Chapter 4: Wet and Rusting

The day after the previous spar, the class entered their lecture hall, and prepared for a nice lesson on different basic jutsus. Duplication jutsus, simple earth walls, fire balls, etc. They were mostly just demonstrations. None of the kids really had the control, or the requisite chakra to perform any of them. Kannin, however, as an Uzumaki, guessed he had pretty good chakra reserves and was certainly going to try them once he got home.

While the teacher was going over a basic fuinjutsu demonstration, the Uchiha girl, who had sat herself next to Kannin, leaned over and said "you're definitely going to try these out, right? I know I am!"

Kannin smile back and whispered "Of course I am. I've been itching to do some real ninjutsu since I started here. Speaking of, don't you already know a bunch of jutsu already?"

She rolled her eyes and said "It's not the same! You know that. Uchiha just really like making their kids look cooler than all the others by teaching us fire jutsu. Outside of that I don't really know anything.

Just then, the kid behind them both hopped over and joined the conversation.

"Hey, what the hell!" Kannin squeaked

"What was that noise you just made! Ahahah!" The Warai wasted no time teasing him.

"Oh shut up"

The new guy jumped in with a gigantic smile, "So what's the hubub?" Looking over he noticed Kannin trying to remember his name and he added "I'm Tetsu, Sarutobi Tetsu. I thought I heard something about trying out some ninjutsu outside class."

Warai grinned back and confirmed "You betcha. Now that we're actually learning ninjutsu we're gonna be unstoppable!"

Just then, their instructor's face drooped in between their faces, and flatly said "If you'd like to make a playdate, I would advise you do so after class. It would serve you better to pay attention to the board up front."

The class erupted in laughter at their expense, and the three of them went red in embarrassment from being singled out. When the instructor returned to the front of the class, all three of them had their heads hanging to try and disappear--a jutsu which was not being taught that day, unfortunately--but Tetsu did say one last thing "Why don't we meet at Training Ground 4 after class and try some stuff out?"

Warai and Kannin took a moment, and looking at each other, they nodded in agreement.

-

After school let out, the three convened at the training ground as promised. The ground wasn't anything more than a dirt clearing on the outskirts of the village. But it felt right. The tan ground and green trees really made Kannin feel like he was in some sort of training montage from a martial arts flick.

Warai showed up second with her straight black hair tied up in buns, and finishing some food on the way in. She saw Kannin taking in his surroundings and rushed up and put her arm around his shoulder and said "So what do you want to try first? I really wanna see if I can do some earth walls myself."

"Wait up! you aren't gonna start without me are you?" Just then Tetsu ran in, and stopped, putting his hands on his knees and catching his breath. "Sorry I'm late I had to stay late in my last class"

Kannin told him "That's alright, we were just waiting for you."

So the three of them took positions across from each other in a triangle, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly style, and Warai counted down from three for them to simultaneously release their jutsu.

"3...2...1...GO!"

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

"Body Replacement!"

"Water Release: Gunshot!"

At once three jutsu were released simultaneously. Warai summoned a 3 foot tall wall of tan dirt, Tetsu sneakily managed to substitute a block of wood for his body, which served him well since the Water bullet Kannin created was far larger than he intended it to be, in fact it was nearly 10 times larger than intended--and it hit the block of wood hard enough to cause of cracks. It continued past and washed over a small metal playset in the distance before petering out.

"Woah! How'd you do that!" Tetsu shouted when he saw the destruction he escaped. "You almost killed me!"

"Sorry about that. I think it's because I'm an Uzumaki. I've been told we tend to have far larger chakra pools than average. I'll try to control it better next time."

Warai chuckled and said "You better. For our sakes. You might not be any good at real fighting, but your ninjutsu skills are pretty good!"

And they spent the better part of that afternoon trying different jutsus, some working, others not working at all, and some working a little too well. At one point Warai summoned a fireball that roasted Kannin's eyebrows clean off and singed his clothes. Tetsu found that he was quite good with practical jutsu like the Body Replacement.

At the end of it all, all three of them were lying breathless on the ground with the cheesiest smiles on their faces, looking up at the clouds.

"We better go home then, huh."

"Yeah I guess."

"See ya later"

The three bid each other farewell, and headed back to their respective homes, each with a bright grin adorning their faces.

-

Unbeknownst to them, an anbu was watching them in the trees, and a few minutes later, a scroll appeared on the desk of Hiruzen. Unrolling it, and putting his pipe in his mouth, a grin of his own creeped across his face as he read the report.

"A Sarutobi, an Uchiha, and an Uzumaki...almost reminds me of my old team." He blew out the pipe smoke and said "I should keep an eye on them."