25 Team Kurenai 1

The first day after the graduation exam was a break period for academy students. After that, comes the registration day, upon which the graduates would be officially registered as a Genin-ranked shinobi of the village.

"From now on, you're considered an adult, you punk!"

Tsume had a wide grin on her face. Seeing her son wearing that forehead protector made her motherly pride soar up to the moon. Although, a part of her was sad that he had finally started to fly out of the nest.

All of it was part of growing up. As his mother, she would support him all the way through.

"Haha! It suits me, right? Just watch, with my talent, I'll become the best ninja in this village! Maybe I'll become the Hokage if I feel like it!"

"You moron! You think becoming Hokage is easy, huh?! Imbecile!"

Her light-speed fist quickly found its way to Kiba's head as usual.

"Most likely, you'll be placed into a team after graduation ceremony tomorrow. Remember to behave, Kiba," Hana added.

"Hoo... now that you're officially a shinobi, what will you do?" Hikari asked.

"Just like Mom, I'll be given missions to complete. Each time we completed a mission, we'll get a portion of the bounty paid by the clients. The rest went to the village as the organizer."

"Hmm..."

She looked at Tsume. The latter seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Nah, it's not like me. Since I'm a special Jonin, I only go for mission that requires my specialty. Kiba's rank is a general-purpose ninja, so he'll be more busy. You'll get worked up to the bone, kid!"

Ugh... really? Somehow Kiba felt like he wanted to ditch out...

"And don't you dream of escaping your responsibility, 'cause me and Kuromaru's gonna track you down if that ever happens. Oh, you better believe it, kiddo!"

"A-ay..."

Change of plan, no more ditching! He didn't want to forfeit his life yet!

"So that's that. I can't play around with you anymore. Don't miss me!" He grinned at Hikari.

"Sure, sure, enjoy your time."

Unfortunately, she was too indifferent about it. Kiba felt a bit disgruntled inside.

The next day, right after the graduation ceremony, those who had passed the exam was called into the classroom. Kiba took a seat at the very back like usual. Taking a quick sweep over the class, he was relieved to see Naruto as well. Since he was wearing a forehead protector, that meant he really had passed.

Only... his seating position was a trainwreck. On his left was the other antisocial kid, Uchiha Sasuke, while on his right, seemingly pushing her way to the seat between Naruto and Sasuke, was a pink-haired girl in a red dress. If he remembered correctly... she was called Haruno Sakura.

Ah, the girl got through. Now Naruto looked pissed for some reason. He was crouching right in front of Sasuke's face, and then the kid on the next seat accidentally pushed him, and...

...Uh...

UH.

Did they just kiss? Naruto and Sasuke... kissed?

"Bwuahahah!"

Kiba abruptly fell on his chair as he couldn't contain his laughter. The rest of the class followed suit, while the people around the crime scene was left aghast.

Sakura, in particular, had a murderous aura as her face turned black. She then proceeded to pummel Naruto to oblivion.

"Hey! What happened here? Get back to your seat!"

The chaos finally settled down when Iruka showed up.

Just as Hana had predicted, Iruka informed the class about splitting into teams. Each team would consist of three Genin, and they would be led by a Jonin as their commander. The Jonin would also serve as their mentor who would prepare them for future advancement in their career as a shinobi.

"Quiet down! Your Teachers had tried our best to balance the team's strength according to each members, so I won't accept any complain! I'll start listing your name, make sure you listen properly!"

There were twenty-seven graduates in that year, so there should be nine teams in the making. As Iruka called out the name one by one, Kiba got a bit worried since his name still hadn't been called yet.

"Next, seventh team..."

He perked his ears, thinking that this time, he'd definitely get called!

"Haruno Sakura... Uzumaki Naruto, and... Sasuke Uchiha."

Aw, drat. Not him, but that idiot Naruto...

Then again, a broody emo, a meh chick, and a moron. What a team... he wondered whether they could really work together or not.

'I changed my mind. Thankfully I didn't get stuck in that dysfunctional mess of a team...'

"Eighth team. Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba."

"Finally!"

Not to mention, it was with Shino and Hinata of all people. He already knew both of them well enough, so it was definitely better than Naruto's situation right now!

He glanced at the two. Hinata gave him a shy smile while Shino just nodded slightly.

"Okay, this afternoon we'll introduce you to your Jonin mentors. Take a break until then."

After Iruka left the class, Kiba motioned for his teammates to follow him outside.

"Man, good thing that I got paired with you guys! Let's get along!"

"L-Likewise... p-please take c-care of me..."

"...Please do."

Shino was one of the quieter type. People might saw him as weird, but Kiba... actually also think of him as weird, but since they had known each other for years, he was already used to it.

He was also an animal user, although in his clan's case, it was insects. Like the Inuzuka, they were experts in tracking missions.

Hinata was more or less fine with Kiba, but Shino's emotionless face, hidden behind his coat and sunglasses, didn't leave her with a good impression. She unconsciously moved closer to Kiba instead.

"No need to be afraid of him, Hinata. His jutsu is icky, but he's a good guy! ...Maybe."

"Don't spout nonsense," Shino harrumphed. "I'm always a good guy."

"What good guy? You refused to lend me money last week!"

"Because, you never return them."

"I-I'm trying, alright?! Not my fault that Mom is so stingy!"

"Don't borrow if you can't return."

Hinata just kept moving her gaze between the two as she listened to their banter. She was worried that they would end up fighting, but as they continued, it somewhat felt... comfortable?

"Ufufu..."

Kiba and Shino abruptly stopped when they noticed Hinata giggling at their antics.

"Well... let's continue this later. Break time's almost over."

"Hmm."

Just as he'd said that, the sound of bell rang throughout the academy ground, signalling the students to get back inside.

---

There was no particular rule for the Jonin when they picked up their Genin team. Some did it formally with proper speeches and introduction, while the others just called the name and told the Genin to follow them. Kiba's team got the latter type.

As they went out, he gave the class one last look. Only three teams were left, and Naruto's team was among them. He wondered what kind of Jonin would have the bad luck of handling that troublemaker...

"Welp, not my problem."

As for his own team, they had a kunoichi as their mentor.

Yuuhi Kurenai, a Jonin who had quite a name under her belt. She was wearing a red mesh armor with white patterned robe that resembled bandages. As expected of a proper shinobi of Konoha, she was proudly wearing her own forehead protector. By Kiba's standard, she was considered really attractive, which made him quite happy with the arrangement.

She brought them over to a patch of woods within the village.

"My name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I'll be your mentor, as well as your commander, starting from today. I already have your info, but let's start by introducing yourselves so that your teammates can have a better grasp of your skills."

"I'll go first," Kiba got up from his seat. "The name's Inuzuka Kiba. I'm proficient in handling ninja dogs, as well as hand-to-hand combat. For jutsu, aside from the basic ones taught in the academy, I can use my clan's jutsu as well."

Woof!

The white-furred dog popped out from Kiba's chest. Hinata's eyes twinkled for a moment when she saw that.

"And this is my partner, Akamaru! Together, we're invincible!"

"Me," Shino stood up next. "I'm from Aburame clan. We specialize in handling insects. My primary insect of choice is the -Parasitic Destruction Insects- 'Kikaichu'. I like to grow insects. My dream is to find a rare insect that nobody had ever seen. Favorite insect is the Phosphorus Dest-"

"Err... we don't... need to know that," Kiba's lips twitched. This Shino... he's usually a man of few words, but when he started talking about insects, he immediately turned into a blabbermouth.

"U-um... I'm... I'm Hyu... Hyuuga Hinata... I-I can use Byakugan t-to see around f-fifty meters away... I c-can also use G-Gentle Fist, although I'm n-not that good with it..."

Kurenai nodded. Fifty meters... that was nothing to scoff at. Not to mention, she could see through obstacles as well. As expected of one of the Three Great Dojutsu.

'Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga... this is quite an interesting team,' Kurenai smiled.

"First, congratulations for passing the graduation exam. It must be easy for you guys, huh?"

"Well... actually, maybe it is!" Kiba grinned while scratching his nose.

"Fufu... however, you shouldn't rejoice just yet. You're still not a Genin."

""Eh?""

Kiba and Hinata exclaimed in surprise, while Shino just raised an eyebrow, intrigued by what she'd just said.

"But... w-we had r-registered our n-name..."

"Just because you can put your name there doesn't mean that the village can't erase it again, now can we?"

Ah!

The three was alerted by the sudden revelation. That actually made sense.

Did that mean... they weren't in the clear just yet?

Kurenai grinned at them.

"Relax, don't be so tense. Basically, it works like this. After you're grouped up in a team, the Jonin in charge will give you one final test, just a small exercise to ensure that you're ready to work as a ninja. Remember, from now on, we're not doing mock training. We're performing official tasks handed down in the name of Konohagakure. If you do them poorly, it'll be a stain in our village's name. That's why, if I feel that any one of you are not par to the task, I'll not hesitate to annul their graduation and send them back to the academy. Any problem with that?"

Kiba and Hinata exchanged nervous glances before shaking their head.

"Good. Now, about that final test. The test is...!"

Her words trailed off at the end as the kids waited with bated breath. Even the stoic Shino was affected by the pressure.

What would it be? Ninjutsu? Taijutsu? Genjutsu? What if they were told to fight the mentor? She was a Jonin! Would that even be a fair fight?

"...Not telling."

"""Whaaaat?!?"""

The kids fell on their faces, the sudden loss of tension making them weak on the knees.

Kurenai had a mischievous smile on her face. Heheh, teasing the newcomers was really fun!

"How about this, let's wrap it up for today, and we'll continue tomorrow. The other mentors also give their charge a day to prepare for their test. Let's meet up in the southern forest around seven in the morning. Do you have any question?"

"Teacher," Shino raised his hand. "What do we need to prepare?"

"If I tell you, it won't be a test, right? But I guess it's fine," she shrugged. "You can bring anything. Shuriken, smoke bombs, scrolls, if you think you're going to need it, then just bring it. Consider this a practice. When you're doing mission, you won't know what is going to happen. Being able to prepare by yourself is also the trait of a good ninja. Understand?"

Basically, she was telling them to use this grace period to do their homework and gather necessary information for the test. The kids firmly nodded when they finally got it.

"Good. Now, enjoy your day off."

With a single hand seal, she flickered away in an instant.

"Body Flicker Technique! So cool!" Kiba exclaimed.

"She's a Jonin. It's expected," Shino calmly said. However, deep down he was also excited after seeing that display of skill.

"U-um... so... what should we do... for today...?"

Since Kurenai had given them a hint, it would be best to use the remaining time to prepare.

"Let's go back home first, then ask our senior clan members about their test when joining a team! We'll regroup at Ichiraku Ramen at noon and discuss the intel. After that, we'll buy the tools we need for tomorrow. That good?"

"I agree," Shino nodded.

"Um..."

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Why... Ichiraku Ramen...?"

Kiba fidgeted with his fingers.

"Ah, I think we can have lunch there along the way. I'm... hungry..."

""...""

That would be the very first thing that caused Hinata and Shino to start questioning Kiba's decision-making skill...