Chapter Four

XXXX- HATAKE SAKUMO 

This was realistically the best team he could have asked for. Sure the one with the Uchiha and the Kurama heir was interesting, and the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka combo were going to be lethal no matter what, but this was the kind of team that tales were told of. The Senju Heir, top of his class in the academy with the power to use B-rank jutsu as a genin- The youngest child of the Uchiha Clan head who showed potential that far outstripped any of her older brothers in fire release or even the visual acuity of the sharingan, and last and most definitely least, a civilian born child with grades that outstripped the other two academically and the ability to recall and deduce information at a pace that put even the most prodigious Nara to shame. 

Like he'd already said, this was a team that stories were told of, But looking at them made him sure that this team wouldn't be getting any songs unless they went through some serious work. First of all, the Uchiha girl was glaring at both her teammates like they'd joint and severely offended her scrod multiple instances and situations. That had to be the first thing to go. Second was the bow at the back of the Senju Heir. Sakumo doubted that the heir of the Second HOkage would walk around with a weapon he couldn't wield, but a bow was not a shinobi's weapon, and if he'd found some workaround, then perhaps a more discreet means to storage could be fine. The bow spelt him out as a kong range specialist from miles away. Knowing his taijutsu scores, it was possible that the bow itself was a red herring, designed to make opponents underestimate his close range potential and punish them when they failed. He left it as a maybe. The thing he'd definitely be removing was that smile. The Uchiha girl was angry, and he was perfectly pleased by it. He'd whip enough teamwork to turn them into real shinobi of the leaf into them. It was either that or they'd never leave the village on a mission, he swore to himself. 

The next, the third teammate had a million things that needed fixing. The first was that fact that he was actively shying away from his teammate. While he knew that the girl would have no trouble tearing down the Takehada boy if she got the go-ahead, it was still shameful for him to cower away from aggression in such an open manner. No shinobi of konoha would be showing that kind of behaviour. Not even in the face of unbeatable odds. 

With all this in mind, he spoke his first sentence to them after summoning them to their chosen training ground, "My first impression of all of you is that you suck" He said to them in a deadpan tone. At his words, their reactions were telling. The Uchiha turned her aggression to him, trying to burn him with her gaze. The Senju merely smiled even wider like he'd heard some sort of joke and relaxed his shoulders. Takehada shied even further into himself in the face of the false criticism. 

"But it's my job to make you suck less. Or it could be. Depends on if you can pass my test" He said, channelling the words of his first sensei as he leaned on the older man's expertise and wisdom not to mess up here. 

"Test?" No points for guessing which one of the three responded almost instantly with venom in their tone. 

"I took you for many things, but not simple, Uchiha Uzume" He said, ignoring the pitiful killing intent she shot at him. 

He chuckled to himself. "You see, passing the academy test proves that you are good enough to be genin of Konoha. But that doesn't tell me anything but the bare minimum. It definitely doesn't tell me that you deserve me spending even a second of time on you. That's what this test is going to do. If you turn out to be worth my time, then I'll train you. If not, it's to the reserves with you lot" He said to them, watching the words sink in. Uchiha raged, Takehada shrunk, and Senju smiled. Sakumo got the feeling that he was going to eventually understand where the Chunin Sensei had been coming from when he'd written in his assessment, _"Senju Shorirama is one least suited to the life of shinobi. Just purely on his mentality. His skills are better than mine already, but he takes everything as a joke of some sort. A joke only he sees. I do not feel he has the potential to be a ninja of Konoha. He will either break on his first mission, or turn out to be the kind of monster that Konoha can not truly control. Recommendation: Fail"_ 

Of course, writing that about the Second Hokage's grandnephew was not going to end well for him but he applauded the man's dedication to his students. That had to be the only thing that would motivate some no-name to recommend failing the heir to Konoha's premier clan. Even Sakumo, with all his pedigree, would never dare failing the children in front of him. Getting both the Senju and Uchiha on his case at the same time would be political suicide oof the most comedic order. His enemies would most likely take breaks from delighting at his suffering to pity him. Either way, he had to get the measure of these children. And first things first would be robbing the Uchiha girl of that unfocused aggression and seeing if he could get the Senju boy to take something seriously. 

"When is the test, sensei?" 

"Now, of course. And as for what it is. The sun is at its highest point. Survive until Sundown and you will be my Genin" He said, giving them a completely impossible task. 

At his words, they all snapped into action faster than he'd expected. He tilted his head backwards to dodge a boot that had swung right for his head. He observed the Senju boy chuckling as he ran from the training ground and left both his teammates behind. 

XXXXXXX- TOSHIRO TAKEHADA 

Of course she didn't waste a second trying to do something actually useful like coming up with a plan or even letting them know what she was going to do ahead of time. Yes, Toshiro, and he was sure Shori as well, had known that the girl would attack once she got the permission to. It was her entire personality, after all. But couldn't she have learned a new trick or two after graduation? He absently noticed Shori disappearing from the corner of his eyes as he whipped out two shrunken from his weapon purse and tossed them at his sensei at an angle. 

Mom said that these were supposed to test their teamwork, and as long as he showed some ability to work with the other two, then he'd pass. He was certain of it. Both his shuriken ended up proving Moore of a hindrance than a help to Angry Uchiha-san as she heard them coming and disengaged. There had been very little risk of her getting hit by the stars, but part of him facepalmed at expecting her to trust in that with no guarantees. 

Engage in taijutsu, I'll help out from a distance, he signed at her in the sign language that Konoha had once favoured for use within the anbu. He knew she spoke it, as he'd seen her use it with her brothers before. Shori also knew it as well, but it was expected for the Hokage's heir to know every language within Konoha. Uzume knowing it had been a surprise for him when he'd first noticed. It had made him curious as to what her brothers did exactly. The fact that Mom hadn't said anything about them and had just gone silent when he asked meant only one thing- anbu. She ignored his words and began to run through seals. It was a blur and ended with the tiger seal. He did well to jump backwards. He'd seen enough of the Uchiha girl's ninjutsu to know that this wouldn't end well for their would-be sensei. 

He was right. A massive ball of fire, large enough to completely block Toshiro's view of their opponent. Their Sensei, a jounin, didn't seem too bothered by the jutsu as Toshiro didn't see him dive out of the way. In fact, as a shape appeared through the flames, it looked like their sensei had done the opposite. He dove right through Uchiha Uzume's flames, none the worse for wear and slammed into her with a composed savagery. That was the only phrase Toshiro could think of. Their previous taijutsu exchange had been brief, but it had been mostly their sensei dodging out of the way as she relentlessly pursued. Now it was as far from that as possible. 

It was a beatdown. First of all, he'd near folded her in half with a knee to her stomach. She'd reeled backwards but done nothing to avoid the follow-up punch to her temple. She tried to lift her hands to block the next jab, but it was an obvious feint for a kidney punch that their sensei delivered with punishing strength. She spat out blood and Sensei used the opportunity to hit her with a palm to the face that broke her nose in one clean strike. Fuck, Toshiro thought to himself. This wouldn't end well. Shori had disappeared once Uchiha-san attacked. Of course he had. He'd probably seen this coming and decided that he'd be better served hiding from their sensei that taking him on in a straight fight. Toshiro prepared to jump away and attempt the same when he suddenly found himself pinned to the ground. 

He saw a vision there and then. If he moved, he'd die. Not in one fixed way, in a million different ones. Each more brutal than the last. He turned to find his sensei watching him with something resembling amusement in his eyes. His sensei was standing straight, not a wrinkle on his impeccably pressed Jounin uniform. Not a single lock of spiky hair out of place from the organised mess that had caught Toshiro's attention back in the classroom. He looked to all the world that he'd just had a pleasant stroll in the park and not a life or death battle with who was arguably the most dangerous genin in all of Konoha. He'd put money on Shori in a fight, if he was a gambling man, but he'd still consider the Uchiha girl as much more dangerous. There was just a ferocity in her that he never saw anywhere. 

That was why the fact that she'd remained slumped in their sensei's pseudo-grip made for terrifying thinking. He'd beaten the fight out of her. This was the same girl who'd fought through a broken arm and used same arm to shove a punch into a shocked Shori's face- wining her the only spar she'd ever won against him. The fact that it was the last time Uraraka-sensei had allowed them to spar had also said a lot. 

In a blink he found a blur heading for him and didn't even notice when he moved his body to catch Uchiha Uzume as she was tossed in the air at him like a rag doll. "Stay here. I'll go get that wayward teammate of yours and teach him a thing or two about abandoning one's comrades" was all he heard as his sensei disappeared in the wind. 

XXXXX- TSUNADE SENJU 

There was only one word she felt was appropriate for describing her little cousin- asshole. Sure, Uncle Tobirama would rather know him as a prodigy and Grandma Mito would rather know him as a sweetheart, but at the core of it, her little cousin was an asshole. It didn't matter how naturally talented he was when it came to the Ninja arts. All that mattered was the fact that her little cousin couldn't take anything with an appropriate level of seriousness and was consistently pushed by the voices in his head to apply his deviant sense of humour to every situation. 

Case in point- right now. "I said I need to go inside to get my student" The man said, visibly frustrated. At least to her senses, the was visibly frustrated. She'd known Hatake Sakumo for years now and could just tell from the way he reached up to scratch his headband that he was near the breaking point. If it had been any other clan building, she would bet he'd have already bypassed the guards and made his way inside. 

"Okay, That's enough. Let him pass" She said to the gate guard. A man by the name of Poki, she was reasonably certain. 

"But Tsunade-sama, Shorirama-sama said-" he began but she interrupted with an easy plan. 

"Good thing I can countermand his orders. Even beyond that, from now on, any of my cousin's orders relating to matters like this have to be approved by either myself, my grandmother or my granduncle. Is that understood?" She asked rhetorically, already turning her back and signalling for the older Jounin to follow her. 

"Thank you for that" He said to her, rubbing his hair and not meeting her eyes. Hatake Sakumo was a legend in his own right. She'd never gotten to see him fight but Jiraiya had run a mission or two with the man and claimed that he'd probably be able to beat all three of them working together. 

"Don't thank me. Or if you have to, please do it by kicking my cousin's arse for me. I can't do it myself because our Grandmother would throw a fit." 

She deflected the gratitude. 

"But tell me why my cousin has seen fit to hide himself in the compound and bar your entrance. Aren't you supposed to be testing him?" She asked, probing into her cousin's actions. The boy was difficult to understand, even at his most cooperative. He was nowhere close to that today. 

"I gave his team the mission to evade capture until sundown, and he interpreted the orders to mean 'abandon your teammates and retreat to your clan's protection'" He said with audible irritation in his voice. 

She resisted the urge to chuckle, but she couldn't prevent the smile that broke across her face. It was a crafty solution, to be sure. If not for her being around, he'd have gotten away with it. Hatake Sakumo was too disciplined to break into the Senju clan compound even with the good reason he had. What would end up happening would be that he'd spend some time outside the gates, trying to convince the stubborn guards and then given up before he'd have ended snapping at them. It was a good plan, and she told Sakumo the same. 

"I agree. I would have been far more amused if he'd bothered taking his teammates with him for his stunt. At least, it would have shown that he had some ability to work well with others beyond using them to alleviate his boredom." 

"I told my Uncle that putting him on a three-man team, particularly this one, wouldn't end well. He works best with those who know how too think the way he does. A combo with the Uchiha boy and the Kurama heir would have been something to behold" She put forward. 

"Sadly, we will never see the fruits of that. But I do agree slightly with the Hokage's reasoning behind this team. If they manage to get over the worse aspects of their personalities, and if the two divergent elements manage to get over their animosity with each other, then there'd be very little this team won't be able to take care of once they reach their full potential. He was trying to build another version of your team- three individuals capable of battling Kage level opponents once put together." He told her with a significant look, and she nodded. 

"I guess that means you understand what it means for you to be chosen as the sensei for such a team" She told him. He merely nodded and they continued to walk in silence. She allowed him walk with his thoughts. He'd been placed in charge of the futures of two of Konoha's biggest clans- the two biggest, in fact- and there was nothing he could do to refuse. He'd have eyes on him whatever he did from now on, and he'd have students with intrusive and powerful families. She'd try her best with her Granduncle, but she knew that if Tobirama Senju ever disagreed with the manner in which his heir was being taught, then he wouldn't hesitate to make his opinion heard. 

"We've arrived" She said as they stood in front of the clan library. Of course this is where he'd end up. "Shorirama Senju. You gave two seconds to get out of the library or I promise you won't like what I do when I come in myself" She said at near the top of her voice, and in less than the time it had taken for Sakumo to look at her in shock at the volume, her cousin appeared at the doorway with a finger rubbing at his left ear. 

"Pretty sure you ruptured an eardrum with that one, Cuz" He said irreverently. 

"Good. Maybe I'll even heal you from that when I'm working on the rest of your injuries after your sensei is done with you" At her words, he finally turned to see the man next to her who was leaking killing intent like a waterfall. He instantly paled and turned to run before he was suddenly sent flying by a kick to the midsection. She tracked his flight path and noticed he was heading towards the training ground in the compound. At least Sakumo wasn't so far gone that he'd beat the boy in the residential district. She watched as her cousin's body burst into smoke and twas replaced by a log that hit the ground at the entrance to the training field and shattered to smithereens. This was going to be fun. 

Facing each other now, both Sensei and Student waited for nary a second before bursting into movement. With a shunshin, Shorirama was just sable to dodge out of the way of his sensei's first strike. Distance gave him the time and space to nock that useless bow of his with two arrows. It was like every time someone told him bows weren't ninja weapons, he got more and more determined to keep up with it. 

Neither arrow did anything to hinder Hatake Sakumo's pursuit of his annoying student until the ground rumbled for a second before turning into a massive pit of pure mud between them. Hatake flexed his knee for a second before pushing off and scaling the entire thing in one go. It was a mistake as Shorirama had put down his bow and was running through seals. A massive wave of water from the pond attached to the training ground rushed at his sensei in mid air. The man then did something she'd never seen done before. At least not with jutsu above D-rank. He formed a half ram seal and just allowed the water wave hit him with no effect. He landed on the ground and then burst at his student again. 

He nocked the foolish bow again, this time enhancing all three arrows with wind natured chakra. Sakumo treated the attack no differently than he had with the first one and dodged away from all three arrows with contemptuous ease. Even worse, this time he was able to catch him before he could escape with a shunshin. The first kick was blocked with the bow but said bow was wrenched from her cousin's hand by the second. The exchanged furious taijutsu and she marvelled at how much progress he'd made with the skill at such a young age. He fought like a Hyuga, but with technical proficiency only, he was far above even the most skilled genin she'd ever seen- Orochimaru all those years ago. He leaned out of the way of a punch that would have made his brain ring and retaliated with a palm thrust that was reeking of chakra to her senses. 

Sakumo dodged and then leaned downwards to sweep his legs off the ground. Her cousin kept his footing by jumping in the air for a quick second while forming a single hand seal. The wind bullet jutsu hit Sakumo, did nothing and then he took a kick straight to his stomach that had him coughing up blood. She resisted the urge to wince since she knew that kick at least had to have broken a rib or two. The moment the kick hit, her cousin collapsed to the ground holding his stomach and whimpering. 

When Sakumo turned to her with a raised eyebrow, she merely shrugged. The Hyuga were own charge of his taijutsu education. Of course the pretentious pricks had done nothing to fix up his pain resistance. 

"Stand up, brat" Sakumo commanded, and in the span of a second, he had to lean out of the way of a blade that threatened to stab through his left eye. "Nice acting" He commented before blurring with speed. A single chop to her cousin's n neck rendered him unconscious. 

"Do you mind healing him and the rest of the team, Senju-san?" Sakumo asked, and while she'd have normally said no, a cough rang out across the clearing. 

"Yes. She'd love to" Her Grandmother said, walking deeper into the training ground and beginning to prod her unconscious grandson with her cane. Sakumo didn't need an extra second to begin falling over himself to greet the old woman. 

"I would have expected his training to have gone further" She said idly, after completing the formalities. 

"He's been focusing on a lot more things than simply getting better at fighting these days" She said, feeling the inexplicable urge to defend the asshole. She could see in her Grandmother's eyes who exactly she was comparing Shorirama to. She'd once been a recipient of looks just like that one. Everyone expecting the second coming of Hashirama. That expectation might have explained away her cousin's general demeanour if she wasn't well aware of the evil that had laid in his heart from birth. A born asshole, he was. 

XXXXX- SAKUMO HATAKE 

"So what did you do wrong?" He asked, talking to the freshly healed team of three, and doing his best not to react to the guests at the training ground. If he'd known that the Matriarch of the Senju clan would tag along once he asked for Tsunade Senju's help, then he would have gone without it. 

"I should have hidden at the Hyuga clan compound instead" his most troublesome student said with a sore tone until he heard a sound of wood striking skull. At least the presence of the Senju Matriarch would maintain the good behaviour of her charge. 

"No. You failed the moment you abandoned your teammates. Those who abandon their comrades are less than scum- not worthy to live in this Ninja world. Do you understand me, Shorirama Senju?" He asked, flooding the clearing with his killing intent. 

The boy shakily nodded, performing a better job than his teammates but still unable to completely shake off the effects of his killing intent. 

"No. No you don't. Not yet, at least. But I promise that you won't be getting any missions until I beat that into your head." He said, making all three students wince. Only the Uchiha and Senju had felt the strength of his displeasure, but the Civilian-born third had gotten a front row seat to what would happen if they failed to perform up to standard. 

"I'll tell all three of you what you did wrong in turn. Uchiha Uzume, you ignored your teammates and went in on your own. You also ignored your teammate's plans when he communicated them to you. Takehada Toshiro, you are weak and you failed to work around your uncooperative teammate in an effective manner. Shorirama Senju, you abandoned your teammates." 

"In spite of all your individual failings, I see potential in this team. I will be passing you and in the next few months, I will beat some teamwork into you or break you and reforge you as a team. Whichever comes first. Now, you are dismissed. Meet here again by 0600 hours tomorrow." 

A/N; Yeah that's team Four for you. Unstable and dysfunctional as fuck, but they have potential. Let's see how it goes. he next three chapters are up on the place of pa –trons- same username as up here so feel free to check it out if you want to support my journey, but don't stress if you can't. Everything will come up here in its own time.