Friday.
Nine in the morning.
Konoha's Training Ground Zero, north gate.
A rusted placard marked Zero hung over the iron gate, and a vast chain-link fence ringed the forest to the horizon.
A crow black as pitch glared with red eyes from the gate.
Thick banyan branches pushed through the fence gaps like they were reaching for help.
"Homeroom teachers, read the rules."
The coordinator, Kazama Etsu, gave the order.
His cold green eyes swept the rows of kids with backpacks, pausing only when they touched the small, silver-haired figure. His chest wound had mostly knit, yet ghost pain still pulsed there.
Back on campus these past days, he had learned that his name was now linked to Konome Taketori.
Mention Konome and someone would immediately add, Oh, the girl who hospitalized Director Kazama on enrollment.
Every time he heard it, he regretted it all over again.
Why did I block her admission. Why did I go easy and refuse to use ninjutsu. Why did I ignore history and teach her Wind Release nature transformation.
With talent like hers, the day she did something big, that memory of being booted across the yard would be dredged up again and again.
Thinking about it made the future look gray.
The other teachers knew nothing of Kazama's mood. They began reading the rules to their classes once the signal came.
Iruka droned for an age.
Only when everyone grew restless did he finally get to the point.
The exercise would run three days. Each team could carry only one day's worth of food and water. Teamwork would be graded. They were to hunt the forest's game to survive.
If danger struck, they could fire a signal flare for rescue, but that meant failing the exercise.
Teachers would also attempt to capture students during the drill.
This would test their ability to hide in the wild. If caught, they would lose all food and water. Three captures meant disqualification.
What had once been a safety drill had become a different sort of exam.
"Line up. Put your food and water on the scale. Anything over five jin, remove the extra and hand it to me."
At Iruka's words,
Naruto hurriedly pulled instant noodles from his pack and stuffed them under his shirt.
Konome glanced over. His stomach looked nine months along.
Of course Iruka spotted the cheat in a heartbeat.
He dragged Naruto to the front as an example.
Gripping the boy's legs, he flipped him upside down amid howls, shaking free every last crumb.
Seeing Naruto's sorry state, Kiba abandoned his own plan and took the dog food he had hidden for Akamaru out of his pockets.
With that cautionary tale fresh, the rest behaved. In the end only Naruto lost contraband.
This exercise's teamings were interesting.
Naruto and Konome formed a pair.
The Ino–Shika–Cho trio stayed together.
Shino, Kiba, and Hinata were one group.
Sakura was teamed with two classmates no one remembered.
Except for Team Seven, the rest almost matched their future squads.
So the original really had not been random.
Once the food was weighed and taken, Iruka stowed the pile and clapped his hands. "Line up. Enter by batches."
Konome and Naruto were near the front.
They stared at the sea of green ahead and the classmates vanishing into it.
Naruto had already forgotten his embarrassment. He was buzzing with energy, peeking left and right. Even the weight of rations for two on his back could not slow him.
That was right.
Konome had put her own share in Naruto's pack.
In her words,
it would strengthen his body and toughen his will.
Naruto had no complaints. He was thrilled.
He figured Konome entrusting him with their vital supplies meant she trusted him deeply.
Which reminded Konome how dangerous a love-drunk brain could be.
She renewed her vow to avoid romance.
Soon the line ahead vanished among the trees, and it was their turn.
"Let's go."
Naruto charged in, all long strides and eagerness.
Konome lifted her blind staff and glanced up.
Byakugan.
The boundless green was thick with wild animals.
It was the enemy's home turf.
There were also many chunin instructors from the Academy scattered within. It was not, in her view, a perfect time to strike.
If the enemy could not hold back and acted, so much the better.
Konome feared an opponent who hid in the dark far more than one who stood in the open. The unknown blow someday down the line was the one that killed.
To brace for a sudden hit, she had refused to use Shadow Clones for days, preserving every drop of chakra.
…
Crunch, crunch.
"Uu..."
A man's groans leaked from the cell below the floor.
As something chewed with wet ferocity, the sound grew weaker and weaker. It ended with one last, thin scream, then silence.
Squeak. It hurts.
The rat in the cage had gone wild. Its eyes were red and its cheeks quivered, ballooning and deflating.
Sawada Fuka ignored her animal friend. Dressed in a fitted tracksuit, mouth and nose covered, she worked the mortar and pestle. Her hand rose and fell, grinding dry herbs into fine powder.
Behind her,
bags of powder were sealed in plastic and stacked in neat rows.
Konome Taketori and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki had entered Ground Zero without issue.
The shinobi from Kumogakure were in position.
Only once everyone was ready did they let her see the full plan.
It was tighter than she had expected.
She had not thought they would commit a top-tier elite jonin to infiltrate Konoha. But the Cloud was one of the Five Great Villages too. They really did have that kind of muscle.
With the Uchiha matter settled,
Konoha had loosened from taut to relaxed.
This was the time to move.
Fuka crushed the last clumps to dust and bagged them.
She kept a pinch aside.
She rubbed the powder between her fingers and sifted it into the nearby rat cage.
Squeak.
The rat twitched its nose at the falling dust.
Its four toes raked and drummed.
The powder fell fast.
In moments, her fingers were empty.
Squeak.
The rat shuddered.
Its blood-red eyes stared upward, but no more powder came.
Squeak.
The sound turned sharp.
Bang, bang, bang.
The once-docile rat went feral, eyes blazing, smashing its head against the bars like a thing possessed.
Sawada Fuka's lips curled.
She watched the red-eyed rat in the cage, its head split and bleeding, and felt entirely satisfied with the powder's effect.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't forget to add this story to your Library, drop a review, and leave a Power Stone if you enjoyed it!
Craving more chapters? Join my Patron to unlock advance releases and dive deeper into the story!
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"