After the Teams were announced, Iruka-sensei gave them a lunch break, but Sasuke, Karin, Enma, Sakura, and Shizuka stayed seated.
"Not hungry?" the Nakagami curiously asked the cherry blossom-haired girl, who shook her head.
"I am on a diet," she happily said, not caring about the weird look her classmate gave her.
Sasuke, who too heard her words, sighed, already lamenting his days as a Shinobi.
All his hopes were now on getting a very skilled Sensei, one who would be able to fix whatever was wrong with Sakura and also keep Naruto in check.
A Kunoichi on a diet was a joke to him. Where was she going to get the necessary energy to train and keep up with the team with such behaviour?
Enma, who was bored, started playing around with the hair of his sister, who was sitting on his desk, and she sweetly smiled at him before continuing to chat with Shizuka.
At 12:50 pm, all the newly promoted Genins returned to the class, and this time, they sat down with their Teammates to wait for their Jonins.
As soon as the clock hit 1 pm, there was a knock on the door of the classroom, and a tall and muscular man entered the classroom, wearing the Jonin jacket. He had a well-kempt beard on his face and a lit cigarette in his mouth.
"Team 10." He looked around the room and told them who he was looking for.
Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji stood up, bowed to him, and then walked out of the classroom when their Sensei asked them to follow him.
"Woah... That was Sarutobi Asuma. He's Hokage's son, and also one of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas," Shizuka, who knew about the man, informed Karin and Enma, but given how quiet the class was right now, everyone heard her words.
It was not long before questions poured in.
A few minutes later, the Sensei of Team 1 came, and the girl again informed her classmates who the Jonin was. She also knew about Team 2's Sensei and even about Team 11's Sensei.
Next, at 1:30 pm, a lady opened the door and entered the classroom.
She was fair-skinned, of a slender build, black untamed hair that fell down her shoulders, and she had unique red eyes with a ring inside of them. Her beauty made Sakura feel envious of her, and it was the same for a lot of girls in the class.
As for the boys, they just stared at her in a trance.
"Team 8."
As soon as Kiba heard that she was going to be his Sensei, he excitedly stood up. Shino's face remained indifferent, and Hinata respectfully bowed to her Jonin, who smiled her way and then asked her Team to follow her.
Once the door was closed behind them, the remaining students in the class, except for Enma, all turned to look at Shizuka.
"That was Yuhi Kurenai. She's from the Yuhi Family, which was once a small clan. Now, she's the only person alive with that name. She is also hailed as Konoha's best Genjutsu User, and..." she blushed a little. "She and Sarutobi Asuma are lovers."
Her words crushed the hearts of the boys, but a few girls, including Sakura, squealed.
At 2 pm, only two Teams remained in the classroom. One was Team 5, and the other was Team 7.
They waited another hour, but no one came to pick them up, and eventually, Naruto's patience ran out.
The five of them watched as he elaborately started setting up a chalk eraser trap after dousing it in a lot of chalk.
"Naruto! Are you crazy?" Sakura shot up to her feet to chastise him. "We could get suspended or, at worst, stripped of our Genin status because of your prank!"
"Relax, Sakura. A Jonin is unlikely to fall for such a simple trap." Shizuka smiled, and Karin nodded her head.
"It should be fun!"
Naruto was happy that the two were supporting him, and he excitedly waited for someone to enter.
"Someone's coming." As soon as the Uzumaki Princess informed them that someone was coming, everyone fixed their eyes on the door and waited to see what would happen.
A hand soon appeared and grabbed the door, sliding it open, and they all deadpanned as the chalk eraser fell right into the masked man's spiky grey hair, covering all of his head in a cloud of chalk dust.
Sakura's heart dropped, but a moment later, Naruto and Karin heartily started laughing out loud, and she nearly fainted.
The man sighed as he patted his Jonin jacket clean and then stared at Naruto, who was brightly grinning at him.
"Gotcha! That's what you get for coming this late!" He proudly folded his arms on his puffed-up chest.
"Heh... let's see if you would keep smiling after I fail you in your next test." The man spoke, and the smile on Naruto's face froze. "Team 7, follow me to the rooftop."
After he left, Sasuke slowly stood up and followed him, and Sakura was in a daze.
"What did he mean by the 'next test'?" she asked, but Shizuka shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Must be bluffing." Naruto shrugged and chased after Sasuke, and Sakura fumed at his words as she marched out of the class.
Enma and Karin then stood up, much to their Teammate's curiosity.
"Let's go. If our Sensei does not want to come, then we will go to her." The Princess said as she jumped out of the window, and then rushed to the Playground.
"Her?"
"Yeah," Enma nodded his head and chased after his sister, and Shizuka also quickly followed them.
Sure enough, there was a lady sitting on the bench in the Playground, wearing a tan overcoat, and underneath it, she was wearing the Jonin jacket.
Karin and Shizuka curiously looked at the Kunoichi who was likely in her early twenties, and she was happily enjoying her dangos.
She was very pretty and had a strange charm about her.
"What took you guys so long?" she asked them, and the Nakagami's brow started twitching.
"Were you not supposed to come and take us from our class, Sensei?" she respectfully asked.
"There's no such rule. I read the book this morning."
She said something that made the girl raise her brow at her.
Shizuka knew nothing about this Jonin, which was strange. She had never seen her entering or exiting the Jonin Tower either... She was pretty sure she was familiar with all the Jonins. After all, her house was right next to the Jonin Tower.
"Forgive me, Sensei, but may I ask when you became a Jonin?"
"This morning..." she filled her mouth with all the dango on the skewer, and closed her eyes, relishing their sweetness.
"And when was the last time you ate dangos?" Karin giggled and asked, and the Jonin almost had tears in her eyes at her sudden question.
"Five years..."
She sounded so pitiful that Shizuka started feeling dizzy.
Did the Hokage deliberately give them a useless Sensei because their Team was too strong?
The Nakagami wanted to cry now as she saw all her dreams of becoming stronger crushed, but she managed to keep her cool.
"What is your name, Sensei?" she politely asked.
"I will give you my name once you pass the test and become my students." The Jonin said as she stood up and expertly threw the waste in a bin that was twelve metres away.
"Test?" They were all curious about what this test was.
"Yup. You don't think that all the graduates truly become Shinobi, do you?" The young lady grinned. "Usually, only about 33% of the Genins truly manage to enter the Ranks of Konoha Shinobi Force, and the Genins who fail the test are thrown back into the Academy for a year of reflection."
Shizuka's heart thumped hard against her chest.
"Ten teams have been formed in your class, and six or seven of them are likely to fail to enter the service. Or perhaps, some students from the teams would fail, get thrown out, and new teams would be formed. So, prepare yourself. I am not going to make the Test easy on you."
The three of them turned very quiet and then followed the newly promoted Jonin to the Fifth Training Ground.
They had never been here before, so Karin and Shizuka intently looked around, remembering its layout, whilst Enma did the same with his Mind's Eye.
"Now then, the test is simple." Their Sensei took out a Kunai and creepily licked the blade. "I have my orders, and I am not supposed to pass all three of you unless you do manage to force your way through the test, but your chances are less than 1% in succeeding that way. So, I will give you a choice since all three of you performed very well in your Graduation Exams. Vote out one of you, and you pass. If you don't want to do that, you have until sunset to grab this bell from me. Once the sun falls, and this bell stays on my body, all three of you will fail. For a Shinobi, a Mission takes more importance than their life. And should you choose to accept it, your Mission 0 is to Pass this Test."
The bell she showed them was small, and she tied it into one of the hooks of her jacket, around her waist.
"I will not move this bell from this hook." She dangerously smiled at them. "Beware, if all three of you are incapacitated by me, you all fail. And on the bright side, you have until sunset to make up your mind to vote one of you out."
Shizuka was tense now, very tense.
She was already sweating, and nervously glanced at Enma and Karin. Even though she did not believe that Enma and Karin would betray her, she could not help but become very nervous.
The two Uzumaki were intently looking at their Sensei, and then suddenly, they moved.
Enma grabbed Shizuka, and then he retreated swiftly, and Karin had already used Smoke Bombs.
Shizuka was confused why they did it, but her heart nearly stopped when several snakes flew out of the smoke and bared their fangs at them, ready to bite them.
They almost caught them, but Enma managed to take one last leap and disappeared into the woods.
He suddenly ducked, and before they rolled together on the ground, she heard a few Kunai impale the trees.
Their Sensei was trying to kill them!!!
Her face paled in fright at the realisation...