A Case Of Stolen Scrolls

It took around ten minutes for everyone to reach the training ground, but only because some of the more uninterested people (namely Sakura and Ino) had decided to lag behind. Nobody in the group said anything either as Tora took out 12 wooden straws from his pocket. No one questioned when he had had the time to get or make them, not even Naruto or Sasuke said anything.

"As you can see, I currently hold 12 sticks in my hand, same amount as the number of people here," Tora said as he pulled one out from the group and held it for the crowd to see. "There are four sets of three to correspond with the three man cell that we'll all be placed in once we become genin. If your participating, come forward and take a stick, see who your gonna be partnered with and try to work out a strategy that'll beat your opponents."

Everyone walked forward, each person taking their sticks and walking back, waiting to see who would be in their group. The way Tora had planned it out was to see how well everyone could get along as long as they had a common goal. It wasn't a foolproof plan as he knew for a fact that if he got paired with Sakura, he would've told that Sasuke-worshipper to take a step back and let him and the other guy/girl fight.

The first team was Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji with none of them seeming too happy about it, except for maybe Choji who was still eating and didn't seem to mind all that much. The second was Kiba with his dog Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino, with all of them seeming like they didnt have a problem with it. The third was Sakura, Setsuna, and Itana, with Sakura seeming like she'd rather be on literally any other team as the two girls began ignoring her. The last team consisted of none other then Naruto, Sasuke, and Tora.

"Question," Ino asked as she walked up to Tora. "How did you manage to get paired up with the people YOU wanted to get but WE didnt? You rigged it didn't you?"

"Yeah Ino, I put you all under a genjutsu just so I can cheat at drawing lots," Tora laughed a little before patting her on the shoulder. "Try to think before accusing others. Anyways, go and join your team. You all have exactly 10 minutes to form a battle strategy before going in to fight. You can treat it like a game or a match between rivals. Killing is not allowed....obviously this is meant for people who are strong and could accidentally kill someone.....so you can ignore what I said Sakura and Ino can as well."

"Seriously though," Sasuke said as Tora walked back over to them over the sound of both girls complaining. "How did you manage it?"

"Yeah, you got all three of us onto the same team," Naruto said with a goofy grin. "That was pretty great even if you did cheat a little."

"I didn't actually do anything to it,' Tora said with shrug of his shoulders. "This was purely by chance and we should all be grateful that we got it. I played no part whatsoever in making the teams."

Neither of the two looked like they believed him, but nobody questioned it as the three of them began to discuss a battle strategy. They had experience working as a team and already knew the scope of each others fighting styles and known jutsus so it was easy for them to come up with something. They didnt even need 10 minutes to wrap up a strategy and they spent the last few minutes simply chatting amongst themselves, discussing how they were progressing on the jutsu each of them were studying up on.

"Tora, have you managed to figure it out yet?" Naruto asked as they wrapped up their strategy. "It would be a huge boost in our teamwork and people would probably look up to you. Last time you said you had the first step pretty close to finished."

Tora shook his head with a sad smile. "Unfortunately, I only just finished the first step which is to create the personal mark. I cant quite grasp the technique though. Not to mention that even if I did, the amount of skill needed to actually be used in combat is astronomical. Timing, accuracy, decision making, concentration, and strategy. All these need to be quite high before I can even consider fighting others with it."

"It isn't considered an S-rank jutsu for no reason," Sasuke said. "It'd be foolish to think that a mere academy student could pull off something that would normally take years of work and study. You simply need to get the hang of it through hard work and training. Don't fall too far behind or I'll surpass you. Same for you, Naruto."

"You think your sooo cool Sasuke," Naruto complained with a frown. "Just you wait, I'm going to master an amazing jutsu and leave you all far behind me. Your looking at the next hokage after all!!"

"Tch, whatever you say...loser," Sasuke muttered as he looked towards the other groups.

"Now now guys, why do you guys alwats gotta be so competitive?" Tora smiled and slapped them both on the back. "We're all strong in our own right. Naruto has his perseverance and amazing stamina while Sasuke has his wits and his ability to keep calm in almost any situation."

The two of them looked at him before looking away, causing Tora to smile. "Anyways, ten minutes is about up so how about we go and test out what the other teams have got? It outta be pretty good."

The three of them proceeded to head over to the other groups who were still talking to each other. Once Tora and the others walked over however, the three groups quieted down and looked towards them, clearly realizing that their time was up. Tora wasn't sure if they had all finished strategizing or were just veing obedient but it seemed everyone had nothing more to say to each other.

"Okay, so here's how its gonna go down," Tora said, clapping his hands together. "Originally I was gonna have one team at a time fight another team but due to the fact that others may have stuff to do, we'll have one match. It'll still be a 1v1 team match, but there'll be two matches happening at the same time. In order to keep it fair, team Setsuna will be versing us and team Kiba will be versing team Ino. Any objections?"

"I have an objection," A voice said from behind Tora. "Why do you keep stealing scrolls that clearly don't belong to you? Surely you know that its a crime.....Tora!!"

Tora flinched as the familiat voice reached his ears. He couldn't help but give an internal sigh before putting on a nervous smile and turning to face the 3rd Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had actually come out here to visit Tora personally. Standing directly behind Hiruzen was two chunin level shinobi who looked totally pissed off. Up until now everything Tora had done had been incidences which the 3rd Hokage had covered for, but Hiruzen had never actually come in person to reprimand him. He couldn't blame him though as he actually done something this time that warranted a visit.

"Oh, hey Old man third," Tora said with a smile. "Fancy meeting you here? Nice day we're having right, perfect for a good nonviolent chat."

Hiruzen sighed as he looked at the young youth before him. "Tora its time you stop pulling stunts like this. Though the scrolls you took aren't considered to be important to you, they're in fact secrets that others would kill to have. If you keep stealing then I'm gonna have to severely punish you. Also, if you pull the stunt of drawing on the Hokages faces like you and Naruto did last week you'll be in serious trouble."

"Well if I'm being totally honest with you Old man Third the stone faces looked so much better after we painted on them." Tora smiled a little as he recalled the fun he and Naruto had had when they were drawing followed by being chased by some low class chunin ninjas. "Besides, we cleaned it up afterwards. There was no harm done in the end.

Naruto took this moment to step forward. "Old man third, the scrolls your mentioning are the ones Tora has right? Tora was just borrowing them so he can learn a single jutsu and he needed more information."

Hiruzen looked from Tora to Naruto for a moment before releasing another sigh. "Return the scrolls to their owners and we'll forget it happened. If it should happen again though, appropriate measures will have to be taken."

"But Lord Third, he stole secret scrolls that academy students should never get their hands on," one of the chunin behind him said. "Is it really wise to let him off with a slap on the wrist?"

"If a mere academy student could steal the scroll then someone must be doing a terrible job guarding the scrolls," Hiruzen replied simply. "I have more paperwork to do so I'll ve heading back."

The two chunin said nothing else as they followed after Hiruzen, shooting a glare at Tora who stuck his tongue out at them. About every ninja below Jonin level disliked Tora for one reason or another but he didn't really mind as they all were d*cks to him before they even knew him. Tora never even bothered them and they still despised him but, again, Tora didn't mind.

Turning back around, Tora was about to address his classmates but ended up only looking at Sasuke, Naruto, Itana, and Setsuna. None of the other academy students had stuck around for the conversation with the Hokage, everyone obviously anticipating something bad happening. No one was even remotely curious about what Hiruzen had been here for which made Tora wonder why.

"Oh, I see everyone left," Tora said with a shake of his head. "And after I went through the trouble of gathering them together. Such a shame."

"Well what did you think would happen?" Suna asked as she walked over. "No one wanted any part in a problem you created for yourself. Everyone already sees you as a weirdo and a freak so they would rather leave and protect themselves then to sate their own curiosity."

"Then why are you here?" Sasuke asked, his black eyes trained on Suna. He had an ongoing rivalry with her even if he wouldn't admit it. She was the only one besides Naruto and Tora who could force him to fight seriously. "Are you saying that you care about Tora?"

"Thats exactly what I'm saying," Suna said with a smile as she winked at Sasuke. "Tora is pretty cool if I do say so myself. Sure beats tall, dark, and depressing. No offense."

Sasuke looked like he didn't really care as he looked over to Itana who had also walked over. "Why are you here? You also here cause your curious?"

Itana nodded. "What are we gonna do now? Surely we're not gonna leave just like that? I'm game if we have something else planned."

"Yeah, its not like we gave someone to go home to," Suna said as she leaned on Tora's shoulder, a playful look in her red eyes. "So how about we have some fun?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Whoever can guess the jutsu that My boi Tora is trying to learn will he considered a GOD and will have my respect and the top commentor of my novel.

Give it a shot you nerds.....heres a hint, its an S rank jutsu because of its difficulty to use in combat. Any more hints and I'll just be giving the answer.

You got one day to figure it out

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also I'm doing a thing where every 50 powerstones voted is another chapter I owe you guys. I tried 25 powerstones on another novel but I couldn't keep up so every 50 will be another chapter.

You don't have to do it, its just an option so make sure to vote if you like the idea