Chapter 10: Yamato-sensei

AN: Alright everyone, this is Chapter 10 and finally Izaya, Haku, and Kimimaro get to show off some of their battle skills and teamwork! Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 10

Swish! The moment sensei said start the three of us jumped into a triangle entrapment formation with sensei in the middle. Yamato's eyelid raised up in surprise. Oh? Instead of concealing themselves they went straight for a battle formation? The first step when on a mission is usually being able to conceal yourself. Either they forgot or they're overly confident. Yamato was surprised once more by our next action.

Haku held three senbon needles in his left hand and three in his right and threw them in a large arc towards sensei. I performed a similar feat throwing six shuriken in a wide arc towards sensei.

MMM! Yamato exclaimed in surprise. This will cut off my escape route. Leaves me with only three options. Jump in the air to dodge leaving me vulnerable, hide underground, or run straight ahead towards Kimimaro. Yamato then looked straight on and dashed quickly towards Kimimaro. To his surprise Kimimaro also chose this moment to dash towards him.

He's planning to fight me in close quarters Yamato thought. While Yamato and Kimimaro dashed towards each other the senbon needles and shuriken collided into one another. Haku threw out two more senbon needles while I threw out two more shuriken.

Kimimaro punched with his right fist only for Yamato to block it with his left hand. Yamato threw a right hook while Kimimaro ducked and pushed out with a palm strike to Yamato's groin area. Yamato jumped back while Kimimaro gave chase. They exchanged a few dozens more moves before Yamato threw out a left straight punch only for it to be caught by Kimimaro in a tight hold.

Eh? Yamato exclaimed, why did he choose this moment to hold onto my arm so tightly, it'll leave him vulnerable for my next attack. At this moment Yamato felt a sense of danger behind him. He quickly used his free hand to disarm Kimimaro's grapple and kicked upwards forcing Kimimaro to jump to the side as he jumped to his left.

Just as Yamato dodged to his left two senbon needles and two shuriken flew pass the spot he was just at. Before he could process what had happened Haku dashed over with a flying back kick towards Yamato's head. Just as he ducked to dodge Haku's attack he heard Kimimaro say, "Earth Style Bottomless Swamp Jutsu!"

"Crap!" Yamato exclaimed. Although he successfully dodged Haku's flying kick attack his feet were stuck and he was quickly sinking down into a mud swamp. I quickly used this opportunity and threw a shuriken at sensei then said, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" One shuriken quickly became 10.

Alarmed Yamato quickly said, "Wood Style Wood Wall Jutsu!" A large wooden wall appeared just in time to block the barrage of shuriken. He then formed a hand seal and said, "Wood Style Wood Vine Jutsu!" A large branch of wood grew out from the wooden wall and pulled Yamato out of the sinking mud.

Haku finally landed at this moment from his earlier sneak attack and took a senbon needle out throwing it towards Yamato which hit him in the neck, but a second later it turned into a log.

Yamato stood hidden on a tree branch nearby with cold sweat dripping down his head as he stared at the spot he was just at. Luckily I used the Substitution Jutsu just in time. Damn you Kakashi-senpai, what the heck have you gotten me into. These three kids are better than I thought.

The moment sensei disappeared I sensed his location in a treetop nearby. I took out a shuriken and threw it in that direction as I shouted to Haku and Kimimaro, "Over there!"

Eh? He found me Yamato exclaimed mentally. He suddenly recalled that in the profile he read, this one named Izaya was a sensory type ninja. He quickly took out his own kunai and jumped out of the tree expertly deflecting the shuriken. At this moment Haku also threw out a senbon needle at Yamato who responded by throwing out his kunai in his hand to block it.

"Let;s see what else you guys got." Yamato said. He formed a few hand signs and said, "Wood Style Wood Cage Lock Jutsu!"

The moment I sensed sensei gathering chakra I jumped as quickly as I could off to my right side. Soon after a wooden cage appeared where I was standing only to capture nothing. Haku had also noticed something amiss and with his speed and agility, quickly jumped up in the air and did a backflip out of the wooden cages grasp, however, Kimimaro remained ensnared by the cage.

At this moment I dashed towards Yamato-sensei with two Kunai in my hands and engaged in close quarter combat with him. Haku took this opportunity to reach Kimimaro's cage and weaved a few hand signs before saying, "Wind Style Severing Blade Jutsu!" Wind blades appeared on Haku's hand as he made a slicing motion cutting out a hole for Kimimaro to escape.

"Are you alright Maro?" Haku asked.

"Mn, I'm fine." He responded.

Haku placed his hands together to form Ox, Snake, and Ram and said, "Ninja Art: Kirigakure no Jutsu!" He then expelled a large amount of mist from his mouth allowing it to fill up the entire area.

The moment I noticed Haku use this technique I parried one of sensei's attacks and jumped backwards towards Haku and Kimimaro.

"What! The Hidden Mist technique! So they can even do this." Yamato said in surprise. It's just one surprise after another he thought. He mentally began processing the whole ordeal up to now. Is there really a need to continue with this exam. The purpose was to see if they have any teamwork but they obviously have near perfect teamwork already. Maybe I'll just use this exercise to probe out their abilities and see what skill level they're at. Yamato then smiled involuntarily. I didn't even notice until now but my heart is racing. I'm excited to see what other surprises they'll bring me. Facing these three feels like I'm on one of my dangerous B-rank missions.

I'm certain these three don't have as much chakra as Jonin level ninja, but they are definitely abnormal for Genin. Probably somewhere in the Chunin level chakra levels. Hehe, I've really picked up some excellent students. I'm gonna brag to Kakashi-senpai later. Eh? Yamato then noticed something amiss.

Haku quickly and soundlessly appeared behind Yamato and stabbed at his neck area with a senbon needle. The needle then quickly sank into Yamato's neck meeting its mark. Haku smiled at his success only for him to notice something wrong. Before he could react his hand was held down tightly by wood protruding from Yamato's body. Yamato's body then completely turned into wood. "A Wood Clone?!" Haku exclaimed.

"That's right." Yamato said as his actual body stood in front. The Wood Clone proceeded to wrap itself around more and more of Haku's body seeking to tightly bind him. Yamato inwardly exclaimed as well at Haku's prowess. He actually knows how to perform the Silent Killing movement and taijutsu technique of the Hidden Mist? He's a prodigy. If I wasn't extremely wary and cautious of these three kids and prepared that Wood Clone I would have been paralyzed by his needle right now. It was at this moment that he noticed 3 shuriken flying towards him.

Yamato grabbed a kunai and successfully blocked two of them and parried the last. As Yamato looked around to find the attacker my hands stuck out from underneath him and gripped his ankles tightly, attempting to pull him into the ground with the HeadHunter Jutsu. Eh? Yamato exclaimed in shock, this is the Earth Style HeadHunter Jutsu.

Before he could be pulled into the ground he put his hands together controlling his Wood Clone to grab him and kept me from forcing Yamato-sensei into the ground. He then formed another hand seal and said, "Wood Style Wood Vine Jutsu!"

Before I could escape two large branches of wood grabbed me by the arms and waist and pulled me up out of the ground in front of Yamato-sensei. Before Yamato could say anything however Haku shouted, "Maro!"

Kimimaro then formed a few hand seals and placed his hands on the ground saying, "Earth Style Earthquake Slam Jutsu!"

The ground shook underneath Yamato, Haku, and I before tearing up and splitting Haku and I away from Yamato-sensei. I quickly applied chakra to my legs and kicked hard at the wooden vines holding me breaking out of their grasp while Haku applied chakra into his hands forming a sharp scalpel cutting himself free. We both jumped backwards as Yamato-sensei took out a scroll. He then unsealed the scroll and said, "Unseal: Wind Style Whirlwind Gale Jutsu!" A strong tornado flew out from the scroll forcing the mist to dissipate clearing up the field once again.

It was at this moment that Haku and I both stood opposite each other with Yamato-sensei in the middle. At an incredible speed I weaved the hand signs of Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger and shouted, "Fire Style Flame Bullet Jutsu!" At nearly the same time Haku formed the hand seals of Dragon, Tiger, and Hare and shouted, "Water Style Raging Waves Jutsu!" I spewed out a mix of oil and flame as Haku spewed out a strong force of gushing water from his mouth. Yamato stood on the receiving end of both attacks with a look of incredulity and seriousness.

He quickly formed the hand seals of Rat, Dog, and Tiger and said, "Wood Style Wood Domed Wall Jutsu!" Giant wooden pillars quickly appeared from beneath Yamato and sheltered him safely inside as the flame bullet and raging waves collided with the dome before also colliding with each other. As Yamato remained safely shielded inside the wooden dome he was secretly shocked. Although he had expected them to be able to use jutsu of this scale he was nonetheless still shocked when seeing it. In fact, more than anything he was simply shocked at the speed in which both Izaya and Haku formed the seals for the techniques.

Why did I have to say come at me with the intent to kill he inwardly lamented. He felt the rumble of the dome as the waves and flames crashed against it. A few moments later and the rumbling stopped. It was at this moment Kimimaro placed his hand on the ground and shouted, "Earth Style Mobile Core Jutsu!"

Yamato felt a rumble at his feet and felt something bad was happening. The earth suddenly pushed him upwards. This is bad he thought. I'd get crushed on the ceiling of the wood dome. He quickly released the wood dome technique and jumped out from the top before getting crushed. The moment he appeared outside he was surprised. Although he got rid of the mist from earlier with his wind scroll the area around him was fogged up and impeded his vision due to the steam created from the flame bullet and raging waves that collided with each other earlier.

Don't tell me those kids did that on purpose? If they did then their teamwork is truly too scary! From the corner of his eye he noticed a faint movement of the steam parting ways. A shuriken came flying towards him so he quickly took out a kunai from his ninja tool bag and threw it to deflect the shuriken, however, there was a second shuriken hiding in the shadow of the first one.

"What! It's the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" Yamato exclaimed. Just as the shuriken was about to pierce his chest he kneaded chakra at that area and a wooden block appeared at that spot stopping the shuriken. Phew, he breathed out a sigh of relief. I really can't let my guard down for a second against my precious students he mentally remarked.

Haku and I had already regrouped with Kimimaro at this point. I watched intently at Yamato-sensei silently nodding in appreciation. With my sharingan and sensory skills I picked up a lot of Yamato-sensei's techniques. I'm not sure how successful I'll be at performing them but nonetheless this is a great way to see how to use Wood Style in action.

"Sensei is truly a capable shinobi. He's successfully blocked, deflected, or parried every one of our techniques despite our teamwork and carefully planned attacks." Haku said.

"Mn." Kimimaro nodded. "Not only that, but sensei has only used his techniques to defend and hasn't really made a move to attack us. If he did we wouldn't have had such an easy time coordinating our techniques. In fact, it's possible that one of us would have been defeated already."

I nodded at both Haku and Kimimaro. "Both of your analyses are correct. Yamato-sensei is truly formidable. I reckon he's one of the best Jonin in the leaf village. The fact that he can use the long lost Wood Style is already a testament to his prowess. Even if the three of us go all out we still may end up losing. Although we've improved a lot over the years, we still don't have as much chakra as sensei, plus, he hasn't truly engaged us in battle. I'm sure by now that sensei has as sense of our teamwork and abilities, so lets make one last attempt and go for the bells. There's only one way we can be successful and that means we're going to have to show some of our true skills."

"Okay big brother, it sounds like you have a plan. What do you need us to do?" Haku inquired.

I took out a regular kunai with a red string on it. "I'm going to mark this kunai with my Flying Thunder God seal. Kimimaro, you engage Yamato-sensei in a one on one Taijutsu fight and lure him as close as you can towards the river. Haku, you get to the river and use the Water Dragon Jutsu. Do you have enough chakra for it still?"

Haku nodded and said, "I do. It's a powerful B-rank ninjutsu technique and will drain about a third of my chakra, but I still have enough chakra to use it."

"Good. Then when Yamato-sensei gets near the river activate your jutsu and force him to where you see this kunai. I'll then use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to quickly and secretly appear by sensei's side and steal the bells and then we'll destroy them."

Haku and Kimimaro nodded.

"Good, let's move out." I said.

Although it seemed like they took a while to converse, this all happened while Yamato was attacked by the shadow shuriken and by the time he had landed on the ground the steam from earlier finally dissipated. He then turned to see the three of us standing next to each other when Kimimaro suddenly dashed out towards him.

Eh? Did they have a strategy meeting just now? He thought. He quickly engaged Kimimaro in hand to hand combat only to be inwardly surprised. Was this kid holding back earlier? All of a sudden his movements have become more fluid and he's applying the power of his attacks at just the right time giving his strikes more impact. Right as he blocked a kick to his forehead he noticed Haku by the river and became even more shocked at what Haku was doing than the prowess Kimimaro showed in Taijutsu.

Haku stood atop the water and with his left hand with incredible speed he formed the hand seals of Ox, Monkey, Rabbit, Rat, Boar, Bird, Ox, Horse, Bird, Rat, Tiger, Dog, Tiger, Snake, Ox, Ram, Snake, Boar, Ram, Rat, Dragon, and Monkey.

At the same time with his right hand he formed the hand seals of Bird, Dragon, Bird, Ox, Horse, Ram, Tiger, Snake, Rat, Monkey, Rabbit, Boar, Dragon, Ram, Rat, Ox, Monkey, Bird, Dragon, Rat, Boar, and at the last hand seal he placed his hands together to form the seal of Bird and shouted, "Water Style Water Dragon Jutsu!"

In next to no time at all a giant vortex of surging water appeared beside Haku and merged together in the air forming a menacing looking giant water dragon with glowing golden eyes. Yamato quickly jumped away from Kimimaro's reach having a hard time grasping what he just witnessed.

This kid has enough chakra for the Water Dragon Jutsu? What's more astonishing is his hand sign weaving skills. Even he himself could not perform so many hand signs with ONE hand at that speed yet this kid not only accomplished this feat, he did it at the SAME time as he formed hand signs with his other hand. The Water Dragon Jutsu has a total of 44 hand signs. This kid performed half the hand signs with his left and half with his right to cut down the activation time of the jutsu.

He didn't have anymore time to think as the watery dragon began to make its move according to Haku's control. The kunai with the red string on it was off to the side near the forest's edge so he controlled the water dragon to maneuver in a way that forced Yamato-sensei to retreat backwards towards that side. Just as Yamato was getting near the kunai Haku used the water dragon to crash down towards him.

Yamato quickly weaved some hand signs and said, "Wood Style Grand Pillar's Impaling Jutsu!" Before the water dragon could reach him he destroyed the technique by creating multiple thick and giant wooden stakes from the ground and sent them piercing into the body of the water dragon.

Although it would be nice if sensei was a bit closer this is as good as we're going to get, I thought to myself. I then activated the Flying Thunder God Jutsu while sensei was still distracted by the destroyed water dragon. I quickly appeared at the spot of the red-stringed kunai behind sensei. Yamato noticed something amiss and looked around for Izaya only to discover him missing.

I took this opportunity and dashed forward with kunai in hand as I cut the strings holding the bells in place by sensei's waist.

"Crap!" Yamato exclaimed in surprise.

Before I could grab the bells I cut free, a small wooden hand protruded out from sensei's waist and reclaimed the bells. Surprised by the unexpected development I forced chakra into my feet and kicked with as much force as possible. The kick instantly broke the wooden hand that held the bells and flung them up into the air. Before anyone else could react Haku formed a hand seal and said, "Wind Style Severing Blade Jutsu!" Then with a slicing motion he shot forth a powerful cutting wind blast and destroyed the bells in the air turning them into broken ornaments.

"AH-..." Yamato wanted to say something but ended up holding it in. Haku then stumbled and was about to fall into the water when Kimimaro quickly jumped over to grab him.

Huff...Huff...Huff...Haku continued to pant heavily in Kimimaro's arms.

"Are you alright Haku?" Kimimaro asked concerned.

He nodded his head and said with a heavy breath, "Mn. I just spent a bit too much chakra Maro. Using the Severing Blade Jutsu after the Water Dragon Jutsu took more chakra than anticipated, but I'll be fine after a little rest."

Kimimaro nodded his head and placed Haku on his back before saying, "You can go ahead and rest Haku. I'll look after you."

"Mn." He nodded.

I walked over to Haku and Kimimaro and placed my hands on both of their shoulders. "You both did great! Haku, I apologize you had to use the Severing Blade Jutsu. I was careless and didn't execute my part well enough."

He shook his head and said, "No big brother, it's not your fault. Sensei was just too skillful. And I only used up a little more chakra, it's no big deal."

Yamato just silently stared at our banter for a bit before letting out a long and drawn out sigh. And then he started laughing. "Ha-Haha-Hahahahaha!"

The three of us just gave a confused stare at Yamato-sensei before saying, "What's so funny sensei?"

Sensei just continued to laugh for a bit longer before wiping a few tears from his eyes and said, "Ah, sorry I'm not laughing at you guys or anything. On the contrary, I'm laughing because I have such good students! Haha in fact, I'm so elated I'm going to go brag to my senpai la-...Er...Ahem. Forget the last part. Anyways, I had already decided to let you three pass a while ago, I just wanted to see what skill level you guys were at. Honestly I'm super impressed. In fact, I'm so impressed that I'm confused why you three didn't graduate earlier."

"Ah...It's because we wanted to spend more time with our friends and we weren't in a rush to graduate anyway." I answered.

Yamato gave an inquisitive look but nodded and accepted the answer. "Well, it doesn't matter. It's not like we'll force you to graduate early against your will." Yamato then walked over to us and placed his hands on my shoulder and Haku's shoulder since Kimimaro was carrying him. He smiled at us and said, "Congratulations. You all pass! Meet me here tomorrow at 10am so we can take our official Team 11 photo. For now you should all go rest. Especially you Haku. You used up quite a lot of chakra so recuperate well."

"Mn." We all smiled and nodded.

"Okay." Yamato-sensei said.

"Dismissed."