Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 7 TEAM 8

There was some drama after Naruto was found with the scroll. I went home and ate as much as I could to help replenish the chakra I used. I met my dad at our household, or I already knew him, but my mind met him. I wasn’t sure, it was very confusing to know everything about a guy but never meeting him before. It was natural to talk to him. We exchanged a few words and I went to bed. 

The next day I showed up with a lot of other Genins to take our pictures. It was interesting to see all the faces I knew from a comic but meet them in real life. No longer drawings on a page they were real people to me. Naruto was dressed up in the weird war paint. I considered ignoring him as he told me about what happened after I left, but he could use a friend. 

I took my picture and was on my way. I considered teleporting out when my 24 hours was up, but I actually wanted to be here. No real risk of death or dismemberment. I could stay here, do quests, possibly get rewards, get stronger. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. 

Over the next few days I hung out with my family. My mom was busy running the household. My father spent a lot of his time out. There were a few maids but without my 3 older sisters at home it was pretty quiet. They were all Chunin and Jounin and had been away for a while. Other than that I trained. Running, jumping, swimming, meditating. I did everything I could to figure out the limits of the body and push through them. My dad was impressed by the effort, giving me pointers now and then. 

About a week after arriving I finally was assigned my group. Team 8. Run by Kurenai Yuhi she was a woman in her late twenties/early 30s, I wasn’t stupid enough to ask. She had dark hair down to her shoulders, a bust that was probably a B-cup, and red eyes. At first I thought I saw it wrong, but they were red. Not sharingan like the Uchihas had, but simply red. 

The other 2 members on my team were Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga. Kiba was a cocky kid with dark hair, red tattoos that resembled fangs on his cheeks and a small white dog that never left his side. He specialized in fighting with his dog. Empowering both of them through pills and chakra. 

Hinata was a shy girl with short dark hair at the back and odd longer hair near her temples. She had unnerving gray eyes. One of the rejects from the main house of the Hyuga clan she eventually became Naruto’s wife. Although I ignored that for now. In a kid’s body I blushed locking eyes with her. We all knew each other from class, but so close to them all for the first time I was a little nervous. 

“Alright, a few of the other teams go through tests when assigned their teacher, but I don’t play that game,” Kurenai said. “You’ve been tested enough over the last few years. We are officially a team. We will be doing some team building exercises and hopefully soon some actual missions.” 

“Great,” Kiba said. “Anything to get moving. I’ve been bored out of my mind.” His dog Akamaru barked in agreement. 

“Why don’t you tell me about yourselves, your hopes and dreams,” Kurenai said. She looked to me first. 

Hiding my annoyance I stood up. “I’m Weston Watanabe. I specialize in Genjutsu. My dreams? I don’t rightly know to be honest.”

“That’s fine. You’re 12, plenty of time to figure it out.” Kurenai said. She looked to Hinata next. 

“Oh um, Hyuga Hinata. I don’t have a dream either.” 

“Ha,” Kiba laughed. “Haven’t changed, Hinata?” He asked. “Well, I’m Kiba, this is my partner Akamaru. My dream is to become the Hokage.”

“Big dream,” Kurenai said. “I bet half the kids in your class would have answered the same. Why didn’t you 2?” 

Hinata blushed. “Sounds boring,” I admitted. That surprised the others. “Have you seen the Hokage’s desk? It’s always covered in paperwork. I’d rather figure something else out.”

“It is always covered in paperwork,” Kurenai said with a laugh. “Can we at least all say that we want to become the strongest team?” 

“Of course.” “Hell yeah.” Kiba and I said. Hinata didn’t answer. Too timid for that I hadn’t expected her to. 

“Good. Let’s do some drills,” Kurenai said. We began some simple running then sparring. All very simple work Kurenai watched, figuring out our limits and sped us up accordingly. Forcing us to run faster. All 3 of us were able to keep up. She eventually let us go and we planned to meet up bright an early. 

Kiba and Akamaru were soon running away on all 4s, leaving me and Hinata to head back to the city. “Is it everything you expected?” Hinata looked at me, oddly. “Being a ninja. Is it everything you hoped?” She nodded. “Really? You like running around and that’s it?” She blushed and shook her head. “So you don’t like being a ninja and you want to quit?” 

Her eyes bulged and I began to laugh. “You know you can talk, right?” I asked. She blushed looking down to the ground as we walked. “You can talk, right?” 

“Yes,” she whispered. 

“Woah, don’t yell,” I said, rubbing my ear. Another shocked look crossing her face I laughed loudly again. “I’m joking, Hinata. Come on. We are supposed to be a team. How are we going to do missions if you can’t relay information to me?” 

“Sorry,” she whispered. 

“That’s fine,” I said. “I will require 1 word answers from you, starting tomorrow. Then we can build up from there. 2 words the following day. It will be annoying when we get up to 20 though. You’ll have to expand your vocabulary by then.” 

She blushed again, but didn’t fall for the taunt. “You seem different.” 

“3 words, well crap. Let’s just throw the whole deal out,” I whispered loud enough for her to hear. She blushed again. “Different how?” 

“More talkative?” She asked. 

“So I was you before?” I asked. She flashed me an angry glare. “I’m sorry, don’t hit me,” I said. 

“I wasn’t,” she said, relaxing her hands. 

“Suuuure,'' I said exaggeratedly. 

“I wasn’t.” 

“What? I believe you?” I laughed from her reaction again. My voice echoing in the empty air. “I’m messing with you. It’s called sarcasm.” 

She grumbled but didn’t run away, so we kept walking. “Why are you in such a good mood?” She asked. 

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s a dream come true…becoming a ninja,” I clarified. “We are really doing it. Starting our journey. Have you found your Ninja Way, yet?” That was always a big push at the beginning of Naruto. Finding your Ninja Way, or creed to live by. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean what drives you? Not your dreams like Kurenai was asking. What pushes you forward,” I said. “Makes you want to go further?” 

She shook her head, whispering, “I don’t know.” 

“Me either. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s still new to me. Maybe my Ninja Way is figuring it out. What do you think about that? Fake it till you make it. Never stop, never stopping.” 

“Sounds…interesting,” she said. 

“Sounds stupid you mean,” I said. She blushed again. “It’s okay to call me out. We are supposed to be partners. We could very well be facing death out there. Our parents faced it at our age. The next Great Ninja War could be right around the corner.” 

“I hope not,” she whispered. 

“It’s not,” I promised. 

“And how do you know?” She asked. 

“4 words from you. Might be a record,” I teased. She grumbled again, whispering under her breath. “I know, because I can see the future.” 

“What’s in the future?” She whispered. 

“Hmm, should I tell you?” I asked. “Can you keep a secret?” She nodded. “How far do you want to know?” 

“2 weeks,” she said. 

“Easy one. We start our first mission,” I said. “Next try.” 

“2 months?” She asked as we walked into the village. A few guards on the perimeter they waved us in. 

“Hmmm, does the Chunin exam happen around then?”  I asked. 

“I thought you could see the future,” she said. 

“Holy hell, 6 words,” I said. She didn’t respond. “If it’s the exam, I see us making it through the written exam. Then the field exam. And I don’t know after that. I see you fighting your cousin. Neji, was it? He takes out his anger for the clan on you. Using your secret Hyuga techniques. Beats you up pretty good too.” 

Hinata stopped walking. Her gray eyes staring into me. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not,” I said. “If we don’t train hard, that will happen.” I continued to walk. She eventually ran to catch up to me. 

“2 years?” She asked. 

“How about 3?” I asked. She didn’t deny it. “In 3 years the Great Ninja War will happen. Give or take a few months. It will be a huge event uniting all the shinobi clans as we fight against the red cloud.” 

She was quiet as we walked. “What is the red cloud?” She asked. 

“A mercenary group controlled by some very misguided people,” I admitted. “They’ll lay waste to the village. Steal all the tailed beasts. And almost take over the world.” 

“What will stop them?” She asked, some actual fear in her voice. 

“We will,” I said. “Obviously.” She frowned. “What? I’m serious. How about we make that our dream? To stop the Great Ninja War.” We continued to walk. Eventually we came to her household. “See you tomorrow, Hinata.” 

She jolted, noticing where we were. “Wait, Weston,” she said. I looked back at her. “Were you serious?” I smiled and nodded. I left it up to her to decide which part I meant. I couldn’t help but like the shy Hinata. Naruto had a thing for Sakura anyway. We were 12, it wasn’t like we would really do anything. 

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