AN: Okay, Chapter 11 up today! Hope you enjoyed the bell test fight they had with Yamato. Once again, I do not own any of the Naruto characters or story plot except my own creations. On with the chapter.
Chapter 11
The next day my alarm clock woke me up at 5am as per usual. I got up and did some stretches. Put on some loose exercise clothes and headed out for some light exercise. I did some basic shuriken and kunai throwing techniques as warm-up before increasing the difficulty. After throwing practice was Taijutsu practice. I went through some basic movements before slowly increasing the difficulty again. During the past 4 years I had placed a few of my Flying Thunder God markings in some pretty inconspicuous spots and discovered an area where Rock Lee would perform his Taijutsu training. Although Jiraiya calls spying on the ladies as "research," I do actual research.
In fact, most of the advanced techniques Haku, Kimimaro, and I learnt are thanks to my 4 years of "spying" on others and then recording them down. It was pretty easy thanks to my Flying Thunder God Jutsu, my Sharingan, and my innate sensor type ability. Easy maneuverability, perfect copying ability, and easy to detect or escape detection. If I had these skills in my past life I wouldn't have been shot.
After researching the Taijutsu movements of not only Lee, but Neji and many others, I drafted my own unique Taijutsu movements using the martial arts I learnt of my past life which I called Taijutsu Wushu Style and Shaolin Style and taught them to Haku and Kimimaro. While it is useful to Haku and I, Taijutsu would be the best suited for Kimimaro due to his physique and Kekkei Genkai. With Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai he could produce extremely dangerous bone protrusions while performing advanced Taijutsu movements and at the same time his bones are as hard as steel, therefore, the burden on his body isn't as great as a normal person's.
I had hoped to record as much of the Eight Inner Gates Taijutsu movements as I possibly could and transcribe them down for Kimimaro to practice. Since the Eight Inner Gates puts a great strain on one's body, especially the bones, Kimimaro's steel-like bones would be able to mitigate the stress on his body and allow him to be a truly unrivaled existence regarding Taijutsu. Unfortunately I only ever had the chance to witness Lee perform the Eight Inner Gates twice in these past 4 years and he only ever activated the First Gate.
Anyways, it's no wonder Yamato-sensei was surprised yesterday at Kimimaro's display of Taijutsu, after all, he practically studied all of Konoha's young martial arts geniuses techniques albeit not directly. Yamato-sensei would of been even more surprised if Kimimaro had incorporated his Kekkei Genkai with his Taijutsu. I hope we don't end up shocking Yamato-sensei to death. He was already super shocked yesterday at pretty much everything we did. In fact, even I was shocked to see Haku perform double single hand weaving skills yesterday. He has truly been hiding some of his skills! Of course that's to be expected, after all, I'm not the only one working hard on improving myself.
I continued practicing my Taijutsu for another 45 minutes before taking a short rest. By now the sun had finally lit aglow the sky in a beautiful and peaceful orange/yellow hue signifying the start of day but still emphasizing how early it was. I activated the Flying Thunder God Jutsu and reappeared in my bedroom, showered and finished my morning daily cares as per usual. After getting dressed in my usual attire I checked the clock. 7am. I have 3 hours left before we have to meet sensei. I sat down on my bed and began my morning meditation.
"Hehehe...Hahaha!" Yamato chuckled softly to himself with a big smile. Kakashi looked up from his book as he stared dumbly at Yamato. "You seem happy. What's with you today?"
Yamato was inwardly elated. He had waited all morning for his senpai to ask. "Hahaha! Senpai, my precious students are what makes me happy!"
"Eh? Your students? So you did the bell test then?" Kakashi closed his book and focused his attention on Yamato.
He nodded and said, "Kakashi-senpai, I can see why Lord Third is so conscious of them and why he asked you to look out for them. They truly are very special. I indeed did the bell test like you had asked, although I wish I didn't."
"Oh?" Kakashi raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "How did it go?"
Yamato paused in silent contemplation for a moment before answering, "I rank them as at least Chunin level. Kakashi-senpai you aren't going to believe just how skillful they are. Honestly, I thought I was going to die from all the shock they gave me. The bell test was unnecessary for those three kids. First, their teamwork was impeccable. I barely had time to breathe. They coordinated their attacks so well." Yamato proceeded to narrate the flow of the battle while Kakashi's facial expressions changed again and again at the critical points of the story. "And that's how it ended. Anyways, they definitely pass. I have to meet them later at 10 so we can take a group photo." Yamato finished.
"Hmmm…" Kakashi put on a look of contemplation. The image of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's bell test flashed through his mind before the imagery of what he imagined happened in Yamato's story flashed by. In his mind he couldn't really picture that those three kids had fought Yamato to such an extent. In the end he simply shook his head and continued reading his book before saying, "Well, since we passed both of our teams we'll have to go and accept some missions later today. Honestly we're probably going to get some sort of mission retrieving a lost pet or cleaning up the trash."
Yamato snickered and then placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder and said in a slightly mocking tone, "Don't worry senpai, with you around no cat shall escape your grasp!" He then smiled and laughed internally. Finally for once I have the upper-hand against Kakashi-senpai Yamato joyfully exclaimed mentally.
Kakashi just shook his head and let out a soft sigh at the prospect of cat hunting.
I let out a slow and deep breath to relax my body as I finished my morning meditation. Turning to check the time, it was already 9:45am. Slowly getting off my bed I double checked to make sure I had everything. I grabbed a smooth box off my nightstand before walking out the door. Haku and Kimimaro were already waiting in the hallway for me so we could head to training ground 3 together. "How are you feeling Haku?" I asked.
"I'm much better now after a night of rest. Thankfully there was a water source nearby for me to activate the Water Dragon Jutsu otherwise I wouldn't have had enough chakra to destroy the bells with my Wind Style." Haku replied.
I nodded my head before turning to look at Kimimaro. "What about you Kimimaro? It's good that you didn't activate your Kekkei Genkai yesterday. You should keep that to a minimal as much as possible. In fact it'd be best if you didn't activate your Kekkei Genkai at all until you get cured, but you did expend some chakra yesterday."
"No worries. I don't feel any different from before. I think you're right, as long as I keep my Kekkei Genkai usage to a minimal I think it'll slow down the deterioration of my health. I'll use the Taijutsu techniques you gave me more often instead." He replied.
"Okay." I nodded. "However, you are forbidden from using the Wushu Style Eight Extreme Fists and the Wushu Style Three Sovereign Hands. One, because they are incomplete techniques right now and two, because they are too powerful. In your current condition you won't be able to handle the burden it puts on your body."
Kimimaro nodded his head in agreement. "Mn. I understand."
"Alright, then let's go meet Yamato-sensei. Hopefully he isn't late today!" I said as we headed over to training ground 3. We arrived exactly at 10am.
"You're here on time today sensei." Haku commented aloud.
"Hahaha, well I didn't want to keep my precious student's waiting." Yamato said sheepishly.
"It's fine sensei. We are used to it." Kimimaro said.
Yamato gave a depressed look and secretly cursed Kakashi for making him late before. "Ahem." He coughed. "Anyways, let's first take our team photo!" Yamato activated his Wood Style technique to create a flat wooden pillar and placed a digital camera on top setting it to timed picture mode. "Alright, let's gather up over here, remember to smile!" He said.
I stood in the center with my hands straight down at my sides, an indifferent look on my face whilst Haku remained on my left. He tilted his head a bit, held his hands behind his back, and put on a warm comforting smile. Kimimaro stood to my right with his arms crossed and a straight face whilst Yamato-sensei stood behind us with a beaming smile and placed his hands atop of both Kimimaro's and Haku's head. Then, not a moment later with a white flash and the sound of a click the first official photo of Team 11 was taken.
"What now Yamato-sensei?" Haku asked.
"Ah, we're going to the Hokage's office to receive our very first mission as a team." He replied.
"Oh? I wonder what kind of mission it will be." Kimimaro commented.
"Well, since you guys just became Genin it will be either a D-rank or a C-rank mission, however, I have already related to Lord Third of your remarkable skills so we may end up receiving a high grade C-rank mission instead." Yamato said.
"As long as it isn't chasing down a cat." I mumbled.
We arrived at the Hokage's office soon after. As we walked in Team 7 walked out. We exchanged glances with Team 7 and noticed the indifferent yet slightly helpless look in their eyes. They probably got a mission to catch a cat or something I mentally noted. As the door shut we stood before Lord Third and a team of other administrators in charge of handing out missions. "Oh, Yamato, Haku, Kimimaro, Izaya, you've arrived at last." Hiruzen said with a look of contemplation.
He focused specifically on the three of us for a few moments before nodding his head and took a look through the mission pile requests. "Hmm…Ah, perhaps this one." He said as he pulled a request out of the mission pile. "This is a C-rank mission of high grade that entails tracking and hunting down the demon wolf known as Hankotsu. This mission does incur risk of injury and even death if not handled properly. I've listened and heard Yamato speak of the prowess you three have displayed and have contemplated for quite a long time what level of difficulty I should bestow upon Team 11.
As you know a Genin can receive D or C-rank missions whereas Chunin can receive B or C-rank missions and Jonin are given tasks at B or A-rank missions, even S-rank missions are not out of the range of possibility. I usually only give high grade C-rank missions to those that have achieved the rank of Chunin, but I've decided to make an exception this once. Since this will be your first time on a mission as a team I've chosen a high grade C-rank mission on the lower end, but still, a high grade mission is still high grade. If Team 11 agrees then I will hand over the mission details."
Yamato looked at his students noting their unfazed reaction before turning back to Lord Third and said, "Team 11 respectfully accepts this mission."
"Mn. Very well. Then receive your mission." Hiruzen said.
After Yamato received our mission Team 11 prepared to leave except me. I remained standing in place.
"Hm...Is something the matter Izaya-kun?" Hiruzen asked.
Yamato and the others stopped by the door when they heard Lord Third speak out and noticed I didn't follow them. "Izaya, what's wrong?" Yamato asked.
I shook my head and replied, "It's nothing Yamato-sensei." I then turned my attention to Lord Third and said, "Lord Third. I wanted to show my gratitude to you for taking care of my brothers and I all these years and have prepared a gift. May I present it to you?"
"Oh?" Hiruzen gave a surprised look. He then nodded and said with a smile, "Very well, I humbly accept."
I walked over to Lord Third and respectfully presented him with the box that I grabbed from my room earlier this morning. After he took the box I respectfully saluted him and said, "Then, I'll be off now Lord Hokage!" I then ran off to join my team. Yamato just gave a curious look before he led us off to our mission.
Hiruzen opened the box curiously and saw a black necklace with a red crystal capsule attached that had the words Third Hokage inscribed on the outside. Hmm...He mused. He decided to take it out and put it on before resuming his duties handing out missions.