Dirge
The Lady of War sings for her master, Uzumaki Naruto. Will you answer her call?
With the slight hiss of displaced air, Hatake Kakashi appeared mid-stride through the open door of the office of the Sandaime Hokage. His meeting with the Hokage had already been checked, cleared, and acknowledged mid-shunshin nearly 50 meters back. It always amazed Kakashi just how efficiently nin could work around beauracratic requirements. "Hokage-sama, you summoned?"
Sarutobi looked up over the edge of the scroll he had been reading- a recently released treatise on chakra frequencies, if Kakashi recognized it correctly. The Sandaime wasn't known as The Professor for nothing, after all.
"Ah, yes, Kakashi. I have a new assignment for you. A new batch of students have graduated from the academy, and I want you to teach one of the cells."
Kakashi was sure he had successfully hidden his blink of surprise, but he was just as sure that the Sandaime knew anyway. Every other time he had been given a team, he had been given the directive to test them- not teach them. To most people, this difference would be minor at best, hardly of any consequence.
Kakashi, who had a little more responsibility than most people as a jounin, recognized the order as it was. He WOULD teach this team.
"You're being assigned to cell 7- Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. And Kakashi?"
"Yes sir?"
"You're to test them as normal. Have a good day."
Kakashi stepped out of the office, not bothering to say goodbye. He had been dismissed, the Hokage was done talking to him.
But what the Hokage didn't say to him was still rung loudly in his mind. He was to teach these three... but he was to give the bell test as normal. That is, he wasn't to throw it. That could only mean that the Hokage had implicit trust that the cell would pass his test regardless.
It was time, Kakashi decided, to visit the Shinobi Archives and look at the files for his team- an act that he had never done before. The God of Shinobi did not trust lightly. Just who were these kids?
He found an answer roughly half an hour later- but not the answer he was looking for.
Nothing in the files suggested the kind of trust that the Sandaime seemed to have in them.
Uchiha Sasuke, while seeming a skilled, model student, was a disaster waiting to happen.
Uzumaki Naruto was all bark and relatively little bite. That must say something about his bark, given that the boy had learned an A-rank kinjutsu in an evening.
It was Haruno Sakura, however, that made him want to take the files and slap the academy instructors in the face with them. Someone there clearly had some manner of grudge with him to assign him a kunoichi whose file looked so much like Rin's, along with the rest of this particular team.
If they were trying to mock him, they were going to regret it.
That still left open the question, however, of why exactly the Sandaime thought this trio would pass. He was far too smart to think that Kakashi would test them easier out of some misplaced longing for the past.
Actually, the directive to test them as normal may have been because the Sandaime knew that he would be tempted to make the test harder.
Questions within questions.
Most would try to look underneath the underneath and try to find the answers to those questions, but Kakashi, as any genius, was particularly gifted at doing things with the least amount of effort. Clearly, they had some manner about them that implied they would work together particularly well- well enough to pass the infamous bell test.
He vowed to ferret it out of them tommorow at introductions to let his curiosity be assuaged for now.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The room was small and dark, lit only by faint, squat chunks of wax and wick. Blood was generously- though carefully and neatly- slathered in geometrically boggling edges and swerves that gleamed wetly on the rough hewn rock floor.
"Verliet ser Sekahn- combaen ser hargehn de Sekahn goted fer wekern."
We beseech the Rune- scour the cosmos for War sheathed in flesh.
Voices, echoing through the gloom, chanted with a roar and then a whisper.
"Verliet ser Sekahn- sighn vaknod de besoed ser serkahn de nekern."
We beseech the Rune- play a dirge of war to beckon these souls of death.
Eight figures stood sentry around the bloody sigil, each chanting in supplication to the sentience of written power.
"Verliet ser Sekahn- besoliet Teivhn!"
We beseech the Rune- bring us these Warriors!
With the wild, shrieking clash that could have been sword to armor, siege to wall, or hammer to anvil, the Rune sang.
Souls answered in choir.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ninjenga was a popular game in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was a ninja-marketed version of a popular civilian game, prized for its difficulty even for seasoned jounin, requiring deft hands and defter fingers. The small wooden blocks were coated in a sandpaper-like material, and the game was played by one's self.
The object of the game was to get faster at removing every block from the tower moving any other blocks, with each block removed having to be neither from the bottom, nor the top, unless those were the only blocks left.
Kakashi's own copy of Ninjenga, inherited from his sensei, saw use nearly every day. Today was no different as the ninjutsu master loosened his fingers up by racing through the tower.
All morning he had been only a few seconds off beating his best score, and he had been absorbed in twisting his fingers that much faster.
With one final flick of the wrist, he removed a last piece, leaving only the two winning pieces stacked on top of each other- with the best time he had ever recorded. He smirked under the mask, remembering the sheer rediculous speed the Yondaime had shown to entice the surly young boy into 'training.'
As he stretched his back, his eyes alighted on his clock... which was a full two hours past when he was supposed to meet his team. He blinked once, slowly, before ambling over to the door and grabbing an apple on his way out.
As he walked through the bright Konoha streets, he figured they could wait another half hour. After all, they wouldn't want their sensei to get cramps and drown from too much exercise after eating, right?
With these... comforting thoughts in mind, Kakashi found his answer in a small chalkboard eraser beaning him in the head the moment he met them.
Soon enough, all three were seated in a neat row in front of him on the roof of the Shinobi Academy. His urge to slap the Academy teachers with their files increased as he watched them, because he had most definitly been mislead about Uzumaki's bark.
And he still couldn't tell what exactly the Sandaime saw in this little brat pack, except for maybe how much they hated each other.
But perhaps that was the key, Kakashi thought in flash of realization. After all, the Sandaime had once known a team that had hated each other's guts and was balanced much like this one- and they had become the Sannin.
With that in mind, he decided to test his theory by seeing if they respected each other's ability, at the very least.
"So why don't you all introduce yourselves? How about... eh, your name, any likes, dislikes, hobbies and..." Kakashi thought fast, "A strength of each of your teammates, and a weakness of your own that they cover for you."
They all looked at him like perfectly confused little ducks.
"Quack quack?" Sakura asked.
Well, not really. But it would have been amusing.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and dislikes, and far too little time to support my hobbies. Your turn," he said, pointing at Sasuke.
Sasuke grunted, then straightened up to look his commanding officer in the eye. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much and I dislike..."
Sasuke trailed off into confusion at Kakashi's upheld hand. "I asked for your likes, genin. Start over."
A much huffier grunt answered him, but Sasuke dutifully restarted. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training and-"
"Training is a hobby, genin," intoned Kakashi. Because goddamn, if they didn't actually answer he would never figure anything out.
"...I like tomatoes." finished the genin, a challenging look adorning his face. When Kakashi didn't interupt, he continued. "I dislike interacting with idiots, my hobby is training."
Here the boy paused, clearly unwilling to part with his weakness or praise his teammates, yet knowing that Kakashi would be able to force him to anyway.
"My weakness is that I'm not strong enough," he started before Kakashi interupted once more with a raised hand.
"So you're saying that your teammates can help make you strong enough?"
Sasuke's face was carefully blank. "...Hopefully. I suppose Sakura is fairly smart and Naruto is..." here a visible twitch spasmed the young Uchiha's face for a moment. "Good at suprise takedowns."
Kakashi nodded, and motioned to Naruto.
Naruto lept to his feet, beaming so hard his eyes were screwed shut from the backhanded praise.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and Sakura-chan! I dislike the three minute wait for ramen! My hobbies are eating ramen and taking care of my plants! I suppose my weakness is... uh, not thinking things through well enough? But Sakura-chan is really smart, so we make the perfect pair!"
Here Naruto made a vaguely amusing face that looked like he was trying to decide to be disgusted or proud. "I suppose Sasuke is pretty good at being smart too," he finally finished with an air of one who deemed themself generous. He thumped back to the bench, holding his stomach with a wince
"And the girl."
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like... books? I don't like Naruto! I guess my hobby is socializing? And my weakness is, um, probably the more physical parts of being a ninja. But Sasuke-kun is the best at fighting and... I guess Naruto can take a hit pretty well."
Kakashi could tell she was trying to act calm and in control, and not at all terrified of him.
Kakashi was terminally unimpressed with her attempt. So terminally unimpressed, in fact, that he felt his kidneys failing. He would probably be pissing blood as he died a horrible, agonizing death.
Not really, of course, though it was another amusing thought. Perhaps they could weaponize her sheer inadequacy? Or would that no longer leave her inadequate?
He was opening his mouth to tell them about the test tommorow when he noticed that Naruto had grunted in pain, holding his stomach tightly. About to inquire as to his student's health, he was beaten to the punch by Sasuke of all people.
"What's the matter, dobe, have expiration dates beat you on the path to the Hokage's hat?"
Or maybe not. A kind and caring Uchiha Sasuke was an amusing thought as well. Partially terrifying as well.
Naruto lept into a punch at the last Uchiha's head, which missed rather catastrophically. Sakura darted away from the two off the bench with a squeal.
Right as Sasuke was cocking back into his own- much smoother and on target- punch, Naruto winced from another stomach pain, his eyes closing.
The crunch of Sasuke's fist hitting Naruto's face was lost in the background as Kakashi realized that Naruto's stomach was glowing under his hand. Right where his seal was.
Kakashi leaped from his seat, but it was too late because two of his students had just been sucked into a rippling purple vortex with a roar.
This was not amusing, because two of his students had actually just vanished into what looked worryingly like a space-time void triggered by Naruto's seal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to SEG-CISR for betaing this for me, and making me actually feel like writing at all. Team Seg-Shisr takin over!
The Lady of War sings for her master, Uzumaki Naruto. Will you answer her call?
With the slight hiss of displaced air, Hatake Kakashi appeared mid-stride through the open door of the office of the Sandaime Hokage. His meeting with the Hokage had already been checked, cleared, and acknowledged mid-shunshin nearly 50 meters back. It always amazed Kakashi just how efficiently nin could work around beauracratic requirements. "Hokage-sama, you summoned?"
Sarutobi looked up over the edge of the scroll he had been reading- a recently released treatise on chakra frequencies, if Kakashi recognized it correctly. The Sandaime wasn't known as The Professor for nothing, after all.
"Ah, yes, Kakashi. I have a new assignment for you. A new batch of students have graduated from the academy, and I want you to teach one of the cells."
Kakashi was sure he had successfully hidden his blink of surprise, but he was just as sure that the Sandaime knew anyway. Every other time he had been given a team, he had been given the directive to test them- not teach them. To most people, this difference would be minor at best, hardly of any consequence.
Kakashi, who had a little more responsibility than most people as a jounin, recognized the order as it was. He WOULD teach this team.
"You're being assigned to cell 7- Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. And Kakashi?"
"Yes sir?"
"You're to test them as normal. Have a good day."
Kakashi stepped out of the office, not bothering to say goodbye. He had been dismissed, the Hokage was done talking to him.
But what the Hokage didn't say to him was still rung loudly in his mind. He was to teach these three... but he was to give the bell test as normal. That is, he wasn't to throw it. That could only mean that the Hokage had implicit trust that the cell would pass his test regardless.
It was time, Kakashi decided, to visit the Shinobi Archives and look at the files for his team- an act that he had never done before. The God of Shinobi did not trust lightly. Just who were these kids?
He found an answer roughly half an hour later- but not the answer he was looking for.
Nothing in the files suggested the kind of trust that the Sandaime seemed to have in them.
Uchiha Sasuke, while seeming a skilled, model student, was a disaster waiting to happen.
Uzumaki Naruto was all bark and relatively little bite. That must say something about his bark, given that the boy had learned an A-rank kinjutsu in an evening.
It was Haruno Sakura, however, that made him want to take the files and slap the academy instructors in the face with them. Someone there clearly had some manner of grudge with him to assign him a kunoichi whose file looked so much like Rin's, along with the rest of this particular team.
If they were trying to mock him, they were going to regret it.
That still left open the question, however, of why exactly the Sandaime thought this trio would pass. He was far too smart to think that Kakashi would test them easier out of some misplaced longing for the past.
Actually, the directive to test them as normal may have been because the Sandaime knew that he would be tempted to make the test harder.
Questions within questions.
Most would try to look underneath the underneath and try to find the answers to those questions, but Kakashi, as any genius, was particularly gifted at doing things with the least amount of effort. Clearly, they had some manner about them that implied they would work together particularly well- well enough to pass the infamous bell test.
He vowed to ferret it out of them tommorow at introductions to let his curiosity be assuaged for now.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The room was small and dark, lit only by faint, squat chunks of wax and wick. Blood was generously- though carefully and neatly- slathered in geometrically boggling edges and swerves that gleamed wetly on the rough hewn rock floor.
"Verliet ser Sekahn- combaen ser hargehn de Sekahn goted fer wekern."
We beseech the Rune- scour the cosmos for War sheathed in flesh.
Voices, echoing through the gloom, chanted with a roar and then a whisper.
"Verliet ser Sekahn- sighn vaknod de besoed ser serkahn de nekern."
We beseech the Rune- play a dirge of war to beckon these souls of death.
Eight figures stood sentry around the bloody sigil, each chanting in supplication to the sentience of written power.
"Verliet ser Sekahn- besoliet Teivhn!"
We beseech the Rune- bring us these Warriors!
With the wild, shrieking clash that could have been sword to armor, siege to wall, or hammer to anvil, the Rune sang.
Souls answered in choir.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ninjenga was a popular game in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was a ninja-marketed version of a popular civilian game, prized for its difficulty even for seasoned jounin, requiring deft hands and defter fingers. The small wooden blocks were coated in a sandpaper-like material, and the game was played by one's self.
The object of the game was to get faster at removing every block from the tower moving any other blocks, with each block removed having to be neither from the bottom, nor the top, unless those were the only blocks left.
Kakashi's own copy of Ninjenga, inherited from his sensei, saw use nearly every day. Today was no different as the ninjutsu master loosened his fingers up by racing through the tower.
All morning he had been only a few seconds off beating his best score, and he had been absorbed in twisting his fingers that much faster.
With one final flick of the wrist, he removed a last piece, leaving only the two winning pieces stacked on top of each other- with the best time he had ever recorded. He smirked under the mask, remembering the sheer rediculous speed the Yondaime had shown to entice the surly young boy into 'training.'
As he stretched his back, his eyes alighted on his clock... which was a full two hours past when he was supposed to meet his team. He blinked once, slowly, before ambling over to the door and grabbing an apple on his way out.
As he walked through the bright Konoha streets, he figured they could wait another half hour. After all, they wouldn't want their sensei to get cramps and drown from too much exercise after eating, right?
With these... comforting thoughts in mind, Kakashi found his answer in a small chalkboard eraser beaning him in the head the moment he met them.
Soon enough, all three were seated in a neat row in front of him on the roof of the Shinobi Academy. His urge to slap the Academy teachers with their files increased as he watched them, because he had most definitly been mislead about Uzumaki's bark.
And he still couldn't tell what exactly the Sandaime saw in this little brat pack, except for maybe how much they hated each other.
But perhaps that was the key, Kakashi thought in flash of realization. After all, the Sandaime had once known a team that had hated each other's guts and was balanced much like this one- and they had become the Sannin.
With that in mind, he decided to test his theory by seeing if they respected each other's ability, at the very least.
"So why don't you all introduce yourselves? How about... eh, your name, any likes, dislikes, hobbies and..." Kakashi thought fast, "A strength of each of your teammates, and a weakness of your own that they cover for you."
They all looked at him like perfectly confused little ducks.
"Quack quack?" Sakura asked.
Well, not really. But it would have been amusing.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and dislikes, and far too little time to support my hobbies. Your turn," he said, pointing at Sasuke.
Sasuke grunted, then straightened up to look his commanding officer in the eye. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much and I dislike..."
Sasuke trailed off into confusion at Kakashi's upheld hand. "I asked for your likes, genin. Start over."
A much huffier grunt answered him, but Sasuke dutifully restarted. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training and-"
"Training is a hobby, genin," intoned Kakashi. Because goddamn, if they didn't actually answer he would never figure anything out.
"...I like tomatoes." finished the genin, a challenging look adorning his face. When Kakashi didn't interupt, he continued. "I dislike interacting with idiots, my hobby is training."
Here the boy paused, clearly unwilling to part with his weakness or praise his teammates, yet knowing that Kakashi would be able to force him to anyway.
"My weakness is that I'm not strong enough," he started before Kakashi interupted once more with a raised hand.
"So you're saying that your teammates can help make you strong enough?"
Sasuke's face was carefully blank. "...Hopefully. I suppose Sakura is fairly smart and Naruto is..." here a visible twitch spasmed the young Uchiha's face for a moment. "Good at suprise takedowns."
Kakashi nodded, and motioned to Naruto.
Naruto lept to his feet, beaming so hard his eyes were screwed shut from the backhanded praise.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and Sakura-chan! I dislike the three minute wait for ramen! My hobbies are eating ramen and taking care of my plants! I suppose my weakness is... uh, not thinking things through well enough? But Sakura-chan is really smart, so we make the perfect pair!"
Here Naruto made a vaguely amusing face that looked like he was trying to decide to be disgusted or proud. "I suppose Sasuke is pretty good at being smart too," he finally finished with an air of one who deemed themself generous. He thumped back to the bench, holding his stomach with a wince
"And the girl."
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like... books? I don't like Naruto! I guess my hobby is socializing? And my weakness is, um, probably the more physical parts of being a ninja. But Sasuke-kun is the best at fighting and... I guess Naruto can take a hit pretty well."
Kakashi could tell she was trying to act calm and in control, and not at all terrified of him.
Kakashi was terminally unimpressed with her attempt. So terminally unimpressed, in fact, that he felt his kidneys failing. He would probably be pissing blood as he died a horrible, agonizing death.
Not really, of course, though it was another amusing thought. Perhaps they could weaponize her sheer inadequacy? Or would that no longer leave her inadequate?
He was opening his mouth to tell them about the test tommorow when he noticed that Naruto had grunted in pain, holding his stomach tightly. About to inquire as to his student's health, he was beaten to the punch by Sasuke of all people.
"What's the matter, dobe, have expiration dates beat you on the path to the Hokage's hat?"
Or maybe not. A kind and caring Uchiha Sasuke was an amusing thought as well. Partially terrifying as well.
Naruto lept into a punch at the last Uchiha's head, which missed rather catastrophically. Sakura darted away from the two off the bench with a squeal.
Right as Sasuke was cocking back into his own- much smoother and on target- punch, Naruto winced from another stomach pain, his eyes closing.
The crunch of Sasuke's fist hitting Naruto's face was lost in the background as Kakashi realized that Naruto's stomach was glowing under his hand. Right where his seal was.
Kakashi leaped from his seat, but it was too late because two of his students had just been sucked into a rippling purple vortex with a roar.
This was not amusing, because two of his students had actually just vanished into what looked worryingly like a space-time void triggered by Naruto's seal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to SEG-CISR for betaing this for me, and making me actually feel like writing at all. Team Seg-Shisr takin over!
