Chapter 9: Team 9

Yatora looked at his reflection in the mirror and thought, that he's quite good looking in his new Genin attire. 

He sighed looking at his remaining Ryu. Over the past days he stocked up his equipment. From the around 37000 Ryu, he had at the time he graduated only around 5500 were left. He thought the prices for shuriken and Ninjutsu were ridiculous, but he had no idea, that they were relatively cheap. 

His new outfit consisted of a black shirt with long sleeve, that was made from a fabric called Shinoirium. Shinoirium was an almost impenetrable material, hardly able to catch fire, very light, which enabled the wearer to move more freely and resistent to cold and heat. He also had new long, black pants made from the same material with the same qualities. It was very expensive, but Yatora thought, that spending money was better than not being able to return alive from a mission. One set of clothes costed him 2500 Ryu and he decided to buy three sets to always have a spare set.

The next purchase he made was a stock refill of his kunai and shuriken. He bought 50 Kunai, a total of 5000 Ryu, and 200 Shuriken, a total of 10000 Ryu.

That means he had around 15500 Ryu left. From the remaining money he decided to buy 2 more Fuinjutsu scrolls. They costed 5000 each and were able to contain twice the space, the scrolls from the academy were able to contain. But their price had to be high as well. He never expected the academy to spend so much money on every student, but he won't complain. 

The reflection in his mirror wore his new outfit, a belt which had the 4 storage-scrolls fixed on the one side and held his new sword on the other side. His konoha-headband with the leaf on it was attached to the sleeve of his left arm, as he didn't want to wear it as a headband. 

Tomioka told Yatora, that powerful swords usually held a name, chosen either by their creator or their first wearer. As Yatora looked at his blade and its light blue reflection, he immediately thought of the beauty of the ocean. That's the reason, Yatora named his blade 'Pacific' after the ocean.

But why did Yatora need four storage scrolls? In one of the small scrolls he transported his projectile storage, but he decided to always have 10 Kunai and 24 Shuriken outside the scroll, if he was surprised by an attack and hadn't enough time to open his scroll and summon his equipment. The second small scroll contained multiple basic medic set and a transportable mini kitchen he received as a gift from Sawada.

But the really important part was stored in the two 6 cubic meter scrolls. As Yatora decided on what to buy for his new equipment, he thought about the problems he'd have, if he were to face a stronger opponent. 

If he would encounter a stronger opponent, he'd have to rely on his strongest techniques which were without a doubt his Kenjutsu. But what if he was somehow unable to use his Kenjutsu or encountered a stronger Ken- or Taijutsu user, who wouldn't allow him to engage in close combat?

Then his strongest techniques would be his Water Release Jutsus. But they had a major problem, that wasn't easy to overcome. All of his strong water Jutsu were reliant on the fact that water was nearby. If the condition wasn't met, Yatora would have to rely solely on his Shurikenjutsu and Lightning Release, which wouldn't be enough to win against a strong opponent.

Thus, he came up with the idea to store a whole lot of water, inside his scroll to release it during critical moments. Those two scrolls, that contained 12000 liter, were the hidden ace up his sleeve.

And now it was time to head out and visit his classroom for one last time. 

Shortly after Yatora reached the classroom, Iruka entered as well. "This is your last day at the academy and I'm going to miss teaching all of you. The genins, that passed the exam are going to be put in to teams of three. I'm going to tell you the teams we decided on now."

The announcement started a little uproar in the class. Most girls wanted to join either Sasuke's or my team and some of the boys didn't really like each other a lot. 'I hope I don't get in one team with Sasuke! But I'd like to be in a team with Sakura' Naruto thought and as he started to smile weird, it was easy for Yatora to guess what he was thinking about, after he got to know Naruto better over the last year. 

Yatora himself wasn't really sure what he thought about the idea of teams. On the one hand, he wasn't really fond of working as a group, but on the other hand it was always a help to have someone to train with. But Yatora had no doubt that he's going to be the strongest of his team, as he was going to stop holding back now, so it was still questionable if his team comrades were helpful to his training at all.

"Starting with team 7: Naruto Uzumaki." Now Iruka had Naruto's full attention. "Sasuke Uchiha.""Oooooh man, why him!" Naruto was devastated, until he heard the next name. "Sakura Haruno."

Sakura looked happy to be in the same group as Sasuke and immediately looked up to Ino, her rival, although Yatora would call their rivalry a joke. "Oh, look who's on the team and who's not."

"Now Team 8: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame." This team had less of a reaction the team before them had."

"And now Team 9: Ieri Suzumiya, Nero Hatake and Yatora Soma." 

'Hmmh, my Team?' Yatora thought. 

"Let's go, now that's what I call a team!" Ieri yelled. She was a tomboyish girl, that wasn't really interested in any boys of their class. Over the past few years, she didn't really have any contact with Yatora, but was befriended with Nero.

The one just mentioned turned himself towards Ieri. "Nice, that we're going to be in a Team together."

"Right, that's amazing!"

While they talked Sakura decided to annoy Ino a little more. "Don't worry about it. I mean we can't be all in the winner team."

"This little-"

"What do you want to say Ino-pig?" Sakura looked furious.

"I have nothing to say to that giant a** forehead of yours." Ino angrily replied.

"Seriously, why that guy? What's so amazing about him?" Shikamaru said.

"Oh, are you jealous? You just don't understand it." Ino said to Shikamaru.

"I'm a boy. Of course I don't understand it." As Shikamaru spoke, he was already bored of the conversation.

"I hope I just don't have to pair up you." Ino stated.

"Team 10 will consist of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara-"

"Oh no!" Ino said with a frustrated voice.

"Ha, didn't you just say, you don't wanna pair up with me?" Shikamaru mockingly said.

"and Choji Akimichi." Iruka concluded the team.

"And now that wolverine too!" Ino pointed at Choji eating his chips.

"After lunch break, your new Sensei is going to take you with him. Please gather in the classroom again then." Iruka announced and sent them into their break.

"Hey, wanna eat with us?" Nero stood in front of Yatora's table together with Ieri. 

"Not really. I enjoy eating in peace." Yatora replied.

"Well, no one wanted you anyway. Come, Nero, we're going!" Ieri yelled and pulled Nero after her, as she left the room. Nero just waved and said "See'ya later."

"Not the best team, huh?" Shikamaru said.

Before Yatora even got the opportunity to reply, Ino already yelled through the entire room. "Shikamaru! Choji! We are going."

"Well you are the one to talk." Yatora said, after he saw how Ino's going to treat her teammates. 

"Well, you're not wrong on that one." Shikamaru said, as he slowly started moving.

'Finally peace' Yatora thought as everyone left the room and started to take out his lunch from the scroll, that contained his medic sets as well. Might as well use them for that purpose, if there is still space left over.

Over the last day he studied the storage scrolls. They had a space inside of them, that was fixed, to a specific size. The room was able to be split into up to ten rooms, which enabled the possibility to only summon a handful of the things stored in a scroll and not the entire storage. There were also some scrolls able to divide into more than 10 rooms, but they were even more expensive and Yatora didn't really needed more rooms, but more space in general.

After lunch break, the students returned returned to their seats in the classroom. There was no trace of Iruka-sensei and the Jonins, who were supposed to pick up the new Genin. 

After a short amount of Time, a man entered. He looked around 30, maybe a little younger, and wore his leaf-headband reversed as a bandana. Under his bandana there were shoulder-length brown hair over his face. In his mouth he had a senbon, a metal needle with two pointy ends. He wore the basic Jonin attire.

"I'm the leader of Team 9 and here to take them with me. Who of you are-" The Jonin wasn't even able to finish his sentence, as he was disrupted by a "That's us!" coming from Ieri, who jumped from her seat and ran towards him.

"Nice to meet you, I'm under your care from now on." Nero said, as he stood up from his seat and walked up to his new Sensei.

"Bye" said Yatora to Shikamaru and Choji, who wished him good luck, and walked to the front as well. 

"Now follow me." The Jonin said, as he left the classroom and took his students with him.

As they reached a park, the Jonin ordered the Genin to sit down on a park bench and stood himself in front of them.

"My name's Genma Shiranui and I'm a special Jonin, meaning I'm not entirely on the Jonin-Level, but only excel in one area. I'm Bukijutsu specialist and since all of you make great use of their Ninja-tools, I was selected for your squad.

Ahm, My favorite food is pumpkin broth, but I can't stand spinach. About my hobbies- I don't know. I do like travelling a lot, that's why I go on missions that often. I think that's all you need to know about me. Now, introduce yourself in a similar way. You, boy with the white hair, start."

"Aight, my name's Nero Hatake. I don't really have a food I dislike, but I do like any form of cooked vegetables a lot. And my hobby's hanging out with my friends." 

Genma nodded. 'He's the typical nice guy, I don't think there's anyone, that really dislikes him. I wonder if he possesses only a tenth of the talent Kakashi possesses. But I doubt it, Kakashi is a one under ten thousand talent and the Hatake Clan never really produced any great Shinobi besides him and his Father. Nero's grades were besides the social evaluation barely average in Nin-, Gen- and Taijutsu. He only has his Bukijutsu, speaking for him.' Genma looked at Ieri next.

Ieri had a wide smile on her face. "I'm Ieri Suzumiya and I love Rahmen. But I don't like anything with either too much meat or too much vegetables, there has to be a perfect balance. My hobbies are working out and also hanging out with my friends."

"Alright." Genma said and thought 'Oh, a girl that likes to work out. Well I certainly hope, that she's physically strong, cause I think we only have the Kenjutsu guy to fight at the front lines.' As Hiruzen called him this week to tell him he has to take a Genin Squad, he initially wanted to decline. But Hiruzen didn't let up and explained his reasoning for the decision, which included telling Genma about the abilities of the squad. Although Genma wasn't a Jonin he was still the strongest Bukijutsu specialist in Konoha. That means, Genma unfortunately hadn't a single good reason to decline this 'offer'.

"I suppose. it's my turn now?" Yatora asked, which Genma answered with a simple nod. To Genma's surprise started the young boy his introduction with a sigh. "My name is Yatora Soma. I'm by no means a picky eater, but I enjoy everything sweet and only like eating alone or with people I like. My only real hobby is learning more about or training Kenjutsu, as well as watching other people use Kenjutsu."

Genma was very interested in that particular student, as Konoha wasn't able to produce any Kenjutsu master over the past fifty years. Most of Konoha's bright lights and geniuses of Kenjutsu already retired or died, as for example the famous blacksmith Sushizaki, that was said to have trained together with the former head of the Uchiha Clan and the fourth Hokage. But now, he's only a shadow of his former self. Genma really was hoping for a new star of Kenjutsu to arise from Konoha. Genma, as Konoha's greatest Bukijutsu specialist should have already been able to make that happen, but unfortunately was Kenjutsu not his best exercise. 'I still should be able to teach him a thing or two.'

"Alright, we're meeting up tomorrow at 6 am at trainings ground 9, where a special test will be conducted, as only a limited amount of teams are able to keep their status as Genin. Bye Bye." With those words Genma walked away, leaving his students puzzled on the bench.

Ieri was the first one to react. "At 6 am?! Is he crazy?"

"That's your concern?" Yatora asked. "He literally said that we may not be able to keep our status as Genin."

"Shoot, I didn't even no- Hey that's no reason to look down on me!"

Before the dispute escalated, Nero jumped in. "Hey Yatora, wanna grab some food with us?"

"Just let it be." Ieri said trying to tease Yatora. "He won't say yes anyway."

"Well, she's right on that one." Said Yatora and left without wasting a single word to talk to them. 'I think I'm going to visit Tomioka now. He surely can tell me a thing or two about the test tomorrow.'

'They are going to be quite a handful.' Genma thought as he still overheard the latest conversation. He looked at the report cards in his hands.

Ieri Suzumiya

Ninjutsu: C

Taijutsu: B

Genjutsu: C

Cooperation: C

Positivity: A

Classroom Attitude: C

Nero Hatake

Ninjutsu: B

Taijutsu: C

Genjutsu: C

Cooperation: A

Positivity: A

Classroom Attitude: A

Yatora Soma:

Ninjutsu: A

Taijutsu: B

Genjutsu: B

Cooperation: F

Positivity: D

Classroom Attitude: B

"That's going to be a long way" Genma said, sighed and looked up in the sky. 'Lend me your strength Choza-sensei, Lord Minato. I'm going to need it.'