamaru nodded his head and the three friends came to a halt, standing in the center of a clearing. Shikamaru quickly set up four tags on a nearby tree while before jumping behind a separate tree. Naruto and Hinata, meanwhile, remained out in the opening in the clearing as Naruto brought his hands into a hand sign.
"It's here!" Hinata shouted.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
On cue with the snake chagrining into the clearing, smoke filled the area. When it subsided, Naruto and Hinata were now joined by twenty shadow clones. Five of the clones immediately charged at the snake while the remaining fifteen proceeded to place distance, forming a sort of line towards the tree that Shikamaru marked with his tags.
The snake immediately rushed into the five approaching clones, its head slamming into the first and causing to dissipate instantly while the remaining four jumped back, avoiding the attack. They then attempted to jump onto the snake, but the snake turned its body and swung its tail, this time hitting and destroying the clones.
Before it could adjust from its position, Hinata, Naruto, and his remaining fifteen clones all tossed kunai from their positions at the snake's head. The snake's scales resisted the urge caused most of the kunai to bounce off, but a few managed to impale themselves into the back of his head. The snake hissed loudly in response before it quickly turned its head back to the genin and charged once again, its mouth opening wide.
Both Naruto and Hinata jumped away in time. Naruto's clones attempted to do the same, but seven of the clones were unable to get away and were subsequently eaten. The snake then turned again to face its prey, but the remainder of the clones quickly jumped back at the snake, each kicking it in its body.
The snake hissed loudly as it quickly lifted its body up and slammed it down, crushing the remaining clones and causing them to dissipate. Hinata then jumped towards it, her Byakugan flaring as she landed a palm strike on the snake's stomach. The force of her targeted strike caused the snake to growl back as it was pushed back. As it was moved, though, it slammed its tail back, which collided with Hinata's stomach and sent her flying into a nearby tree.
Hinata groaned as she tried to pull herself up from the attack, her back and legs feeling extremely sore. As she steadied herself, her eyes focused on the snake and its new position. More accurately, she noticed how close it was to the marked tree. A smile developed on her face as she raised her hand-upwards.
"Now, Shikamaru-kun!" She shouted.
On cue with her shout, the Nara made the necessary hang sign and the tags were ignited. In an instant, the snake was blasted by the force of four separate exploding tags. The snake was sent flying backwards further into the forest, crashing into multiple trees before becoming crushed under the debris of wood and branches.
The snake hissed in pain as it tired to pull itself, but the pain proved too much. As it continued to to try and pull itself out, Naruto proceeded to toss a few more kunai at the snake to take it down for good. The kunai all connected with its tail, causing the snake to hiss even louder before it finally gave up and disappeared in another poof of smoke.
"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted as he raised a fist into the air: "We beat her summon!"
Hinata couldn't help but smile, feeling accomplished from the fight. She pulled herself up from the ground as both she and Shikamaru walked over to the grinning friend.
"Hmm. Not bad, brats."
All three students immediately tensed-up as they turned their heads towards tree around the clearing. Anko sat on top of one of the branches, laying down with her hands behind her head.
"That guy wasn't a particularly strong and I did tell him to take it easy on you. Still, other than a just a few quick licks, you really beat down on the poor guy bad enough that he's probably going to bitch about it to me sometime." Anko said with a chuckle.
"H-How long have you been there?" Hinata asked, her hands trembling slightly: "I… d-didn't even see you with my B-Byakugan?"
"Didn't see me or didn't notice me? Cause I've been here the whole time." The tokubetsu jōnin replied with a shrug, which caused Hinata's eyes to widen: "Then again, I was suppressing my chakra a decent bit and you were probably more focused on the snake. Suppose it makes sense."
"I…" The Hyūga bit her lip in response.
"So you've been watching us the whole time. Whatever, it should be you down here testing us and not some summons you have." Naruto noted with a snort. Anko's eye twitched in response, but before she could respond, he continued to speak: "So, how'd we do? Impressed you yet."
"Hardly." She said, yawning. "I just said the snake was going easy on you. Why would that be enough?"
A tick mark grew on Naruto's face as he took out another kunai and tossed at his sensei: "Well, then let's see how impressed you are with this!"
Naruto had expected the woman to block the kunai or dodge it. What he did not expect was her to take the hit; the kunai landed directly in her head. Anko fell off the tree lifelessly… before disappearing in smoke.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked in response before his hands tightened into fists: "Was that a shadow clone?"
"Makes sense she would know it. It's a jōnin-level jutsu, after all." Shikamaru noted.
"Agh!" Hinata gasped, her Byakugan pulsating as she now noticed a large chakra presence incoming: "She's here!"
"Where?" Naruto asked.
Hinata's only response was to toss a kunai in the opposite direction that Naruto was facing. The kunai was blocked by a shuriken from that same direction.
"Does that answer your question?" Anko asked in a fake sweet tone as she slowly made her way into the clearing as she extended her left hand outward: "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Snakes shot up from her coat's sleeves and were sent forward towards the academy graduates. Before they had time to react, the snakes grabbed onto Naruto and sent him flying towards the jōnin-sensei.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's eyes widened as she ran after her crush. Shikamaru followed closely behind.
Naruto gasped in pain as the snakes bit harder into his skin as he was being sent towards his sensei. As he approached her, Anko then redirected her attack, sending Naruto straight into a nearby tree. She then charged at the boy, slamming her fist straight into his stomach. He groaned in pain and barely registered the fact that she pulled out a kunai. She then made a small cut on his cheek, eliciting a hiss in response.
"Give an enemy shinobi the smallest of opportunities and they'll have you in their mercy. You'll end up in a situation a lot worse than this one, and know that you can't make a single mistake even in a weakened state, cause you know you'll die if you do!" Anko informed the boy as she licked the blood of the kunai: "So, how do you face this situation, Whiskers?"
"He won't be facing the situation alone!"
Anko turned away from Naruto's body, causing him to fall to the ground, as she came face-to-face with Hinata, who had her right palm extended. The tokubetsu jōnin side-stepped, dodging the girl's attack. Hinata then attempted to slam her left palm into her, which once again, Anko evaded. The purple-haired woman then reached out and grabbed the girl by the wrist. Hinata's eyes widened as she tried to pull away, but she could not break her sensei's grip.
"I admire the fact that you rushed into save your ally, but that doesn't always cut it in the real world. You can't just rush in blindly to save a friend, cause you may just end up needing to be saved yourself!" Anko informed the girl sharply as she tightened her grip on her wrist. Hinata's eyes widened and an involuntary shout escaped her lips as her knees began to buckle: "You need to be more careful next time or else you'll both be dead!"
"I… I… I was, S-Sensei." Hinata managed to spit-out: "You sh-should be more careful yourself!"
Anko was about to reply but was cut off when she lost all feeling in her body. Suddenly, her grip on Hinata's wrist loosened until the girl was finally freed. Anko then felt her body turning until she was able to see the body of Shikamaru, who's shadow was now connected to her own. she
"Hey Sensei." He replied. Even though his head was turned so that she could see not him, Anko knew the boy had a smug grin on his face.
"I'll give you guys this, I didn't expect that. I wasn't really expecting you to actually try and trap me in your shadow while Stutters-chan was attacking me. Didn't know you could make the effort." Anko admitted, slightly teasing the boy in her praise. Her tone of voice then took a slightly mischievous and sadistic twist. "But, you do know that I have enough chakra that I can easily break from your control, right? And something tells me that unlike Whiskers and Stutters-chan, if I try and fight you head-on, you'll stay down after your beatdown."
"I'm aware. However, I didn't really intend on trapping you for too long. Only to stall you." Shikamaru told her, his grin still on his face.
'Stall? What?'
Anko immediately broke Shikamaru's hold on her through overpowering it with her chakra. She was about to start preparing for an attack, but she was too late; Naruto immediately pounced on her. He slammed her body down hard to the ground and delivered a punch to the face. Anko hissed in pain slightly, but Naruto's only response was to bring a kunai to her neck, the edge of the blade touching her skin.
"Give the enemy any opportunity and they'll have you at their mercy. Isn't that right Sensei?" Naruto asked her, taunting her with the words she used on him.
'So, the two others were really just distracting me so that he could recover and actually land a pretty damn good hit on me. Not too bad. I see the Mizuki thing wasn't just dumb luck; they work well together and could do some serious damage if trained more.' Anko noted.
"That's right Whiskers. However, I did ask how you would respond to that situation, didn't I? Well, this is how I would." She replied aloud before disappearing in a poof of smoke, replaced by a log.
"Heh, I figured as much." Naruto mumbled with a smirk.
He turned to Shikamaru, who was grinning in response back as he made a hand sign.
Anko was sitting in a nearby tree branch after she used the Substitution Jutsu. She was watching the three kids, wondering exactly what they were doing.
'Why are they just standing still? Shouldn't they be flustered or shit? Trying to prepare for an attack? Or maybe hunting me? Why are they just standing still?!'Anko thought in confusion, still watching her students.
She was finally about to give up wondering and just charge at them when she noticed Shikamaru make a hand sign. All of a sudden, she noticed a noise coming from her coat's pocket. She reached in and pulled a kunai out: a kunai with an explosive tag on it. The explosive tag was in the process of activating.
'Ah! So when Whiskers was recovering while Stutters-Chan attacked me, he got an explosive tag from Lazy Ass. He then put it on a kunai and slipped into my pocket when he had me on the ground. Clever son of a bitch...'Anko thought, impressed. 'And I didn't even think they'd be capable of sneaking some thing like this by me…'
Anko quickly pulled tossed the kunai before it could explode, but she was a little too slow in her getaway. When the explosion went off, she still managed to get hit by the blast, burning a part of her coat.
'That's another 'hit' they got on me. I may not be giving near my full strength at all on them, but that's damn impressive! Even when going easy, I should still be too much of a match for most genin… they really will end up being something special if someone puts some time into them.' She noted.
A chill ran down her spine as the thought echoed in her head: '… I'm that someone. I really am gonna have to pass them.'
The tokubetsu jōnin soon reappeared in front of the three kids. Naruto and Hinata, still recovering from her attacks on them, tensed-up at the sight of her. Shikamaru, meanwhile, pulled out a kunai and took-up position in front of them, prepared to lead for this next phase.
"We're ready for whatever else you have planned." Shikamaru said.
"Is that a challenge?" Anko snorted in response: "Believe me, I haven't even shown a fraction of what I can do."
After finishing her sentence, Anko glared at the three academy graduates, releasing the same amount of killing intent that she had at the beginning of the test: the same amount that had kept the three frozen in place for a moment. This time, however, none of the three appeared to be phrased. They were all still in position, waiting for her to make her move.
A few more seconds passed by before Anko finally released the killing intent. A chuckle escaped her lips as she brought both her hands to the back of her head.
"But yeah, anything else at this point would be a waste of time. You all did a lot better than I expected to be honest, and I guess am not so petty to fail a couple of talented brats like you just cause I want to." Anko stated: "So, yeah. You all pass."
"HELL YEAH!" Naruto shouted.
Filled with adrenaline, the boy seemed to momentarily forget any exhaustion or injuries from his fight and started to jump up and down, unable to stand-still. His excitement was so infectious that even Hinata appeared to be jumping in-place in excitement. Shikamaru, while calmer than his other two friends, was still equally as proud as he grinned at the news.
"From now on, Team Three is official. You all are officially genin in the eyes of the village, but more importantly, you're my team." Anko stated: "And because of that, that means it's my responsibility to whip you all into shape. So you three better be prepared, because I'm going to make you all the greatest damn shinobi this village has ever seen!"
Anko's words only made Naruto even more ecstatic as he brought his hands together: "We're going to make you proud, Anko-sensei!"
"R-Right!" Hinata nodded her head, a sigh of relief escaping her lips: 'We all managed to pass. I… I didn't end up letting them down. Thank goodness!'
"We're excited to be here. Together." Shikamaru added.
Their mood was infectious enough that Anko, despite her own previous misgivings, was now grinning in pride for the three. She quickly shook her head as she turned away from the kids.
"Anyway, the test was going to be our only assignment today, so consider yourselves dismissed. This training ground is going to be our designated meeting spot, so report back here tomorrow at 8:00 again, then we'll get into our routine from there." She stated: "Job well done, guys. Go celebrate or some shit!"
Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru all bowed in response, thanked their sensei, and left together. Anko assumed they most likely were going to go celebrate together, but it did not really matter what. It was not her concern what her students did during their off-time.
'My students, huh?' Anko's mind repeated the word choice, a sigh escaping her lips. Admittedly, this level of anxiousness was something she was not particularly used to, and she did not like it. A part of her was concerned if it was even the right choice for her to make; after all, what could she really accomplish as a jōnin-sensei?
'… Guess I gotta figure it out as I go. Maybe the Hokage can give me some ideas if I bother him. After all, he's the one who did dump the responsibility onto me.' She told herself with a chuckle.
She stood still for a moment as she began to envision what exactly she would be able to do for her students, but before she could let her thoughts develop, she felt a familiar presence nearby. She turned to one of the nearby trees and looked up towards its branches.
"Well, my brats are all gone. You can come out and stop hiding." Anko stated with a smirk on her face.
On cue with her words, a woman with long black hair and red eyes jumped out of the tree. She wore a white and red tight-fitting armor that resembled a blouse and had bandages over her hands. The woman greeted Anko with a wave and walked up to her. She responded back with a wave of her own.
"You've been there for a while, Kurenai. Don't you have your own kids to fail? Should you really be wasting too much time with me?" The tokubetsu jōnin asked with a laugh.
"Already did." The woman, Kurenai, sighed: "I had a team already planned out that I had assumed was going to pass, but then Hokage-sama felt the need to change up my request. Instead, I got a different team of kids that should never have passed the academy's initial graduation test, let alone the true one."
"Well, we all know the academy's standards aren't shit. That's why they have this second test anyway." Anko replied with a snort: "You'd think they'd try and just make the academy's test more difficult, but whatever."
"True. Perhaps a discussion to have with Hokage-sama and the academy directors for another day." Kurenai noted. A small smirk then formed on her face: "You know, I really am surprised that you passed your team. It feels odd for you."
"Yeah, yeah." Anko admitted: "Still not sure if I'm fully comfortable with it, but I guess this is the way it's going to be. I just need to figure out what it means to be a good sensei"
"Oh, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll excel there. I think you underestimate your skill and your character. I'm sure you will do a great job with them and help all of them develop their skills to their full potential." Kurenai noted.
"… Heh. Thanks." A smile developed on Anko's face: "Don't know if I believe that, but I probably needed to hear that."
"I'm sure you do, and I'll be here to say it again if you need." The black-haired woman replied. Her smirk then proceeded to widen: "However, that wasn't why I was surprised you passed the team. I'm just surprised you willingly are putting yourself in this scenario, you know?"
"… Huh?" Anko's smile disappeared immediately. Kurenai proceeded to laugh in response, which only caused Anko to scowl back at her: "What the hell do you mean?"
Kurenai was quiet for a moment as she tried to compose herself. Once her laughter finally faded, she continued to stare at her friend with the same shit-eating grin on her face.
"Well, you just took up a team. A team of new genin. A team of genin who must start completely fresh in terms of their standing in the village. So, hope you have fun doing D-Rank missions for awhile!" Kurenai informed her friend cheerfully before making a hand sign and disappearing with a flicker.
Anko blinked. She blinked twice. Memories started to fill her mind. Horrible memories from her time as a genin.
'All those hours… those boring hours! The painting, the babysitting, the grocery shopping… the cat! That damn cat!'Anko's mind replayed various mental images of menial tasks around the image. The image of her chasing after a cat replayed multiple times. 'Wait… that cat's still alive, isn't it? It's… still here!'
It was too much for the tokubetsu jōnin. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, her eyes still filled with shock.
'No more meaningful missions. Less time for torture. No more fun. More lame chores. More hours of boredom. MORE TIME WITH THAT DAMN CAT!'Anko fumed within her head.
"DAMN IT! THIS IS THE LAST TIME I TAKE UP A FUCKING GENIN TEAM!"