Chapter 8: Team 42

The next day started out like any other. I got out of bed in my new "old" house, got ready and left towards the ninja academy, for my final day there.

The village had used a few months after the nine-tails attack, to rebuild as much as could be. After the third month my previous ruined house, was established again. Good as new, if not for this two people house, now only had one tenant. I left my mothers room as it was, out of respect for her, or maybe more accurate probably out of guilt, that I couldn't save her. I wouldn't even let my friends sleep in her room when they were over late, it just felt wrong to me.

That was another thing I found strange about the village system. I was 11 years old now, and pretty much an orphan, but no one batted an eye with me living alone, with no supervision. In my old world you would not expect a child to be capable to live on their own, however here it seem to be normal. Which either could mean that children develop faster in this world, and reach maturity quicker, or the village system is designed with so many flaws and lacking's they did not consider child care. For the first point I can only say that the data is inconclusive. I see some kids my age, that act very mature, as was also shown in the anime, when both Kakashi and Itachi graduated ninja school before the age of 8. However other ninja, like Sakura or even Naruto, showed "normal" childlike behavior at the age of 12, when they graduated.

On the other hand, when Madara and Hashirama founded the village, it was to protect children and future generations, so shouldn't that be one of the core features of a hidden village?

Lost in my own thoughts about the world as large, I arrived at the entrance to the academy.

"You are late" Shira Aburame said, while looking at me. "Since I was here before you today, that means I get to pick what training we do today. I am so sick of you just trying to draw those strange symbols all the time."

I looked at her, and didn't recognize her immediately. Instead of her academy outfit, she had worn since I first got to know her, she was wearing Aburame ninja outfit. Which was a large waterproof coat, covering her body, apart from below the feet, and above her nose. It also had a hood, which was at the moment resting on her back. Her midnight black hair was free flowing down to her shoulders. Her eyes was, as always, covered by a pair of black sunglasses. Come to think of it, I had never seen what color eyes she had. She wore open toed sandals, on her feet. I had once asked her about this type of outfit, and it seems the inside of this outfit, has a lot of different pockets and room, for the clan secret insects to hide. The other purpose of this outfit was to hide the movement of the insects, so they could catch an unaware opponent by surprise.

"What makes you think that we will be doing any training today after this?" I asked her. "We will be assigned to a genin team today, and there is no guarantee that we will end up on the same team."

There was a short pause, as if Shira was figuring something out, based on the question I just asked. I however knew better, she had already expected this question, and already had an answer prepared. I expect they pause was to try to seem more cool, if it seemed like her well thought out answers, had just come to her now. Finally she answered:

"There are four reasons why I expect you, Yugao and myself to be on a team" Shira said, with a small smirk at the corner of the mouth. "First, out of all the graduates, were they only one younger than the others. This might not be a big deal for us, but some of the older kids might look down on us just for that fact. This could impact the teamwork of said team. Second the three of us have already demonstrated a good team composition, where we compliment each others abilities, leading to a better team and teamwork. Third, while we might not be the most powerful of the new graduates, each of us have some field, where we excel far beyond the other graduates. I have my unic sensing ability, Yugao has her top of the line kenjutsu and you have that absurd amount of chakra and chakra control."

I nodded to her analysis of the situation, and asked:

"Didn't you say there were four reason?" I asked

"Oh yea, I also overheard the Hokage asking my clan head about my abilities for sensing, and what team he wanted to put me. I have gotten so good at the sensing through my insects now, that I can hear and smell what they hear and smell. So long as I have sufficient insects in one place" Shira said.

I just stared blankly at her, before erupting out:

"Then what was the point of the first three reasons, and you trying to act cool!" I fake angry yelled. I think my Uzumaki blood is starting to show.

"Oh. I was just killing time, until that lazy bum Yugao decides to sho..." Shira said, and was interrupted, as I moved my head back, and lifted my right arm in the air to grab a kunai. The kunai would have hit me in the head, if I hadn't moved it or grabbed it. I only spared the kunai a quick glance, and immediately recognized it as a training kunai. A kunai where the sides are dulled down, and it cant cut anything. It would have hurt if it hit, but would not have been dangerous.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a 11 year old child, holding a wooden sword, appeared behind me and yelled:

"Got you"

As she swung her wooden sword down in a two hand chop, I could see the glee in Shira's eyes, or rather her smile, as her eyes were still covered by the sun glasses. Ah so it's like that huh? I arrive as the last one, and they have teamed up to teach my a lesson eh? The child behind my was of course Yugao. I smirked.

The wooden sword passed right through me, and a stone feel to the floor.

"A clone" Yugao yelled.

"Thats right" This time I appeared behind Yugao. Holding the training kunai against her back.

"All right, I give up" Yugao said with a smile. "How did you do that? Did you combine the clone jutsu and the substitution justu?"

"Hmm, it would probably be more correct to say, that I just did the two jutsu really fast, right after each other" I said

"I didn't even see you do any hand seals" Yugao said

"Wouldn't be a very good ninja, if I telegraphed my moves to my enemy, now would I?" I said, unable to hide a smirk of satisfaction, that I pulled that off. It was pretty close. If I hadn't started the clone jutsu immediately when I caught the kunai, I would not have made it. I continued: "Lets get inside, its almost time."

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" Anya Uzumaki, Yugao Uzuki, and Shira Aburame you three will be team 42" The teacher said, and continued: "That should be everyone."

As Shira predicted, and as expected, we ended up on the same team. Now I was just interested in what jonin we would be getting, to take us further on the ninja path.

"Before you get introduced to your new mentor, I have an announcement" The teach continued. "Due to the tragic event from almost a year ago, Konoha does not have enough jonin at the moment. Thus some of the team will be assigned a chunin instead. I assure you, that you will get the best education, that Konoha has to offer, so no need to be disappointed."

A buzzing of small talk, started out in the class room.

"Silence!" The teacher shouted

The class room got silent again.

"Good. No without further fanfare, here are you new mentors" The teacher continued.

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We were sitting back, and waiting for our new mentor to arrive, while everyone else left with their new mentor. After about 20 minutes there was just the three of us left in the room. With no clue as to what else to do, we continued to wait. For some reason I was thinking this was some kind of test. We were passing the time, with making small talk, happy about being on the same team.

Suddenly a kunai with an explosive seal note, was thrown into the room, heading in our direction. The kunai was throw from outside, so we couldn't see who threw it. And in this moment that didn't matter as much. Shira and Yugao both jumped out of their seat, and took cover behind a desk. I however remained seated.

When the kunai entered the class room, I caught a glimpse of the explosive note. I have been training my fuinjutsu, and the explosive note is one of the seals I have made thousands of. Not working explosive seals, as my chakra infusion is still a work in progress, but I am very familiar with the seal and how it looks. From the look of it, was very evident that the seal would not explode. It would only release a lot of smoke. Thus I remained seated.

When the kunai approached, before it could hit anything. I grabbed it out of the air. The speed of the kunai was not very fast. I, a genin, could have thrown it much faster.

As expected when I to a hold of the kunai, the seal released, and plenty of white smoke was released. After about 10 second of us not exploding, and most of the smoke dissipating, Shira and Yugao joined me at the table again.

"How did you know?" Shira was the first to ask.

"You remember those drawings you hate?" I said

She nodded.

"I recognize the explosive seal, I am very familiar with it, and this was close imitation, but would only release smoke, not explode" I said

When the paper was visible again, we could see that there was a note written on it. Long story short, it was a test. A scavenger hunt to be exact. The note had a clue, that would lead us to the next clue, and so forth. And at the end of the scavenger hunt, we would get to meet our new ninja mentor.

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After the fifth note, we found around the entire city of Konoha. Including the fourth one, that send us back to the academy. The other notes, had been riddles or demonstrating a specific technique. One of them had even had a genjutsu on the paper, that we had to dispel.

"Argh, this is so frustrating" I said. "Were just running around in circles"

"Agreed, this is going to take all day" Yugao agreed with me.

After a few moment of silence.

"... I say we cheat" I said

The two others looked at me in shock, and both at the same time yelled:

"No!"

"Come on, think of the cake we could be eating right now, if we had finished this assignment already" I countered

At the mention of cake, both of the hesitated. Until Shira said:

"What did you have in mind"

"Gasp" Yugao said and acted offended, but was clearly waiting for me to go on.

I was thinking for about a minute, and then finally said:

"So if we assume the clue from the beginning is correct, and that this scavenger hunt was prepared before hand, and not just created on the fly, then the destination should be fixed right?" I asked.

They both nodded

"Then we just need to find the destination, without following the clues" I said.

"And how are we going to do that?" Yugao asked

"Shira, over how long a distance can you track specific chakra signatures?" I asked

"I need about 20 of my special chakra sensitive bugs, to cover an area of about 500 meters. Less bugs and my sensing wont work. And before you ask, I have only about 1000 of my bugs with me now" Shira said.

"OK, then I suggest we employ your bugs around Konoha, in a search grid pattern, to look for our mentors chakra signature. Where he is, should be the final destination" I said. Yugao motioned for me to continue, and I did: "Even if we don't find him right away, it will narrow the places down, over time, until there are fewer and fewer places for us to search".

"The plan is solid, but for one little detail. I need to have meet our mentor, to be able to find his specific chakra signature" Shira said.

"Correction, you need to have felt his chakra, to be able to recognize it. Do you remember note number 3? I bet the genjutsu on it was cast by our mentor. There should still be enough residual chakra there for you to sense it still" I said with a triumphant smile.

Shira bonked her head, with her right hand and said: "Why didn't I think of that." Then with a big smile on her face (yes I can see the smile, because of the way her cheeks move), she started the process.

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*On top of the fourth Hokage stone face*

*3rd POV*

"The new graduates, should still be busy until very late in the afternoon. Should I do something else until later? But the medical Ninja said that I had to rest until tomorrow, before doing anything that would be physically exhausting. Guess there is nothing else to do than just enjoy the soft breeze here at the top of the village" A shady looking figure was sitting on top of the Hokage stone face, talking to himself.

The figure was dressed in a standard chunin ninja gear, but with an additional black trench coat on top. The trench coat was open, and didn't seem to have any practical purpose. If someone had to guess, the figure probably wore the trench coat to look either cool or intimidating.

The other think that was strange about this figure, was he had no exposed skin visible. His hands, face, head and even feet were all covered in bandages. Only one of his black eyes were visible, as the other was covered by the same bandages as the rest of his body.

To amuse himself the figure made a game out of watching the clouds drift by, and hitting the rare leaf, that would float by, with a stone. Hitting it dead center each time. After about 10 minutes the figure sat up, and tried to listen. He was sure he had just heard something.

There it was again. Like feet hitting on rock, but the tempo was of. Like an irregular walking or running. Almost like someone was not used to walk on the surface. Then he started hearing voices. He was sure, although they were still pretty far away. Now sure that something was going on, he stood up and disappeared, only to reappear again on the edge of the stone face, to look down. Although it was not visible, he smiled and said to himself:

"Clever girl(s)"

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*Anya POV*

God damn, walking up an almost 90 degrees mountain side, while having to drag and 11 year old girl with you, is much harder then it sounds. Scratch that, with chakra that impossible task is doable, just pretty hard.

After Shira had quick scanned half of Konoha, she finally found the signature that matched to the note we found before. And wouldn't you know it, it was on top of the god damn Hokage monument mountain.

As Yugao and myself had pretty good chakra control, for our ages, and Shira did not. We decided to tie a rope on Shira, and "drag" her to the top between us. It was a slow progress, but after about 20 minutes we made it. Completely exhausted, but we were here.

We didn't really know what we expected to find here, but when we got to the top it was a strange sight. A mummy looking man in ninja cloth with a black trench coat, and one eye visible was looking at us, with a hand in the air as a greeting, with the word:

"Yo"

I was still trying to catch my breath, so I just but my head between my legs, and held up my one hand, as the universal sign for "Just a moment".

I heard a small chuckle from the man, and he continued:

"I am very impressed with you three. I know you would have to had used much more time to complete my distraction... I mean scavenger hunt" ???? said. Clearly trying to make us angry, for was time. I didn't engage. Not because I was still exhausted, but because I was above such petty comments... Yea I didn't even believe that myself.

With his attempt of provoking not working, he then asked another question:

"You didn't complete my scavenger hunt, so how are you here?" ???? asked.

Shira who had gotten her breath back first said:

"Hold out you hand"

The guy took a quick look at us, and held out his hand. As he did, there was a clear finger nail sized beetle crawling on the back of his hand.

"That is how we found you" Shira said.

"Interesting" ???? said. "You tree are much more clever than I thought you were. While you technically didn't complete the work I gave you, you still got the wanted results, and in less time then was allocated to you".

After we caught our breath, we sat down in front of the guy, in a semi circle, all facing him. Shira on my left, Yugao on my right.

???? continued: "As we are all once again able to talk, lets start out with introductions. You first" he pointed at Shira.

"All right. My name is Shira Aburame, 11 years old, just graduated from the academy." Shira stopped, clearly done with the introductions.

"I was hoping to know more about you. Like what your dreams, likes and hates as well Shira" ???? said.

Shira continued then: "My dreams is to develop and breed new and better ninja insects, so that my clan can prosper. I like insects, my family and chocolate cake. I dislike math, writing and fuinjutsu" at that last part she scowled at me, while I just rolled my eyes at her.

"Good. You next" ???? said, and pointed at me.

"My name is Anya Uzumaki" ????'s eye twitched at my last name, but said nothing. I continued: "Also 11 years old. My dream, is to become a powerful ninja, so powerful I can protect and change the world. I like my mother, my aunt, my friends and most importantly chocolate cake. I dislike the nine-tailed fox, and tofu. It just has no flavor."

"Now you" ???? said and pointed at Yugao.

"Yugao Uzuki, 11 years old. My dream is to surpass all other kenjutsu users in the world, and become the most recognized kenjutsu user. I like my family and friends. Like the others I also have a liking for the godly food that is chocolate cake. I dislike boys and taijutsu with my hands" Yugao said as fast as she could. I think she was more eager to know about our mysterious mentor.

"Good, now I know you better. And this is something that I can work with. Stick with me, and I will turn you all into splendid ninja. ???? said, taking a short break, before continuing: "We will have a test tomorrow. This test, will determine if you are ready for the level of genin. I must tell you already that 2 out of 3 teams will fail this test, and be send back to the academy for another year."

Shira and Yugao looked to contemplate this.

"Meet me tomorrow at 6.00 on the training field 21, where we will determine your future as a ninja. Come prepared, or be prepared to fail" ???? said.

He then walked to the edge of the stone face monument, and was just about to jump.

"Wait, you never introduced yourself" I said.

He then turned around and said one line, that would leave stunned and frankly a bit frightened for what was to come. Before he jumped out from the monument:

"My name is Morion Ibiki"