Capítulo 16: Joint Training (1)
A/N: We've reached our goal, so you guys will get a triple release next Monday. New target is to get the story to 900 powerstones by Sunday, just to see if we can do it. This story will only continue if it gets enough support e.g. Powerstones. New goal 900 powerstones!
The day of the joint training with Team 8 had arrived. Goro, Ino, Hinata, and Shino stood on the training grounds, waiting for the rest of their teams to arrive.
The atmosphere was thick with awkwardness. Shino wasn't much of a talker, and neither was Hinata. Attempting to restore some normality, Goro asked, "How have you guys been? It's been ages since we last saw each other."
'Hopefully, Hinata has forgotten about the whole academy incident…'
"Um… I'm doing good!" Hinata replied, her voice wavering as she struggled to find the right pitch.
"Good," Shino responded.
The awkward silence returned. This time, Hinata was the first to break it.
"I—I'm sorry about the academy incident!" she exclaimed, staring at the ground.
'She's too nice…'
"It's fine, Hinata…" Goro said, offering an embarrassed smile.
Silence.
'Off to a bad start already.'
"Yo!" a familiar voice yelled. Goro twisted his head to see who it was and frowned.
'Kiba and Akamaru…'
Joining the group, Kiba asked, "Hinata, Goro, how're you both doing?"
'Immature…'
Adding herself to the conversation, Ino scolded, "That's very immature of you, Kiba."
Kiba had expected Ino to join him but was proven wrong.
Shino nodded in agreement. "Very immature."
Frustrated, Kiba complained, "Aren't you the one who was asking for more details when I told you about it? You spread half the rumors yourself."
Goro shifted his gaze to Ino, wanting to confirm Kiba's words.
Ino's face flushed bright red. "No, I—" she stuttered.
'So it was her all along…'
Changing the topic, Ino pointed and said, "Look, Shikamaru and Choji are here."
Walking over to the group, Shikamaru retorted, "What're you all staring and pointing for? Did I become a celebrity overnight? This is going to be such a drag…"
"No hello or hi?" Kiba interrogated.
"Hey!" Choji said, giving the group a thumbs up.
Face-palming, Kiba said, "No, not you, Choji… Never mind."
"So our Senseis haven't arrived yet? I have a feeling they did this just to have an excuse to be around each other," Shikamaru observed.
The group collectively laughed at Shikamaru's theory. The awkward tension was gone.
The Genin continued chatting until a plume of smoke rose in the center of the group.
Within the smoke stood the two Jounin Senseis the group had been waiting for.
"Took you long enough," Shikamaru remarked, irritated.
"Calm down, you old geezer. We were busy discussing the important details of the joint training."
Rolling her eyes, Ino added, "Yeah… sure you were."
Overcome with shyness, Kurenai steered the conversation back on topic. "Today we will be doing team sparring. Three members from Team 10 will face three members from Team 8. The match ends when all three members of a team have been incapacitated."
'Three? We have four members…'
Raising his hand to grab the Senseis' attention, Choji exclaimed, "But, but we have four members!"
Kurenai and Asuma nodded, acknowledging this fact. "The fourth member of Team 10 will act as a substitute for any team. However, you cannot substitute a member once they have been defeated. After some discussion, we've decided to make Goro that substitute."
Kiba burst into laughter, struggling to contain himself. "Him?! Him?!! AHAHA, you two must not have seen him at the academy. He was the worst in our class! I'd rather have a dying Shikamaru on my team!" Kiba continued to laugh, holding his stomach from how hard he was laughing.
'He has a way of getting on my nerves. I think these are the feelings of the prior owner.'
No one else was laughing. Team 10 understood that Goro wasn't weak, so they didn't find the insults about their teammate amusing. Hinata and Shino, on the other hand, had social etiquette.
"That's not very kind, Kiba…" Hinata protested, but Kiba kept going.
Clapping his hands together, Asuma offered, "If Team 8 truly believes that, then Goro can just be a substitute for our team."
Although Hinata and Shino didn't laugh, they last knew Goro as the worst in the class, so they weren't bothered by Asuma's proposition.
Running her hand through her hair, Kurenai looked at Asuma and thought, "I don't know why he insists this boy is special. The only reason Goro's a substitute and not anyone else is because Asuma claimed he would make the match too unbalanced…"
Seeing that no one had an issue, Asuma continued and instructed the two teams to take positions on either side of the training grounds. Team 10 lined up horizontally, shoulder to shoulder on the left side, with Shikamaru in the middle, while Team 8 took the right side, with Kiba in the center.
After ensuring everyone was ready, Kurenai signaled for the match to commence.
Team 10 immediately jumped back, hiding in different parts of the forest, while Team 8 stood their ground.
"You got their locations, Shino?" Kiba asked, glancing at his teammate.
"Choji, northeast of us. Shikamaru, west. Ino, northwest," Shino revealed.
Slapping Shino on the back, Kiba said, "Your bugs are always useful. I'll be going for Choji. Hinata, you deal with Ino, and Shino, Shikamaru is all yours."
Kiba rushed directly toward Choji's hiding spot, not even bothering to conceal his knowledge of Choji's location.
Transforming Akamaru into himself, Kiba yelled, "Fang Over Fang!" Kiba missiled toward Choji, picking up speed as he closed the distance.
Panicking, Choji used his Human Expansion Jutsu and barreled toward Kiba, trying to mitigate the impact. However, Choji couldn't gain much speed due to the shorter distance he had to cover.
"Huh? Kiba knows Choji's location? Even Hinata is charging in the direction Ino went… Somehow, they've got our locations. I've got to move!" Shikamaru pondered.
As Choji and Kiba collided, Choji began to get pushed back, with the only thing stabilizing him being the tree behind him.
Kurenai smirked, pleased with her team's start.
Noticing that Hinata was headed straight toward her, Ino tried to aim her Mind Transfer Jutsu, but Hinata was zigzagging, making it difficult to target her.
Seeing no other option, Ino jumped out of the bush she had hidden in and decided to engage Hinata in a battle of Taijutsu.
"What is she doing?!" Asuma thought to himself, stressing.
Flicking her hair back, Kurenai said, "What's going on, Asuma? Your team isn't holding up too well. Our Hinata's taijutsu is far superior to any other Genin's. After all, she's from the great Hyuga clan."
'You'd be surprised. Ino isn't better than Hinata in Taijutsu after just three lessons, but she can hold her own now, that's for sure. System, show me Ino's stats.'
[Ino's Stats:
Taijutsu: Upper Genin (5%)
Physical: Lower Genin (90%)
Ninjutsu: Upper Genin (32%)
Chakra Capacity: Genin (51%)
Chakra Control: Upper Genin (12%)
Shurikenjutsu: Genin (72%)
Battle IQ: Genin (56%)
Chakra Affinity: Earth
Skills: Mind Transfer Jutsu (89%)]
'I'd estimate Hinata to be at the lower Chunin level for Taijutsu, so the gap isn't too large. Ino can hold out for quite some time as she devises a plan.'
The combat continued, but Hinata had yet to gain an edge over Ino. Asuma was astounded, watching with his jaw practically on the floor.
Shocked, Kurenai thought, "I talked a big game, but… somehow she's going toe-to-toe with Hinata…"
Turning to Asuma, Kurenai complimented, "You're quite the teacher, huh?" but Asuma was too baffled to respond.
"What's going on?" Asuma wondered.
The battle on Kiba's side was far from stagnant. Shikamaru had appeared and placed Kiba in a shadow possession, forcing Fang Over Fang to end. Unfortunately for Shikamaru, Kiba wasn't alone; Akamaru was with him, and Shikamaru still hadn't reached the proficiency to hold two people.
Taking advantage of Shikamaru's vulnerability, Akamaru pounced on him but was swiftly grabbed by Choji.
Now under Shikamaru's control, Kiba grabbed a kunai out of his pouch and pointed it toward Akamaru.
"Choji, put Akamaru's neck near the kunai," Shikamaru commanded.
Choji held Akamaru's paws down and brought its neck close to the blade. "Do you give up, Kiba?" Choji said, grinning.
"I guess Kiba and Akamaru are done. They're out—" Asuma began, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Not just yet," Kurenai interrupted.
Shino had made his move, sending an imperfect sphere of bugs toward Choji.
Having no other choice, Choji retreated, moving away from the kunai. The sphere of bugs didn't stop; instead, they switched targets and were now headed toward Shikamaru.
"I thought it was over, but this has become a drag… I switch!" Shikamaru yelled.
Smirking, Kurenai turned to Goro and said, "Let's see what you can do."
Asuma grinned and nodded at Goro.
'It's time. System, what's the probability of winning now that I've joined?'
[Calculating probability… Found! Chance of winning is 100%.]
A/N: We've reached our goal, so you guys will get a triple release next Monday. New target is to get the story to 900 powerstones by Sunday, just to see if we can do it. This story will only continue if it gets enough support e.g. Powerstones. New goal 900 powerstones!
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