Tachibana, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all stood in training ground seven waiting for their new sensei who was going to be assigned to them today.
"Sakura-chan! Do you think our new sensei will be as good as…kakashi-sensei?"
Sakura's brows twitched when Naruto called her Sakura-chan but then she softened a little when she heard the name Kakashi.
Sakura thought for a bit before answering, "I don't know if there are any more free Jonin teachers in the village. Each year only three teams are given Jonin teachers because of the shortage of Jonin teachers in the village."
"So we'll have a chunin teacher this time?" Naruto asked with a soft frown while Sasuke looked disgusted by the idea.
Tachibana on the other hand had a contemplative expression.
'It'll probably be Yamato will it not?'
'I mean he was the one that helped Naruto with the Rasenshuriken and missions later in Shippuden.'
'And he's the only other Jonin capable of sealing Naruto if he loses control due to Kurama.'
"Will there be another test for us?" Naruto asked again and Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."
"Hey! Tachibana-kun! Can you divine who our teacher will be!?" Naruto asked with sparkling eyes.
"You just want to see the pendulum spin on its own don't you?" Tachibana asked with a knowing smile.
"Haha~ you got me. I mean…it's just so cool!!!!!"
Tachibana shook his head and explained, "I can only divine if a particular person will be our sensei or not. I can't predict his name."
"EEhhhhhh~ is that so? Then can't we just list all the Jonin in the village and try one by one?"
"We could, but do you have a list like that?"
Naruto frowned and thought hard but then as if he had a genius idea he shouted, "Yes! I know where we can get such a list! I'll be right back!"
But Tachibana caught his collar and prevented him from rushing away.
"Wait. You don't need to leave. What if our new sensei comes when you're not here? Instead, send your shadow clone to do whatever you want to do."
"Ah! Tachibana-kun you're a genius! Why didn't I think of that!"
"Because you're a blockhead!" Sakura complained.
Naruto quickly created a shadow clone and sent it away wordlessly on its mission to acquire the list.
Going back to waiting for their new sensei in the training ground, Tachibana frowned as he thought of something strange.
'If everything's destined to happen. Does it mean I don't have a part to play in it?'
'No. I was able to save the bridge from exploding in the Land of Waves.'
'But I was incapable of saving Maruboshi-sensei or Kakashi-sensei.'
'Then couldn't I interpret my peering into fate as it showing me my limits?'
'What if I tried to surpass my limits? Would I be able to escape scot-free or would I be required to pay a price?'
'In Land of Waves, I don't think I paid a price while saving the bridge.'
Tachibana thought hard for a few minutes before he noticed a discrepancy.
'Was the price Maruboshi?'
'Had I not saved the bridge would he only be heavily injured and not die? Just like I'd seen his fate?'
A few tears wrought up in Tachibana's eyes and a tense feeling crept up in his chest but he kept them well hidden under a practised smile.
'No point in mulling over the past now.'
A sudden *swish* caught all of Team Seven's attention as a shinobi in a green flak jacket arrived in front of the group.
While Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura had the same thought, 'The green flak jacket. He's a Jonin.'
Tachibana only assured his deduction, 'So it is Yamato. I guess he is more reliable than Kakashi?'
"Greetings everyone, I'm the Jonin sensei that has been assigned to you and will be guiding you in the future. But before we are officially declared as a team, I want you to demonstrate to me exactly how strong you are."
"So we just need to beat you down!?" Naruto asked with burning excitement.
"Yes, that is all you need to do.", Yamato said with a smile that evoked a great sense of danger in the genin. "You have until sundown."
The four genin looked at each other and simultaneously retreated into the forest surrounding training ground seven.
When they were a safe distance away from Yamato who was casually standing in the centre of the field, Sakura was the first to speak.
"Since this is a test to display our talents, why don't we fight in a way that reflects what we've learnt in the past month?"
Everyone nodded since they didn't have any problems with Sakura's statement.
"We know nothing about him." Sasuke calmly stated but his meaning was clear. They didn't know enough about him to make a plan that would reliably help them out.
But it was at this moment that Naruto exclaimed, "Ah! I have a solution for this!"
"Hmm?" everyone was curious about what solution Naruto had thought of.
'He isn't going to just go and walk up to him and be like can you tell me about your abilities right?'
Just as everyone became worried that Naruto was going to rush away, they saw Naruto's shadow clone come back into the training ground.
Yamato was confused for a few seconds before he put two and two together and realised it was just a clone.
Naruto's clone returned and looked around for Naruto and he peered out of their bush to wave it over.
Once with them, the clone handed Naruto a book which he showed to everyone before dispelling the shadow clone.
"Bingo book?" Sakura was surprised.
'Surprisingly Naruto used his brain! Is this a miracle created by a miracle invoker!?' Tachibana thought with amazement. 'But unfortunately for him Yamato is probably not present in it.'
And Tachibana was very quickly proven right.
Naruto flipped through all the pages in the book but he couldn't find Yamato's picture on any of them.
"But! I thought-"
"*sigh* it was a good idea Naruto-kun, but don't worry about it, we'll just have to perform a small round to test him out before we mount the real attack. I'm sure Yamato-sensei won't go overboard and defeat us as soon as we attack him." Tachibana said patting his shoulder so he didn't feel too down.
Sasuke and Sakura nodded too.
"So what's the plan?" Tachibana asked and everyone turned to look at him.
"Huh? Whatchu looking at me for!?"
"You were the one that made the plan to defeat the boy with the ice release Kekkei Genkai Tachibana-kun!" Naruto exclaimed causing Tachibana to frown.
He then looked at Sakura and Sasuke and they seemed to agree.
"Fine…I'll make the plan then…" Tachibana nodded and thought for a few seconds.
'Yamato was a softie in the anime…'
'So if we do something shocking we should be able to catch him off guard.'
"Let's do this…since we only want to learn about his abilities and test him out, why don't we fight him with a little force and then pretend like we got killed by him mid-battle?"
Everyone's eyes widened and they suddenly looked at Tachibana like he was the real villain all along.
"It's a good plan. It'll let us evaluate him and the shock will also act as a buffer for us to escape, regroup and make a new plan."
They spent the next five minutes coming up with the details before dispersing into different directions in the forest with a little excitement.
'This plan is only to test him out but it's actually pretty good. If he doesn't take us seriously and gets caught in the trap he'll probably lose.'
'Time to digest this Magician potion a little.'