"Ugh, when is our sensei arriving?" Tsunade complained, a little sad she wasn't put in the same team as Akira, but she would never show, or admit it.
"I don't know, Tsunade. Nakama-sensei told us to wait at training field 7 so I guess we just have to wait," Orochimaru replied calm as ever.
"Ugh...I wonder what team Akira got sorted into...he's supposed to meet them at some other training field, right?" She muttered, slamming her forehead onto the wooden stump somewhere in the grounds.
"Mm, yup. Training ground 10, if I remember correctly."
"Arghhhh..." slamming her head onto the wood stump again, Tsunade groaned, not having any of this.
Meanwhile, with Akira, he was met with a far more interesting sight.
'White hair, short tanto, yup it's him. I'm not dreaming.'
"Nice to meet you, Akira-san. My name is Hatake Sakumo. I'll enjoy working with you in the future," the white-haired, sword bearing shinobi greeted politely, bowing a full 90 degrees.
It seemed that despite his young age, friendly and handsome look, some people still talked to him with respect evident in every motion and speech. Whether it was out of fear for disrespecting the honoured Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, or just plain politeness was an unanswered question.
Waving his hands nervously, with a smile, Akira replied with a small awkward smile, "Nice to meet you too, Hatake-san! No need to be so polite - after all you're older than me!"
"I'll take note of that, Akira-san," he replied, with that ever so formal and polite tone.
Sweatdropping and a frozen, awkward smile stuck on his face, Akira turned to his other teammate, a short-ish boy, doning chestnut brown hair and eyes, with a overall friendly demeanor.
After exchanging their own greetings with the boy, named Ozawa Katsuro, they talked about a few other things.
The nonsensical chatter brought Akira details, some proving to be helpful, some being otherwisely not. Among these were two more valuable pieces of information.
The first of which was the reasons of his sorting into this particular group. Obviously, there had been an odd number of fresh graduates this year, hence his placement into an already existing team. This team had recently lost their sensei, who had passed while covering the retreat of his students. Their third teammate, who had personally witnessed the slaughter of their teacher, had switched to a medical course to learn medical ninjutsu instead.
The second piece was less important, as Akira had already more or less knew half of it, but valuable information nonetheless, especially if he wanted good teamwork with his new team. Thankfully, they were both open-minded and understood the importance of cooperation and good teamwork.
From what they had shared, and from what he could observe, Akira found their weaknesses and strengths. Sakumo clearly had a natural talent in kenjutsu, though he hadn't have gotten his signature white chakra blade yet. His talent in ninjutsu was not low in any way however, it couldn't be considered mediocre either, but it wasn't high as well. Genjutsu was his weakest point, but due to his strong mind and will, even at such a young age, his susceptibility to it was surprisingly low.
Ozawa Katsuro, a civilian just like Orochimaru and Jiraiya, was talented indeed. But his grasp on ninja tools was the lowest of the low. Whether it was basic shuriken throwing, or handling of kunai or swords, no matter what kind, Ozawa would fumble trying to even hold it. He made up for it in terms of ninjutsu and genjutsu though.
With this kind of information, Akira, having inherited his great-uncle's sharp mind, despite his usual antics, could calculate quite a few battle tactics already.
Thinking about Sakumo's mastery in the art of the sword, Akira raised a question, "Hey Hatake-san, if you don't mind me asking, when are your birthdays?"
"Hm? Mine is on the ninth of March and Katsuro's on the second of June."
"Okay, thanks."
'Hm, since Sakumo still doesn't have a chakra blade, I think I can find something for him.' Akira thought, thinking of his future as the revered 'Konoha's White Fang', a legendary swordsman rumoured to be stronger than the sannin themselves.
"?" Though he was confused for the abrupt question, neither Sakumo, or the bubbly Katsuro asked about it.
"Hatake-san, do you know about our new sensei?" Akira asked another question, though the two's faces darkened slightly at these words.
"I don't know much, but from what I heard from my clansmen, our sensei is related to Hokage-sama somehow," and despite his complicated feelings, Sakumo still managed to speak out in a smooth, cool manner.
His words reminded Akira that the Hatake clan had not died out yet. It was mostly due to the accursed Danzo that the clan of former samurai had almost all died in the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars. That damn Danzo really knew how to make his enemies, huh?
"Ooji-san?" Realising his mistake quickly, he corrected himself, "I mean, Hokage-sama?"
"Yeah. I think it might be one of his students."
'One of his students...could it be Homura or Utatane? I've met them before and they seem alright...but what if it's Danzo?! Oh man, I really hope it's not him. Yagami or even that Akimichi guy would be much better.' Akira panicked internally, though he kept his face neutral.
Looking at Sakumo again, he reasoned with himself, 'But I don't think Sakumo would have turned out that way if he had been taught by Danzo, so I guess we're safe - for now that is.'
"I've met three of his students before, and they seem alright so it should be fine. I don't know about his other disciples though."
This in turn reminded Sakumo and Katsuro about his identity as both the existing Hokage's descendent, which was more than enough for the other four great shinobi nations to deem him as a potential threat and a opportunity.
It painted a large target on his back that was for sure. Though Akira and Tsunade were put through the illusion of being free, unrestrained, Akira knew that Tobirama had put the newly formed ANBU to good use. Though he couldn't sense their chakra, he knew that there was always at least one elite ninja watching him from the shadows.
In any case, being alive itself was already a danger to Akira, as no one, and literally no one would hesitate to use him had they got their hands on him. It didn't bother him thinking this way, in fact, Akira was even grateful he had such protection, but he wasn't really that grateful for them watching his every move, even his most private and sensitive moments*cough cough*...
.
.
.
Not a long time after a comfortable silence settled down upon them, their long awaited sensei appeared before them in a cloud of smoke and glory. Literally.
Appearing out of nowhere, a young and beautiful kunoichi with dark eyes, a twin bun secured with a traditional Japanese hairpin with fringes that covered her hitai-ate, and a simple black outfit, arrived in a puff of smoke, most likely travelled there with a body flicker.
Out of pure instinct, all three young shinobi jumped back, brandishing their own weapon.
Seeing that it was one of the Hokage's students and most likely teacher, all three put back their weapons and greeted her.
"Utatane-sama."
"You should call me Koharu-sensei now that you're my students, you know," she said without even a single fluctuation in her voice, though surprisingly friendly.
"Hai, Koharu-sensei!"
Smiling, she began , "Good, now then, since all of you with the exception of Akira-kun have already had real battle experience and taken on your fair share of D to C-rank missions, I won't waste time on those. We will directly start with some C-rank missions but no higher, as you all are still genin. I trust you all have introduced yourselves?"
A nod from all three.
"That's to be expected. Then we shall have a test first. It's a very simple test, you see," she started mysteriously, brandishing three bells tied onto her ninja pouch, "If each one of you do not get one of these bells by noon, I will report to sensei that you three have no ninja talent, and should not be allowed to continue being shinobi."
'The bell test,' Akira immediately thought, 'As long as we work together, we should pass, though I'm not sure about that with Koharu-sensei.'
Sakumo's reaction was more reserved, but he knew that Koharu did have the authority to do that, so he was slightly nervous.
Katsuro eyes were shaking, his hand trembling as well. Though he didn't show it much, anyone could tell he was panicking, as anyone would do in his place. As a civilian, he couldn't even protest if his jounin sensei thought he didn't deserve to be a ninja. But just like Miyako, he was becoming a shinobi for his family, so he was determined not to fail.
So soon, Koharu flipped an hourglass, and before the first grain hit the glass, she had already announced the start, "Ready, go!"
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